OutdoorNebraska

20 B10) Childhood Experiences and Education Affecting Landowner Values Strategies • Provide informa on to children and their parents and teachers promo ng the importance, conserva on, and apprecia on of Nebraska's fish, wildlife, and outdoor recrea on resources Tactics Con nue our delivery of Outdoor Skills A erschool Program, Outdoor Discovery Program ("Expo School Days"), Growing Up WILD Program, Project WILD Program, and Trail Tales publica on Assess the feasibility of adding delivery of the Leopold Educa on Project Assess our current programs to ensure they are reaching the desired audiences and having the desired effects B11) Adult Experiences and Education Affecting Landowner Values Strategies • Use the best available informa on about pheasant-habitat rela ons, landscape effects on pheasant popula on poten al, and social science on landowner a tudes to provide technical assistance to private landowners and partners on pheasant friendly prac ces and focus areas • Provide outreach and educa on opportuni es to landowners and other partners on how to create and maintain high quality pheasant habitat, and intensify those efforts within focus areas • Seek ways to work collabora vely with partners to get our messages out to the public and landowners Tactics Con nue to emphasize one-on-one mee ngs between private lands biologists and landowners on visits to their land Con nue working with our conserva on partners to organize habitat tours, CRP workshops, prescribed burn workshops, and other similar field days open to small groups of landowners Assess the best ways to engage other farmer-trusted partners (UNL Extension, CO-OPs, crop consultants, farm managers, etc.) in delivering posi ve messages about the direct and indirect values of wildlife habitat in protec ng other resources (soil, water, etc.) C. MANAGEABLE FACTORS AFFECTING HUNTER ACCESS TO LAND: Access to quality hun ng lands is cri cal to retaining and recrui ng hunters. Since 97% of Nebraska is in private ownership, publicly owned land, though important, is not sufficient to sa sfy the demand for quality pheasant hun ng across the state. Further, an increasingly urban populace has found it difficult to maintain the family contacts and friendships with rural landowners o en necessary to gain permission to hunt private lands. Since the late 1990s, our response to this problem has been to pay landowners a per-acre fee to open their lands to public hun ng through what is now known as the Open Fields and Waters Program (OFW), which has more than doubled the number of acres openly to hun ng. OFW has been one of our most popular programs with hunters and landowners alike.

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