OutdoorNebraska

16 2017 Annual Report STATE PARKS CRAWDAD CREEK AT PLATTE RIVER STATE PARK. C R A W D A D C R E E K F I R S T V E N T U R E P A R K S P R O J E C T O P E N T O T H E P U B L I C In the summer of 2017, Owen Roberts-Day visited with Crawdad Creek, a new interactive stream at Platte River State Park, with his daughter, Hattie. Owen watched his daughter happily playing in the water, where children are encouraged to get wet and learn about the creek's resident fi sh and frogs. She repeatedly pulled the trigger on her water pistol, shooting water into the creek. "As a teacher, I know many families who can't aff ord to go on lavish vacations, but can aff ord the $6 it takes to get a carload of people into one of our state parks for a day," said Roberts-Day, who frequently visits Nebraska's state parks with his family. "Plus, it's right here in our own backyard." Crawdad Creek was the very fi rst feature to open as part of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission's Venture Parks Plan, which calls for innovative, unique and exciting new features at four parks situated along the Platte River in Southeast Nebraska. These four parks – Eugene T. Mahoney and Platte River state parks and Schramm Park and Louisville state recreation areas – will off er fl oating playgrounds, climbing walls, unique lodging and much more, all designed to appeal to the changing tastes and needs of modern park visitors. The Venture Parks Plan has been in the works since 2014, but 2017 was an especially pivotal year for this project. It was the fi rst full season guests at Platte River State Parks could enjoy Crawdad Creek. It also marked the beginning of many other projects, including a greatly expanded aquarium and education center at Schramm Park SRA, the addition of glamping cabins and a new splash pad at Platte River State Park and construction of a zipline and treetop ropes course at Mahoney State Park. Many of these features, including the glamping cabins, splash pad and ropes course, will open in 2018, with more features to follow in 2019 and 2020. "We wanted to look at our parks diff erently – to use them diff erently – to introduce people to a safe environment where they could experience nature," said Game and Parks Director Jim Douglas. Crawdad Creek is just the start.

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