LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will receive $200,000 from the Nebraska Environmental Trust for the WILD Nebraska Program.
The project is one of the 117 projects receiving $19,501,444 in grant awards from the Trust this year. Of these, 85 were new applications and 32 are carry-over projects.
Game and Parks and its partners have been implementing the WILD Nebraska program on private lands since 2000. The agency allocates approximately $100,000 toward WILD Nebraska and requests for these funds far exceed the annual allocation. This grant will add more opportunity for better stewardship, wildlife habitat, and public use opportunities.
The goal of WILD Nebraska is to increase and improve wildlife habitat on private land and lands owned by conservation partners to optimize recreational opportunities. WILD Nebraska is a flexible program that allows projects to be completed that do not fit into other programs, add practices to improve the end product, and work on conservation partner lands.
The NET request of $200,000 ($100,000 per year) will be approximately distributed to grasslands (40 percent), wetlands (50 percent) and woodlands (10 percent). Estimates of acres impacted include 750-1,200 grassland, 300-420 wetland, and 75-150 woodland. With partner contributions, those numbers will increase. In the last two WILD Nebraska grants, 118 projects were completed in 51 counties.
The Nebraska Legislature created the Nebraska Environmental Trust in 1992. Using revenue from the Nebraska Lottery, the Trust has provided over $305 million in grants to over 2,200 projects across the state.
Anyone – citizens, organizations, communities, farmers and businesses – can apply for funding to protect habitat, improve water quality and establish recycling programs in Nebraska. The Trust works to preserve, protect and restore our natural resources for future generations.
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