Wetland Pumping Information

Click here for additional information on waterfowl hunting.

Information about U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service waterfowl production areas and pumping is available at (308) 263-3000 or here. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has informed us that due to budget reductions, they will not be able to pump in the fall of 2008 or the spring of 2009.

For Questions and Answers about pumping in the Rainwater Basin, please click here.

Wetland Projects

To learn more about Nebraska's wetlands, please visit www.NebraskaWetlands.com. In addition to our pumping activities, numerous projects have been completed recently to improve our wetlands.

Over the past decade, there has been a tremendous effort to protect, restore, and manage Nebraska's wetlands. Some highlights from the past 10-years are listed below. Millions of dollars have been invested into these projects by numerous partners throughout the state. These partners include landowners, the Conservation Fund, Ducks Unlimited, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Park Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Natural Resources Districts, Nebraska Environmental Trust, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, Nebraska Department of Roads, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska Game and Parks Foundation, Pheasants Forever, Platte River Basin Environments, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, Saline Wetland Conservation Partnership, Sandhills Task Force, The Nature Conservancy, Todd Valley Wetland Foundation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and many others.

• Over 15,000 acres of Wildlife Management Areas with wetlands have been acquired or leased. Newer WMAs include: Aspinwall Bend, Avocet, Chet and Jane Fliesbach, Cottonwood/Steverson, DeFair Lake, Elk Point Bend, Flatsedge, High Basin, Langdon Bend, Little Salt Creek, Marsh Duck, Peru Bottoms, Redhead, Rhoden, Shypoke, Sora, South Fork, South Pine, Whitefront, and William Gilmour.
• Over $2 million has been spent to restore wetlands on 22 different Wildlife Management Areas within the Rainwater Basin. Projects have been completed on Father Hupp, Spikerush, Kissinger, Prairie Marsh, Greenwing, Pintail, Kirkpatrick Basin South, Sandpiper, Sacramento-Wilcox, West Sacramento, Deep Well, Renquist, Straightwater, North Lake Basin, Hidden Marsh, Bulrush, Whitefront, Bluebill, Marsh Hawk, Sora, Shypoke, and Gadwall WMAs.
• Other Wildlife Management Areas where restoration projects have been completed include: Clear Creek, Kiowa, Elk Point Bend, Wilkinson, South Fork, Cottonwood/Steverson, Prairie Wolf, Jack Sinn, Peru Bottoms, and Hamburg Bend. Additional projects are planned.
• Wells have been installed on the following WMAs- Clear Creek, Wilkinson, Elk Point Bend, Spikerush, Kissinger, Prairie Marsh, Greenwing, Kirkpatrick Basin South, Sandpiper, West Sacramento, Deep Well, Renquist, Straightwater, and North Lake Basin. The wells have been funded by Ducks Unlimited, the Nebraska Environmental Trust, the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
• Over 80,000 acres of privately-owned wetlands have been restored or enhanced in Nebraska. A majority of this acreage was enrolled in the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Wetlands Reserve Program.