The Crowing Post:  6/11/07

Corners For Wildlife Projects

Corners for Wildlife, a Pheasants Forever (PF) program in Nebraska, has received a $300,000 grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust. The grant will help the program continue to establish permanent wildlife habitat on center pivot irrigation corners.

The Nebraska Environmental Trust is a state program dedicated to the preservation of Nebraska’s natural resources. Pheasants Forever, the Nebraska Environmental Trust, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and local Natural Resources Districts help fund Corners for Wildlife, which gives landowners the option of enrolling in a program to help establish wildlife habitat on corners of center pivot irrigated fields not capable of sustaining high yields when planted to row crops. 

Central pivot irrigation systems leave areas of irrigated fields where the pivot cannot reach. Through the Corners for Wildlife program, these marginal corner areas are planted with prairie grasses, shrubs and trees, which provides critical wildlife habitat. Willing landowners enter into five-year contracts and receive annual rental payments – up to a maximum of $75 per acre – and cost-share assistance for planting and maintenance. Once replanted with native plants and trees, these corner areas provide food and cover for pheasants, quail, grassland songbirds and other wildlife. They also reduce soil erosion and protect water supplies from agricultural runoff.

"Corners for Wildlife is the only program like it in the nation," said Pete Berthelsen, Senior Field Coordinator for PF, "The fact is many landowners have marginal areas or pockets that aren't as agriculturally productive, such as pivot corners that won't produce without supplemental water. The average pivot corner is seven acres, and this program gives us the opportunity to do some very valuable wildlife habitat work in otherwise intensely farmed areas. We thank the Nebraska Environmental Trust for their continued support of the Corners for Wildlife program and conservation as a whole."

Last year, Trust funding allowed for the enrollment of 185 corners in 2006, the most projects ever enrolled in a single year. Since the Corners for Wildlife program was introduced in 1994, over 6,698 acres of habitat have been planted on 1,183 projects by local PF chapters and their partners.

 habitat today….pheasants forever!