Joint conference of the
Nebraska Section of the Society for Range Management and
the Natural Legacy Project (Nebraska Game and Parks Commission)
Forging a Path Forward: Strengthening Nebraska’s Natural Legacy through Range Management
October 7-9, 2025
East Campus, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska
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Conference Registration
We look forward to seeing you in Lincoln.
Accomodations
The Scarlet Hotel
2101 Transformation Drive
Lincoln, NE 68508
531-300-6300
The hotel is just a 5-minute drive from the conference venue on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln East Campus.
A block of rooms has been secured for conference attendees. Room rates will be at the government per diem rate at the time of check-in. Please make your reservation by Friday, Sept. 19 if you want to assure you get a room.
Transportation from airports
Omaha Airport: OMALNK is a shuttle service from Omaha’s Eppley Airport to Lincoln.
Agenda
Download Complete Conference Agenda
Tuesday, Oct. 7
1 – 1:30 pm Check-In & Information (outside Great Plains Room, East Campus Union Floor Plan)
1:30 – 1:40 pm Welcome—Martha Mamo, Department Head of Agronomy & Horticulture (Great Plains Room)
1:45 – 3:15 pm Concurrent Sessions (3rd floor of East Campus Union)
| Time | Room: Prairie Suite Landowner Stories, Values, and Perspectives | Room: Arbor Suite Advancing Mammal Conservation |
| 1:45 | Understanding the values that inform regenerative ranching in the Northern US Great Plains. Gwendwr Meredith (UNL) | Evaluating Wildlife Crossing Feasibility for Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Nebraska: A Data-Driven Conservation Approach. Dillion Dittmer (HDR) |
| 2:10 | Learning to Care for Land: A Landowner/Artist’s Perspective. Pat James (Nebraska Master Naturalist) | Beyond the Chirps: Evaluating AutoID and Manual Review Bat Acoustic Evaluation. Robert H Hibbitts (Felsburg Holt & Ullevig) |
| 2:35 | Ranching, Consumer direct beef, and eco-tourism. Aaron Shropshire (Magill Farms) | NABat Nebraska 2025 Update. Derek Krueger (NGPC) |
| 2:50 | International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, an opportunity to increase grassland awareness. Bob Broweleit (Seven Pines Ranch) |
3:15 – 3:30 pm Break
3:30 – 5 pm Society for Range Management Council Meeting (Garden Room)
4:30 – 5:30 pm Social Hour (Great Plains Room BC, 2nd floor) & Plant ID contest and Undergraduate Range Exam (Great Plains Room A)
5:30 – 7 pm Buffet Dinner, Welcome, and Conservation & Education Legacy Awards (Great Plains Room BC)
7:30 – 9 pm Voices of the Grasslands: International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) Film Showcase (Hardin Hall on East Campus, click here for a map)
Wednesday, Oct. 8
8 – 8:30 am Check-In & Information (outside Great Plains Room), Breakfast pastries sponsored by Center for Grassland Studies (Great Plains Room BC)
8:30 am – 12 pm Concurrent Sessions
| Time | Room: Prairie Suite BC Fire and Grazing Management | Room: Arbor Suite Collaborative Conservation |
| 8:30 am | Timing of Prescribed Fire. Or, Why Do We Do This to Ourselves. Kent Pfeiffer (Northern Prairies Land Trust) | Empowering participation in wetland conservation: a social-structural approach. Katherine A. Graham (Ducks Unlimited Inc. & UNL) |
| 8:55 am | Prescribed Fire as a Primary Driver of Cattle Distribution in the Nebraska Sandhills. Hannah K. Allen (UNL, student) | Collaborative Nature of a Partnership Position and Its Benefits to Private Lands Conservation Work. Katherine Crawley (Bird Conservancy of the Rockies) |
| 9:20 am | Patch Mow Grazing: Investigating the Effects of Mowing on Forage Nutritive Value, the Biomass Nutritive Value Relationship, and Herbivore Habitat Selection. Trace Stauble (UNL, student) | Sandhills Creek Renovation Story: West Birdwood Creek. Tevyn Pieper & Ashley Garrelts (Sandhills Task Force) |
| 9:45 am | Monitoring Sandhills plant diversity with remote sensing under different rangeland management approaches. Catherine Chan (UNL, student) | Saline Wetland Conservation Partnership. Tom Malmstrom (City of Lincoln) & Will Inselman (Lower Platte South NRD) |
10:10 – 10:25 Break: Snacks sponsored by School of Natural Resources
| Time | Room: Prairie Suite BC Bird Conservation | Room: Arbor Suite Pollinator and Insect Habitat & Monitoring | Room: Prairie Suite A High school SRM Youth Forum |
| 10:25 am | Removal of Eastern Redcedar Benefits the Sandhills Grassland Bird Community. Rachel Rusten (UNL, student) | Rangeland in Nebraska and nearby states can support more milkweeds and monarch butterflies. Timothy L. Dickson (UNO) | High school SRM Youth Forum. |
| 10:50 am | Prairie Grouse Distribution Models Inform Conservation Return-On-Investment Modelling For Woody Management in Nebraska. Bryan O'Connor (NGPC) | Understanding Rangeland Wildflower Forage Value for Livestock. Rae Powers (Xerces) | |
| 11:15 am | Leveraging big data for grassland bird conservation: Grassland Outcomes Tool for Birds and the Central Grasslands Bird Working Group. Anne Bartuszevige (Playa Lakes Joint Venture) | Description of Southern Plains Bumblebee (Bombus fraternus) Habitat within the Central Platte River Valley based on 5 years of Monitoring Data. Emma Richards (Crane Trust) | Society for Range Management Business Meeting. |
| 11:40 am | Piping Plovers and Climate Change. Elsa Forsberg (Crane Trust, UNL, NGPC) | Not Quite Nebraska: Using necrophagous beetles to assess ecosystem function in western Missouri prairies. Andrea Malek (NGPC) |
12:05 – 12:50 pm Lunch (Great Plains Room BC)
12:50 – 1:50 pm The Kitchen Table: A Conservation Starter Presentation (Great Plains Room)
Ann Dvorak (World Wildlife Fund) and Laura Nelson (Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition)
1:50 – 2 pm Break
2 – 4:05 pm Concurrent Sessions (3rd floor)
| Time | Room: Prairie Suite BC Woody Encroachment & Invasive Species | Room: Arbor Suite Conservation Outreach | Room: Prairie Suite A Pollinator Monitoring (continued) |
| 2:00 pm | Beneath the boughs: What does eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) encroachment mean for the future of woodlands along the Niobrara? Lillie Hoffart (UNL, student) | Nebraska Fungi Project. Chance Brueggemann | Monitoring Monarchs and Regal Fritillaries in Nebraska. Stephanie Paris (NGPC) |
| 2:25 am | Redcedar Stand Reclamation in the Eastern Nebraska Sandhills. Jacob Harvey (UNL) | Restoring Landscapes, Reimagining Engagement. Joel Bramhall (Crete Public Schools) | Nebraska's Big Butterfly Count. Brianna Nugent (NGPC) |
| 2:50 am | Updating Nebraska's Terrestrial Invasive Plant Species List: Additions and Considerations. Shannon Smith & Josh Nelson (NE Invasive Species Council & Weed Control Association) | Kearney Welcome Center. Sarah Focke (Kearney Visitors Bureau) | Nebraska Bumble Bee Atlas. Katie Lamke (Xerces) |
| 3:15 am | Cheatgrass management opportunities in western Nebraska. Mitch Stephenson (UNL) | Enhanced Snake Exhibits and Snake Saunter Class at Schramm Education Center. Jennifer Ruyle (NGPC) | |
| 3:40 am | Prairies Under Pressure: How Climate Stressors Are Opening the Door to Weedy Plant Expansion in Nebraska Grasslands. Ben Beckman & Ryan Benjamin (University of Nebraska – Extension) | Tales from the Scaled Side: Nebraska Reptile Month Highlights. Monica Macoubrie (NGPC) |
4:05 – 6 pm Break
6 – 9 pm Buffet Dinner, Keynote Speaker, and SRM Student Auction (Great Plains Room BC)
Keynote Speaker – Dr. Walt Schacht, Emeritus Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Professor of Agronomy
Thursday, Oct. 9
8 – 8:30 am Check-In & Information (Great Plains Room), Breakfast pastries sponsored by School of Natural Resources
Breakfast pastries sponsored by School of Natural Resources (Great Plains Room BC)
8:30 – 10:15 am Concurrent Sessions
| Time | Room: Prairie Suite Natural Legacy Project: Updates & Demonstration Sites | Room: Arbor Suite Aquatic Species Monitoring |
| 8:30 am | The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project: Updates to the State Wildlife Action Plan. Brett Andersen (NGPC) | Gaining Mussel: Evaluating Reintroduction Success of Native Freshwater Mussels in Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming. Travis Moore (UNL, student) |
| 8:55 am | Restoring an Oak Savanna at a Natural Legacy Demonstration Site: Schramm Park SRA. Krista Lang (Northern Prairies Land Trust) | First Signals in the Sandhills: A PIT Tag Pilot Study of Northern Pearl Dace Movement to Guide Future Connectivity Research. Joe Spooner (NGPC) |
| 9:20 am | Women and the Woodlands: Supporting our Future. Hanna Barnes (Northern Prairies Land Trust) | Missouri River Pallid Sturgeon Monitoring. Derek Kane (NGPC) |
| 9:45 am | Managing Working Lands in the Public Eye. Brady Karg & Ed Hubbs (Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center) | Structured decision-making to inform management of Plains Topminnow (Fundulus sciadicus) in Nebraska David A. Schumann (University of Wisconsin-La Crosse) |
10:10 – 10:30 am Break, pick up boxed lunches (Great Plains Room)
10:30 am – 1:30 pm Field Trip to Little Salt Fork Marsh and Little Salt Creek West WMA
1:30 pm Conference concludes
Legacy Awards
Each year, one conservation award and one education award are given. The award winners are nominated by fellow coworkers, partners and conservationists.
Education Award
The Natural Legacy Education Award recognizes someone who has advanced environmental or conservation education and has inspired others to learn about natural resources and the Natural Legacy Project.
Conservation Award
This award is given to an individual or organization that exemplifies the Natural Legacy Project’s mission of conserving Nebraska’s flora, fauna and natural habitats for our Natural Legacy Conservation Award.
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