Search

NRDs working with Nebraska Forest Service to renovate windbreaks

Natural Resources Districts (NRD) are teaming with the Nebraska Forest Service (NFS) and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to address declining forests and windbreaks across the state with a $4.3 million grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

The grant allows the Nebraska Forest Restoration Partnership to provide financial assistance to agricultural producers and private landowners to manage forests with a new program that has a continuous enrollment period and provides cost-share and management plan development. The funds also include planting more than one million trees, providing management of 30,000 acres of declining forests, increasing the health of vulnerable forest acreage, and restoring 250 miles of agricultural windbreaks.

Lower Elkhorn NRD is among those that will benefit, as it is situated in an area of Nebraska that is significantly impacted by deteriorating windbreaks.

“An important component of this partnership with the NRDs is they have successful and established tree programs,” said Adam Smith, Nebraska Forest Service’s forestry and fire bureau chief. “They’re already providing landowner assistance for windbreak improvements.”

“The relationships between the NRDs and local producers and landowners will increase the project impacts by leveraging the networks with the NRDs throughout the state,” Smith said. “Their programs and relationships are what make this partnership possible. We couldn’t serve as much of the state without the NRDs.”

Many of Nebraska’s windbreaks are nearly 100 years old, having been planted in the 1930s, as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps’ response to the Dust Bowl. The trees’ age, combined with Nebraska’s climate and weather – from ice storms to droughts – and the inability to fight pests due to lack of diversity in the windbreaks, have taken their toll.

The relationships between the NRDs and local producers and landowners will increase the project impacts by leveraging the networks with the NRDs throughout the state. Their programs and relationships are what make this partnership possible. We couldn’t serve as much of the state without the NRDs.

NRDs like Lower Elkhorn offer existing cost-share programs and tree planting to assist landowners with repairing or establishing windbreaks. The partnership aims to develop an incentive that adds to the districts’ existing programs by leveraging funding to expand those offerings.

“To completely renovate a windbreak can cost tens of thousands of dollars,” said Todd Stewart, Lower Elkhorn NRD natural resources technician. “This partnership will double our cost-share budget and allow us to work with more people and larger projects.”

The partnership and grant dollars also will speed up the process of getting projects underway, Smith said.

“They will have this new funding stream, which will allow NRDs to expand their programs to be more encompassing,” Smith said. “There will be a continuous enrollment, so if you ask for assistance and you meet the criteria for the program, you are good to go.”

The typical process for a cost-share program requires landowners to go through an application process and a ranking system to determine the priority of projects. The timing of the notification can delay site preparation and project implementation for another year.

Under this incentive program, landowners, NRDs and the NFS can submit proposals at any time and will not be subjected to the traditional ranking system, Smith said.

“This dramatically increases the pace and scale that windbreaks and tree canopy can be benefited because of the partnership with the NRDs,” he said.

In addition, NFS is examining ways to increase the health of windbreaks in order to make them more resistant to the ever-changing climate, weather and pests that can affect the strength and function of the windbreaks.

NRCS has a technical field guide that describes how to design a windbreak that will meet the needs of landowners, whether it is to conserve soil moisture or protect livestock from high winds. But as producers desire fewer rows in their windbreaks so as not to lose valuable productive acres, species diversity often decreases. Eastern red cedar is most commonly used in windbreaks because it is hardy, drought-tolerant and forms a dense barrier for wind protection with few rows, Smith said, but finding and including other species without taking up more than two or three rows is challenging.

That forestry expertise, in addition to the funding, provides benefit to the NRDs through the partnership.

“The NRDs have significant statewide capacity and producer relationships that NFS might lack, so they are the key implementers of the windbreak components of the program,” Smith said. “The flip side is that they lack staff that is trained in forestry and windbreak renovation, so we’ll be providing workshops and technical trainings for NRCS and NRD staff to increase the number of qualified technical forestry practitioners.”

Smith expects and hopes that by the second year of funding, landowners and NRDs will be comfortable and able to complete complex windbreak improvement projects without assistance from NFS, and NRDs will be able to confidently work to address landscape-scale windbreak challenges locally.

Latest News

Calendar of Events

Find your Local District

Accessibility Toolbar