Nebraska's Saline Wetlands
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NEBRASKAland Magazine
Parks Commission, respectively. In 1991, NEBRASKAland
Magazine elevated the profile of saline wetlands, calling
attention in a public way with a seminal article co-authored by
Jon Farrar and Richard Gersib entitled "The Last of the Least."
A Rare Beetle
Today, Nebraska's remaining eastern saline wetlands
are considered to be the rarest and most limited natural
community in the state. In one way, their rarity represents
what we have lost. But their rarity and increasing public
awareness have also assigned them high priority for
conservation. In the last 20-plus years, these remnant
habitats are slowly being protected and increasingly
connected, in part by the fate of a half-inch, water-loving
beetle, a unique conservation partnership, and the care and
dedication of many people.
In 2000, the Salt Creek tiger beetle was listed as an
endangered species in the state of Nebraska. By 2005, the
species was listed as federally endangered.
"They are mud-loving, water-loving beetles," said Steve
Spomer, a Lincoln native who grew up collecting bugs and
became a University of Nebraska-Lincoln entomologist
and tiger beetle expert. "When other tiger beetle species go
find shade to cool off, this beetle goes down to the water."
Spomer has studied these insects for nearly four decades.
Nebraska's eastern saline wetlands have 12 tiger beetle
species, but what makes the Salt Creek tiger beetle different
from the others is that it is found almost exclusively on the
Both freshwater and saline water sources feed this wetland in the valley at Little Salt Creek Wildlife Management Area. The
difference in water sources is evident by distinct plant communities and is pronounced in the fall.
Blue-winged teal, pectoral sandpipers, and a short-billed
dowitcher mingle in the shallows of a salt marsh at Little Salt
Fork Marsh Preserve.
