50 Nebraskaland • March 2022
Conservation Issues
Farrar took on many environmental issues, and others, in
a tell-it-like-it-is style. His "A case for shelterbelts" in April
1971 bemoaned the fact that tree claims, planted by settlers
to cut the wind on the prairie, were being bulldozed at an
alarming rate. He pointed out the benefi ts, both economically,
socially and for wildlife, debunked myths, and simply said:
"If you have a shelterbelt — keep it. If you don't — plant one."
The story could be run nearly verbatim and still apply today.
He wrote against channelization of the Missouri River
between Yankton and Sioux City, a dam on the Niobrara
River, the incursion of center-pivot irrigation systems into
the Sandhills, and unethical hunters. He authored many
lift-outs for the magazine that detailed some of the state's
most sensitive and imperiled lands, including wetlands
in the Rainwater Basin and the rare saline wetlands near
Lincoln, and the Platte River. He ruffl ed the feathers of
many, including farmers, power companies, developers and
sometimes readers with these works.
"I think what I liked most about Jon's writing is he had really
a unique way of describing or writing about environmental
problems, and sort of putting the skewer in the sides of people
who were not ethical and really didn't care about wildlife,"
long-time colleague Carl Wolfe said.
Joe Hyland appreciated "Sky Carp," a piece Farrar did
in 2001 on snow geese after seasons were liberalized in an
attempt to reduce the population of the bird, which was so
high it was destroying its own nesting grounds in the Arctic.
In it, Farrar detailed nearly every attempt he made
to capture magazine-worthy photographs of the bird
throughout his career, the behaviors he witnessed, what he
learned from them, and how he appreciated them. "He kind
of took the people who look down their nose to snow geese to
task," Hyland said. "Jon never treated them irreverently. He
didn't like people calling them sky carp. They deserved better
than that."
Knock Their Socks Off
Farrar was a great storyteller with a great sense of
humor. Who else would, during his younger days, keep
In 1994, Farrar captured this image of a male and female blue-winged teal standing together on a little mound in the middle of
Marsh Lake, located on the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in Cherry County.
In 1981 or so, on a marsh north of Ashby, Farrar took a self-
portrait next to a photography blind he built from conduit
and wire that sat atop of his jon boat. "The two long poles
are conduit, locked in place with thumb screws. They are
the stabilizing rods to hold the boat in place, except when
the wind hits 45 mph. Should have drowned fi ve or six times
in one afternoon on Marsh Lakes, back before the carp got
in there."
