April 2022 • Nebraskaland 41
for aquatic insects, amphibians and
other creatures. He is one of just five
Nebraska landowners enrolled in the
practice through the Conservation
Stewardship Program, and the only
one outside of the Panhandle, where
work typically involves a trout stream.
Chromy removed overabundant
hackberry, elm, ash and eastern red
cedar trees while leaving oaks and
walnuts. He "hinged" some larger trees
along the creek, cutting them halfway
and then pushing the top into the
stream while leaving it attached to the
stump, insuring they wouldn't wash
away. Others were placed directly in
the stream. With more sunlight hitting
the ground and less competition, he is
seeing oak regeneration and a flush of
grasses and forbs.
Chromy said aside from dry years,
the small spring-fed stream flows
year-round on its way to the Platte
River Valley. It also carries surface
runoff and catches some sediment
from farm fields, but not as much as
it did before they implemented no-till
farming practices on the farm 15 or 20
years ago. "It was just kind of existing
and not thriving," he said.
Adding the woody debris will
provide a spark to the aquatic food
chain from the bottom up. It will
slow flows and create pools above
the debris and scour holes under and
below. Algae on the wood will feed
macroinvertebrates and the wood will
provide habitat for insects, all of which
will feed amphibians and crayfish.
"The nice thing there is you add
crawdads or other water-based
species," Chromy said. "That way the
raccoon isn't always raiding nests,
because he's got other stuff to eat as
well.
Billy Chromy stands beneath a tree he hinged and toppled into a stream on his family's farm in Butler County as part
of a NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program project to add woody debris and increase aquatic life.
