50 NEBRASKAland • APRIL 2015
T
he Niobrara River is an incredible showcase of
biological diversity and scenic beauty. Thanks to a
first-of-its kind partnership, a small piece of it, known
as Chat Canyon Wildlife Management Area (WMA), is a
demonstration site that is now open to all to explore and for
youth to hunt.
Located southeast of Nenzel in Cherry County, the 460-
acre parcel includes 2¼ miles of Niobrara River frontage
lined with mixed hardwood forest and wetlands. Ponderosa
pine and eastern red cedars grow in the canyons that rise
more than 150 feet from the river to Sandhills prairie.
Water seeping from the Ogallala aquifer forms streams and
waterfalls in a few of those canyons on the south side of
the Niobrara. Some flow into riverbottom wetlands, but all
add to the Niobrara's flow, just as so many others do on the
river's course across northern Nebraska.
Rocky Mountain elk, white-tailed and mule deer, wild
turkeys, northern river otters, sharp-tailed grouse, greater
prairie chicken, waterfowl, shorebirds, bald eagles, least
terns, piping plovers, whooping cranes and numerous
songbirds, including the yellow-breasted chat, for which the
Story and photos by Eric Fowler
Chat Canyon
Preserving a
Niobrara Gem
