Nebraskaland

42 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015 work with landowners to improve habitat in unique landscapes through a partnership between the Commission and Pheasants and Quail Forever, including projects to stem the cedar invasion. While the American burying beetle surveys haven't been running long enough to say for certain, Walker said it appeared that a few traps set in areas where landowners had removed cedars were beginning to catch more beetles prior to the drought in 2012. An in-depth look at the survey data and a comparison to the percentage of trees around each trap is set to begin soon. The correlation between American burying beetle numbers and cedar trees has brought additional funding to the battle through state and federal grant programs to benefit endangered or declining species. A federal grant paid for about three-fourths of the cost of Wapiti Wildlife Management Area, a 1,920-acre tract in the heart of the Loess Canyons. Cedar removal at Wapiti and throughout the region has benefitted other species native to the Loess Canyons grasslands, most of which prefer wide-open spaces or areas with a low density of trees. This includes bobwhite quail, grassland songbirds, mule deer, elk, and birds that prefer the edge of deciduous woodlands, which had been degraded by cedar growth in the understory. "We've even had a little bit of movement of prairie chickens into areas that were formerly not suitable," Walker said. "We're not going to eradicate cedars from the landscape. It's not possible. Our goal is to recapture what we can and get landowners to a point where they can manage them and keep them in check." Changed Perceptions The efforts of the Commission and other partners have made to help landowners battle cedar encroachment in the Loess Canyons, and the additional funding the American burying beetle has brought to the fight, has played a part in changing the perception landowners have toward the insect. Initially, Walker said some feared the insect's presence would limit what they could do on their land. Now some are proud to have it there. "The fortunate thing was there was a public enemy number one – the cedar tree – that was shared between our goals for grassland health and the American burying beetle and the landowners' goals for rangeland," Walker said. A similar shift occurred in the Sandhills, where landowners also feared endangered species implications. "Those same landowners were happy to find out they had beetles because it was another road block to the [Keystone XL] pipeline," Hoback said. Hoback has found it isn't hard to change perceptions. "Up in the Sandhills, whenever I meet a landowner and I tell them a little bit about the beetle and its biology, I tell them to keep doing what they're doing if they raise cows or harvest hay in meadows. The beetles are very compatible with those land uses," Hoback said. "Most people, once they learn about it and really understand how the beetle is unique and what it does that's good for humans, they like having it around. It's more of an education gap that made people think, 'Oh crap! I've got an endangered species.' Or 'Why are we putting so many resources into a stupid beetle?' It really is a unique part of the North American wildlife and I think people are appreciating it." Hoback and others who work with the insect certainly appreciate it. And they are happy there are so many, possibly tens of thousands in the Sandhills alone. "Our population in Nebraska, especially in northern Nebraska, is probably the largest population remaining in the country," Hoback said, adding that the Oklahoma population would rank second. But there continue to be threats to the beetle in Nebraska and elsewhere, including the primary cause for its initial decline: the conversion of grassland to cropland. From 2007 to 2012, 2.8 million acres of grassland were plowed to farm in Nebraska, including a nation-leading 55,000 acres in 2012 alone. "The conversion due to high grain prices had a huge effect on the American burying beetle and other wildlife species that use grasslands in the Sandhills," said Harms. Other concerns include construction of wind farms and power lines in American burying beetle range, both leading to temporary and permanent loss of habitat and fragmentation of large blocks of intact habitat, Harms said. With continued habitat loss in existing ranges, researchers are attempting to expand the insect's range. Of the reintroductions of the insect to its historic range in Missouri, Ohio and on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, only Missouri's attempts, which began in 2012 in the southwestern corner of the state have met success. "Until we understand what's going on – either we're not introducing them into the

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