OCTOBER 2016 • NEBRASKALAND 41
on private lands throughout Nebraska. Stationed in Alma where he
previously worked as a Commission private lands biologist over
the past seven years, Laux is excited about his new role and hopes
to hit the ground running.
"We have a lot of great things going on right now in Nebraska.
I'm excited to be a part of this comprehensive, science-based effort
and can't wait to see what the future holds for upland game birds
in Nebraska," Laux said.
According to Laux, producing more pheasants in today's
agricultural landscape is no easy task. Modern farming practices
and advances in agricultural technology have drastically reduced
the availability of suitable pheasant habitat throughout much of
Nebraska and other surrounding states.
"We recognize that we can't increase pheasant numbers
everywhere in Nebraska, so we have to be realistic. There are some
things we can influence and other things we cannot," Laux said.
As a result, the Berggren Plan will focus specifically on
manageable factors, and work will be concentrated in areas of the
state where it will be most effective – where habitat, hunter access,
and community support come together.
Rooster Road Trip
Commission staff look forward to sharing the Berggren Plan
with the greater Pheasants Forever community, and they will have
a chance this season.
Lynn Berggren's idea for the Rooster Roundup was modeled
after Pheasant Forever's annual Rooster Road Trip, which
traveled to Nebraska in 2013 and 2014. This year, staff from the
PF headquarters in Minnesota will return to Nebraska to hunt in
November. If the Rooster Roundup results are any indication,
Nebraska public lands are expected to show these PF hunters a
great time this fall. ■
To read the entire Berggren Plan, visit outdoornebraska.
gov/pheasantplan. Search for public hunting areas at maps.
outdoornebraska.gov/publicaccessatlas/. Follow Rooster Road
Trip news in November at pheasantsforever.org/rooster-road-trip.
aspx.
RIGHT: Mark Feeney, Mike Bell, Butch
Smith, Commissioner Lynn Berggren, and
Commissioner Robert Allen pose after
their upland hunt at Sherman Reservoir.
BELOW: Josh Kounovsky pats his black
Labrador retriever, Hutch, for a job well
done during the commissioners' Rooster
Roundup hunt in northeastern Nebraska.
Kounovsky is a NGPC wildlife biologist.
PHOTO
BY
JENNY
NGUYEN
PHOTO
BY
JULIE
GEISER
