1859 – Territorial
legislature passed laws
restricting hunting and
limiting weapons.
1860 – The Council and
House of Representatives
of the Territory of Nebraska
set the first seasons for deer,
elk, turkey, quail, grouse
and woodcock. As wildlife
declined, other species were
added and seasons became
more restrictive. Yet it
would be 40 years before
state legislators provided for
enforcement of game and
fish laws.
1873 – The first
documented fish stocking
in Nebraska occurred by
accident when a west-
bound train derailed on the
Elkhorn River near Fremont,
dumping a car carrying
300,000 fish.
1875 – Game laws were
amended to protect
the wild bison
with a closed
season, the
same year
the once abundant animal
was nearly extirpated from
the state.
1879 – The Nebraska
Legislature passed a bill
creating the three-man Fish
Commission.
1881 – The Commission
purchased what
would
become the Gretna Fish
Hatchery, and later, part of
Schramm Park SRA, and
began raising and stocking
fish in waters throughout the
state. This included German
carp, which "will be the
most successfully cultivated
of any fish
adapted
JUNE 2017 • NEBRASKAland 37
Enforcing game and fish laws was the primary responsibility of the Commission in its early
years. By 1933, when these game wardens posed for a photo, the agency employed 18 game
wardens in 15 districts across the state.
Game laws protected the
American bison by closing the
season in 1875 – just before
they were nearly wiped out by
over-hunting and shooting.
NGPC
LIBRARY
ARCHIVES
BISON
PHOTO
BY
JUSTIN
HAAG
