NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/831879
42 NEBRASKAland • JUNE 2017 42 NEBRASKAland • JUNE 2017 1964 – The first modern- day pronghorn hunting season was held in the Sandhills. 1966 – A Master Angler Award program was created to acknowledge large fish caught by Nebraska anglers. 1967 – The legislature removed the responsibility for forestation from the Commission, which was renamed the Game and Parks Commission. 1967 – Elk began wandering into the Pine Ridge, where the state's first resident herd in modern history became established southeast of Chadron. 1969 – Enrollment in the Acres for Wildlife program began to encourage farmers and ranchers to protect small plots of wildlife habitat. 1970 – The Commission initiated a program to re-establish breeding populations of Canada geese in the Sandhills. By 1983, when the Sandhills portion of the project was completed, 4,100 birds had been released. Dark goose hunting in the region, which had closed in 1969, resumed in 1980. The successful program continued elsewhere in the state until 1997, when the captive flock of Canada geese at the Sacramento-Wilcox Wildlife Management Area was disbanded. 1970 – What would become the Cornhusker Trap Shoot began. The Commission became a sponsor of the event in 1972 and has run it since 1987. Now the largest shoot of its kind in the nation, it draws about 2,500 middle and high school students from Nebraska and surrounding states. 1972 – The Legislature provided for fee-exempt hunting and fishing permits for veterans 65 and older or anyone over 70 years of age. 1973 – Sixteen bison were moved from Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area to start a herd at Fort Robinson State Park. 1974 – The Gretna fish hatchery, the state's first, acquired in 1881, was closed. The grounds are now a museum at Schramm Park State Recreation Area. 1974 – The Legislature passed a law requiring all hunters born in 1977 or later pass a Hunter Education class before hunting. Bowhunter Education was added in 1993. Volunteer instructors, the backbone of the program, teach students to be safe, respectful and responsible hunters, reducing hunting accidents and fatalities. In 2016, about 600 volunteers donated 8,400 hours to teach 288 classes and certify 4,167 students. 1975 – The Legislature enacted the Nongame and Endangered Species Act, declaring that it is in the public interest "to preserve, protect, perpetuate, and enhance" all species in the state. Under this act, species becoming rare within the state receive protection, as well as those included on the national threatened and endangered species lists. 1975 – Dove hunting season opened statewide. There had been no season since 1953 when the legislature reclassified the dove as a songbird. 1976 – A five-day The reintroduction of bighorn sheep, extirpated from Nebraska by 1900, began with the release of six sheep into a pen at Fort Robinson in 1981. Other releases brought sheep from other states to the Pine Ridge and Wildcat Hills, and in 2012, 41 sheep trapped in Alberta, Canada, were released north of Harrison. Canada geese raised at Sacramento-Wilcox Wildlife Management Area near Holdrege were used to restore nesting populations in the Sandhills and elsewhere between 1983 and 1997. NGPC LIBRARY ARCHIVES PHOTO BY ERIC FOWLER