JUNE 2017• NEBRASKAland 65
or other natural features by placing
voluntary conservation easements on
properties. In 2005, however, their role
in Nebraska expanded.
That year, conservation groups
finalized the Nebraska Natural
Legacy Project, a detailed plan to
preserve Nebraska's biodiversity in
40 Biologically Unique Landscapes
(BULs) scattered throughout the
state. BULs are areas with high
concentrations of remnant native
prairies, woodlands or wetlands and
therefore offer the best opportunity to
conserve our native flora and fauna.
With a plan in place on paper, the
Commission now needed biologists to
make it a reality on the landscape. This
is where NPLT came to play a key role
in the success of the Legacy Project.
"As a state agency, we have limits
on the number of employees we can
hire," said Alicia Hardin, Commission
wildlife division administrator.
"Northern Prairies, however, was able
to hire staff and put them in our offices
and we worked as a team. We are so
privileged to have them in Nebraska."
Stationed in Beatrice, Jarren Kuipers
was the first NPLT employee in
Nebraska. He worked primarily in
the Sandstone Prairies and Southeast
Prairies BULs which have expansive
tracts of remnant tallgrass prairie.
These prairies were spared from
conversion to cropland because their
sandstone- and glacial till-derived soils
were often too shallow or rocky for
plowing.
In 2006, Kuipers was joined by
Kent Pfeiffer. The pair had a knack for
writing Nebraska Environmental Trust
PHOTO
BY
ERIC
FOWLER
Rolling hills cloaked with tallgrass prairie and draws lined with bur oaks survive in the Sandstone Prairies Biologically
Unique Landscape of Jefferson and Thayer counties.
Northern Prairies Land Trust
biologists implement conservation
primarily in the above mapped
Biologically Unique Landscapes:
1) Middle Niobrara, 2) Keya Paha,
3) Verdigris-Bazile, 4) Ponca Bluffs,
5) Indian Cave Bluffs, 6) Rulo
Bluffs, 7) Southeast Prairies and
8) Sandstone Prairies.
