JUNE 2018 • NEBRASKAland 39
base and membership base, everything that makes us what
we are and allows us to be so successful."
There was a "big-time fringe benefit" of the project,
too, Denton said. DU used the proceeds of the sale of the
property to the Commission to obtain yet another grant,
this one for $973,000 from the North American Waterfowl
Conservation Act (NAWCA). That money and $1.8 million
in matching funds from partners will be used to restore
and enhance wetlands and improve access on Niobrara
Confluence WMA, as well as another 1,000 acres of
wetlands on other state and federal areas along the Missouri
River including Bazile Creek, Ponca State Park, Elk Point
Bend WMA and DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, and on
the Elkhorn River at Wood Duck WMA near Stanton and a
Ducks Unlimited property near West Point.
There is considerable work to be done at Niobrara
Confluence. Proposed habitat improvements through the
NAWCA grant include excavating shallow wetlands on
the floodplain, removing a roadbed and filling a ditch that
have altered the hydrology of the existing backwaters and
wetlands, and controlling invasive species such as cattails
and reed canary grass to improve the value of existing
wetlands. A Nebraska Natural Legacy Program project is
working to remove eastern red cedar and other invasive trees
from the grassland and woodlands in the bluff portion of
the property. And the remains of several cabins destroyed
in the 2011 Missouri River Flood need to be removed.
Future access points may be developed in conjunction with
proposed improvements to Nebraska Highway 12.
While those improvements are pending, the area is
receiving plenty of use, both from man and beast. And it's
only likely to see more. ■
A county road crossing the western portion of Niobrara Confluence WMA, which stretches for nearly 3 miles to the mouth of
the Niobrara River, provides access from Highwy 12 to a primitive boat ramp on a Missouri River backwater.
