Conservation Easements Program No Longer Just Preserves Grasslands but, Keeps Plots in Production

Posted on: Friday, 25 July 2008, 03:00 CDT By Leslie Reed, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Jul. 25--ALDA, Neb. -- An unusual agreement on a 150-acre field near the Platte River has helped a young farmer purchase his first tract of land and the Nature Conservancy to protect habitat for whooping cranes and other migratory birds. The conservation easement on Troy Rainforth's soybean field is unusual because it allows wildlife habitat to also be farmed, said John T. Heaston of Cozad, Neb., director of the Nature Conservancy's Platte River Program. Heaston said such agreements could become a valuable tool in efforts to restore as much as 29,000 acres of wildlife habitat under the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, which involves Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and the federal government. The Rainforth field is located about 15... [read full story]