25-WORD DESCRIPTION:
Preserve and restore native grassland and other natural ecosystems, promote birding, support native wildlife, provide nature educational opportunities, and advocate for sustainability.
HOW WE USE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS:
- $1 per week would help purchase 100 seed packets containing wildflowers to benefit pollinators (bees and butterflies). ($52)
- $2 per week would help buy supplies for a Nature Night event at local elementary schools. ($104)
- $3 per week would help buy birdseed to supply one of the bird feeding stations at a local library, allowing kids without bird feeders at home to enjoy birds up close. ($156)
- $5 per week would help pay for a bus to take a class of elementary kids to one of our prairies. ($260)
A STORY FROM OUR AGENCY:
Wachiska owns nine prairies in southeast Nebraska and they contain some of the highest quality remnants of Nebraska's tall-grass prairies. We conduct prairie discovery days with several local elementary schools on some of these sites. We provide naturalists to educate the kids about prairies. Topics like pollinators, the plants (grasses and flowers), the wildlife (insects, invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and birds), soil, and the history of the area are discussed. These opportunities are sometimes the first time a child has experienced nature, a prairie, been outside the city, or been to a site other than a city park. Children are amazed at the discoveries they make on the prairies and they frequently comment that this was the best field trip they have ever been on. Some children return to the prairies with their families, as all nine of our prairies are open and free to the public. We have had a few young people contact us years later and tell us that field trip started a career in the sciences or conservation. A simple field trip to a prairie can have a lasting impression.
ADDRESS/PHONE:
4547 Calvert St., Ste 10
Lincoln, NE 68506
402-486-4846
