10 Nebraska Cattleman September 2023 S T F 30 Years of Partnership-Building By Shelly Kelly, Executive Director, Sandhills Task Force It’s not uncommon for distrust and disagreements to ruin relationships for generations. Most often, those issues could be resolved with honest and direct conversations. This is exactly how the Sandhills Task Force (STF) was formed 30 years ago. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was conflict between Sandhills ranchers and conservation agencies and organizations for various reasons, some of which included anti-cattle sentiments, federal land acquisition and new federal wetland legislation. In the midst of all of this, forward-thinking folks from Nebraska Cattlemen and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service got together to have honest and direct conversations. Each party discovered that their goals were nearly all the same, they just talked about them differently. The Sandhills Task Force was created so that the conversations would continue and to build partnerships for the benefit of private, profitable ranching and conservation in the Sandhills region. The Nebraska Sandhills were recently rated as the world’s most intact temperate prairie. It encompasses more than 19,000 square miles in the north-central part of the state. Originally home to several Native American tribes, including various Lakota (Sioux) bands, Cheyenne, Comanche, Arapaho, Pawnee and Plains Apache, the Sandhills were settled by ranchers in the late 1800s. The primary use today remains cattle production because of the abundant forage and water supply. The High Plains Aquifer meets the surface to form freshwater wetlands, springs and seeps that feed streams and rivers. Because of the high water table, sub-irrigated wet meadows are common in many valleys, which provides an important hay resource. The abundant lakes and marshes are one of the most important wetland complexes in the mid-continent for migrating and nesting waterbirds since it sits right in North America’s Central Flyway. The contiguous grassland is home to many grassland bird species and a wide variety of wildlife. Ranchers have been good stewards of the land because they realize a healthy native ecosystem is a resilient and productive system that allows for cattle production success even in drought years. In 1993, the Sandhills Task Force, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, was formed to implement projects that benefit ranching, wildlife, vegetative diversity and water. STF founders recognized that a strong private ranching economy and community in the Sandhills required a healthy climate and disturbance-resilient grasslands. For the organization’s model to be successful, it would need to be embraced across the region through cooperation among neighbors, local CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
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