Browse Ambrook’s collection of funding programs by Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC)

Contact a Game and Parks biologist or the nearest Game and Parks office any time of the year; a biologist evaluates the property in the spring, determines the annual payment, and approved tracts are contracted by early June.

Deadline text on the page: Contact a Game and Parks Biologist or call the nearest Game and Parks Office any time of the year. Your property will be evaluated in the spring, and approved tracts are contracted by early June. Annual payments are issued in the spring (March/April) following the closure of the primary hunting seasons.

General office

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Headquarters

T. J. Walker

Assistant Wildlife Division Administrator (statewide, Habitat Partners Section)

Jason Thiele

Biologist (handles Open Fields and Waters in the Northeast District)

Matt Steffl

District Manager, Northwest

Scott Wessel

District Manager, Northeast

Ethan Teter

District Manager, Southcentral

Bill Sellers

District Manager, Southwest

Scott Luedtke

District Manager, Southeast

Open Fields and Waters pays Nebraska landowners annual per-acre (or per-stream-mile / per-surface-acre) payments to open all or part of their land to public walk-in hunting, trapping and/or fishing. CRP fields, undisturbed grasslands, wetlands, woodlands, stubble fields, ponds and streams can qualify. Enrolled landowners receive liability protection under the Nebraska Recreation Liability Act, and Game and Parks posts boundary signs and lists the property in the Public Access Atlas.



- Private landowners willing to allow public walk-in access for hunting, trapping and/or fishing; all or portions of a property can be enrolled.
- Conservation Reserve Program fields and other undisturbed grasslands are ideal; wetlands, woodlands, unfarmed draws, tall wheat and milo stubble, ponds and cool/warm-water streams are also considered.
- Enrollments are currently targeted within six Berggren Plan 2.0 priority areas and on WRE/WRP lands; properties outside these areas are considered depending on funding.

Payment per unit of land to do or avoid certain practices related to land management.

Easement

Contracts are 1-5 years in length and cooperators can withdraw at any time (pro-rated payment if withdrawn before the end of hunting seasons). Payment is typically reduced or withheld on acres where cover is removed or degraded (e.g., haying or grazing enrolled CRP). Access is walk-in only and limited to hunting, trapping and fishing; enrollment options can exclude rifle deer season or limit to spring turkey or fishing only.

Published amounts: Annual payment rates for OFW range from 50 cents to $25 per land acre, depending on property location, enrollment option, and habitat type/quality enrolled. Ponds or lakes: $250 for 1st surface acre plus $40/ac for each additional acre; cold-water streams $375-750/mile; warmwater streams $250-500/mile. 2026 news release: up to $20 per acre for CRP, up to $15 per acre for accessible WRP easement acres, $3 to $25 per acre for high-quality woodlands.

Contact your local Nebraska Game and Parks district office to discuss response options, or submit the landowner assistance form on the Depredation page.

Deadline text on the page: Request assistance any time through the local district office or the landowner assistance form on the page.

South-central district office

Nebraska Game and Parks helps landowners whose crops, stored crops, fences, tree farms or other property are damaged by deer, antelope, elk, turkey and other wildlife. Response options include abatement materials and supplies such as fencing, stackyards, tree wraps and silage cover wraps, hazing devices, cost sharing of damage prevention materials, special depredation seasons and damage-control permits. The page does not describe cash compensation for losses.



- Landowners experiencing wildlife damage to agricultural crops, stored crops, fences, tree farms and other property.
- Damage-control permits must be requested by a landowner and damage must be inspected; issued only for wildlife currently causing damage.

A payment that requires some percentage of matching contributions by the recipient.

Cost Share

Not all responses are appropriate or legal for all species. Meat from animals taken under damage-control permits must be offered for human consumption; antlers must be turned in.

Published amounts: Response options include abatement materials and supplies and "Cost sharing of damage prevention materials"; no rates or amounts published.

List of Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) Funding Opportunities