The Rainwater Basin wetland region is a loess plain located south of the Platte River in south-central Nebraska. It lies principally in Adams, Butler, Clay, Fillmore, Hamilton, Kearney, Phelps, Polk, Saline, Seward, and York counties and extends into adjacent areas of southeastern Hall, northern Franklin, northern Nuckolls, western Saline, northern Thayer and northwestern Webster counties. Before European settlement, this plain was covered by prairie grasslands interspersed with thousands of ephemeral playa wetlands, called Rainwater Basins. Informally and locally, individual Nebraska Rainwater Basins are referred to as rainbasins, basins, lagoons, lakes, ponds, marshes, hay marshes, and lakes marshes. To the west, a tallgrass prairie in the east once gradually transitioned into mixed grass prairie. Currently, the Rainwater Basin wetland region is covered by farms, mainly growing corn and soybeans. Several, interspersed, stream courses, of which largest is the Big Blue River and its tributaries, drain this region. Riparian woodlands and upland slopes possessing oak woodlands are associated with these streams. In the spring and fall months, millions of migratory birds pass through the region to feed and rest. Along with riparian habitats associated Platte River, Big Blue River, its tributaries, and smaller streams, Rainwater Basins are a major component of the Central Flyway of North America.
Prior to its agricultural development in historic times, the Rainwater Basin wetland region was characterized by numerous playa wetlands, Rainwater Basins, numbering in the thousands. The shallow depressions, in which these wetlands occur are lined with a nearly impervious layer of clayey soil, a claypan, that prohibits surface water from penetrating the subsoil. As a result, Rainwater Basins are not naturally influenced by the water table and the sole source of water is run-off in the form of rain, snow and, currently, drainage from crop irrigation. Because the primary source of water for these wetlands is precipitation, they annually vary in depth, expanse and seasonality due to changes in precipitation regimes and are called Rainwater Basins.
Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District
The Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District consists of 61 tracts of land, 59 of which are Waterfowl Production Areas, totaling managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Established in 1963, the district is a complex of wetlands scattered across a 21-county area of Nebraska. One of the remaining two areas is McMurtrey Wildlife Management Area that was transferred from the U.S. Military and is closed to public use. The other tract is the Platte River National Wildlife Management Area and this property is owned by the state of Wyoming and managed through a memorandum of understanding. WPAs are small isolated tracts of land scattered throughout the District. The Wetland Management District is managed from offices in Kearney, Nebraska. All of the federally managed land was acquired from willing landowners and purchased with the proceeds of duck stamps that are sold to hunters each year.
Birds of the Rainwater Basin
The Rainwater Basin wetland region is a prime location for birdwatching; 257 bird species have been observed in the region. Species in the Rainwater Basin include: Bald eagle Canada goose Killdeer Least sandpiper Mallard Northern pintail Northern shoveler Peregrine falcon Piping plover Sandhill crane Snow goose White-fronted goose Greater and lesser yellowlegs
Rainwater Basins
The subtle depressions known locally as Rainwater Basins lie scattered across the loess plain of south-central Nebraska. The majority of them lie to the south of the Platte River. Prior to European settlement, there were nearly 4,000 of these wetlands totaling up . The smaller, pothole depressions, which are irregular in shape and do not exhibit any orientation, range from about in size. Their bottoms generally lie less than below the surrounding land surface at their lowest point. Most of these smaller depressions have been destroyed by agricultural activities such as filling, land leveling, drainage, and sedimentation.