Share your suggestions for the 2026 Conservation Tree Program!

We’re planning ahead for the 2026 Conservation Tree Program, and we’d like your input!
Submit your suggestions by Friday, October 17, 2025.

This quick survey is your chance to:

• Select species you’d like to see in the 2026 ordering season
• Suggest additional species by choosing “Other” and writing in your submission
• Support options that benefit landowners, wildlife habitat, and conservation efforts across southeast Nebraska

*Please note: Fruit trees and ornamental varieties are not available, and all species must be ordered in lots of 25.

[Take the 2026 Tree Survey Now!]

Each spring, the Nemaha NRD provides trees and shrubs for conservation purposes, including windbreaks, shelterbelts, wildlife habitat, firewood, and Christmas trees. Orders are accepted starting November 1st each year. A planting service is available for orders of 200 trees or more — contact the NRD to schedule a planting plan.

Eligibility: You must reside in or own property within the Nemaha NRD boundaries to place an order.

Deadlines
NRD Machine Planted Seedlings: December 31st
*Your ground must be fall-prepared if it is currently in sod.
Contact the NRD office to prepare a planting plan and place your order.
Landowner Self-Planted Seedlings: March 7, 2025
Order early to ensure your preferred species are available.

Ordering Information
Seedlings are sold in bundles of 25 per species.

NRD Machine Planting: Minimum order of 200 trees required. Contact the office prior to December 31 to prepare a plan and place your order.

Payment: All charges are due in advance.

Availability: Quantities may be limited; trees are not guaranteed.

How to Order: Email us through the Contact Us section on our homepage or call the office to request an official order form.

2025 Tree & Shrub Species

Trees are sold out for the year! Please check back this fall to place 2025-2026 orders.

This program is a partnership between the Nemaha NRD and the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission to create or improve habitat on private land. Cost-share based activities are categorized as grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, or general. Approved activities vary but could include prescribed burning, disking, or interseeding legumes, for example. Both state and local funds are used to support the program. Contact the NRD office for more details.

Created in 1998 by the Nebraska Legislature, this program encourages landowners to establish grass or riparian buffers along vulnerable surface water resources. Funding comes from a fee assessed on pesticides registered for sale in Nebraska. Eligible Areas – Any cropland (in annual crops or legumes as part of a rotation) adjacent to perennial or seasonal streams, wetlands, permanent water bodies. (Photo credit NE Department of Agriculture)

Payments

Dryland cropland payment rate for land also enrolled in CRP or other government funded programs is 20% of the weighted average soil rental rate per acre. Land not enrolled in another program receives 120% of the rental rate plus $5 per acre, less payments from other sources. In either case the maximum total payment from all sources is limited to $250/acre.

Irrigated cropland enrolled in CRP or other government funded programs shall receive $250/acre minus payments from other sources.
Irrigated land not enrolled in CRP shall receive $225/acre minus payment from other programs.

Payments are made annually on September 30 by the NRD.

General Terms

• Contract length: Five years minimum; 10 years maximum
• Haying & Grazing: Limited (based on NRCS practice requirements)
• Size: Minimum width-20 feet for grass filters and 55 feet for riparian forest buffers; maximum width-120 feet for grass filters and 180 feet for riparian buffers; minimum size per application is 1 acre
• Sign up: Anytime, in person, at your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office

New for the 2025 crop year! Nebraska's Corn, Sugar Beet, and Potato producers are eligible to apply for a program that provides incentive payments for reducing nitrogen inputs by 15% or 40lbs, whichever is less. Applications are available on HERE (Fillable PDF HERE) and will be accepted through January 15, 2025. Incentive payments range from $10/acre to $15/acre and are based on priority areas as follows: 

• Priority Area A: $15/acre for acres within a wellhead protection area or irrigated acres in a Phase II Area.
• Priority Area B: $12/acre for all other irrigated acres.
• Priority Area C: $10/acre for all other areas.

Call 402-335-3325 for more information or visit DWEE's website

For individual county Wellhead Protection Area/Phase II maps with sections click HERE

Completed applications may be mailed to the Nemaha NRD office or emailed to nnrd@nemahanrd.org