A rendering shows planned renovations to the entry hall at Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon. Audubon Nebraska broke ground this week for the $12.5 million expansion of the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary.
AUDUBON NEBRASKA
Audubon Nebraska announced a $34 million fundraising campaign that would see updates to nature centers. This rendering shows a pavilion at Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon.
GIBBON — In Tuesday's bitter wind and cold, 10 shivering officials picked up golden shovels near the Platte River and broke ground for the $12.5 million expansion of the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary.
As if on cue, a few sandhill cranes cried in the background.
“If we didn’t have the Platte River, we wouldn’t have the stars of the show,†said Kristal Stoner, executive director of Audubon Great Plains, which includes Nebraska and the Dakotas. “We have a growing chorus of people advocating for birds and the river.â€
Nearly 75 guests huddled close to Rowe's north wall, listening. Stoner added that central Nebraska's Platte River corridor is the only place in the world where more than 650,000 sandhill cranes gather in early spring. They feed here for six weeks before heading north to Alaska.
Like the cranes, people flock here in early spring, too. Since crane season started in mid-February, Rowe Sanctuary has seen visitors from 45 states and 30 countries, including Europe, Africa and the tip of South America.
When the National Audubon Society created Rowe Sanctuary in 1974, it was intended to be just a sanctuary, Bill Taddicken, director at Rowe, said. “We didn’t encourage people to come, but in the 1990s, we began to see ecotourism as a model. In 1997, 500 people came to see the cranes. This year, so far, it’s been 33,000,†he said.
Now, Rowe needs to expand. By early May, work will begin on a $12.5 million expansion project, both inside and out. Taddicken hopes it is completed by the 2024 crane season.
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Rowe Sanctuary, owned by the National Audubon Society, is located at 44490 Elm Island Road, between Gibbon and Kearney. In 2015, Audubon Nebraska began assessing Rowe’s future needs and developed a visionary, 50-year plan.
Plans include additions on both ends of the visitor center, a larger parking lot, a wetlands exploration deck along the Platte River and a new ADA-accessible path to a blind used by visitors during crane season.
The visitor’s center will get a new entry hall and renovations to the gift shop area, offices and restrooms, along with a new kitchen, an educational lab and a large pavilion.
A larger parking lot will be created directly south of the building so that vehicles’ headlights don’t shine into birds roosting on the river at night.
In addition to the project here, the Audubon Society will break ground May 4 at Spring Creek Prairie, its 850-acre tallgrass prairie nature preserve near Denton. Work there will include repairs to the Creek Bridge, renovation of center trails and a new bridge.
Both the Rowe and Spring Creek projects are being funded by Elevate: The Campaign for Audubon Nebraska, a $34 million fundraising campaign that began in 2020.
Along with the $12.5 million in projects at Rowe, the Spring Creek Prairie project will cost $1.5 million. The Elevate campaign also calls for nearly $8 million for program support, including general operations and programming at Rowe.
Rowe Sanctuary was established in 1974, seven years after Lillian Annette Rowe left much of her estate to the National Audubon Society to establish a bird sanctuary anywhere in the United States. Rowe Sanctuary began with 440 acres and has since expanded to 2,900.
Photos: Majestic sandhill cranes in Nebraska
Aurora cranes
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Sandhill cranes on the Platte River in Nebraska
Sandhill cranes gather near farm machinery
Cranes fly in waves on a cloudy evening
A pair of sandhill cranes glide in a clear blue sky
Sandhill cranes forage for food in a field
Sandhill cranes fly over a field
Sandhill cranes silhouetted against the evening sky
Sandhill cranes flock near an irrigation pivot
Sandhill cranes glide in for a landing to roost for the night
Sandhill cranes begin to roost at sundown
Sandhill cranes at sunset
Viewing sandhill cranes from Richard Plautz viewing site
A sandhill crane flies above a field south of Gibbon
Cranes in the water
Cranes at sunset
Cranes
Sandhill cranes
Sandhill cranes
Sandhill cranes
Pair of sandhill cranes at sunset near Gibbon, Nebraska
A rendering shows planned renovations to the entry hall at Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon. Audubon Nebraska broke ground this week for the $12.5 million expansion of the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary.
Audubon Nebraska announced a $34 million fundraising campaign that would see updates to nature centers. This rendering shows a pavilion at Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon.