About the ranch
Sarah Sortum and Adam Switzer are siblings and fourth-generation ranchers committed to the stewardship of Switzer Ranch. They express a land ethic passed down from their parents, Bruce and Sue Ann, by implementing agricultural conservation practices and connecting others with nature.
In addition to custom-grazing beef cattle on 12,000 acres of native prairie, the Switzer family also operates a nature-based tourism business. Calamus Outfitters offers lodging, event space, river float trips, and eco-tours of the Sandhills.
“Our focus really started to shift from being solely a cow-calf operation to being an operation with biodiversity goals about 12 years ago,” Sarah says.
by Christina Stella, NET News
Researchers from across the state are teaming up to study possible environmental and health impacts stemming from the AltEn ethanol plant s usage of pesticide treated seed corn. (Photo by Christina Stella, NET News)
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Christina Stella, NET News
April 7, 2021 - 4:53pm
Community members around Mead, Nebraska heard more details this week on a sprawling University of Nebraska research effort taking hold in their town.
At a virtual town hall hosted by the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, scientists from across Nebraska laid out their plans to study how pesticide and fungicide pollution by the AltEn ethanol plant may be impacting human health and the environment. The 10-year study will feature researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Creighton
Paul Hammel
Omaha World-Herald
A citizens group and Gov. Pete Ricketts scrapped last week over recent appointments to the state board that awards state lottery funds for environmental projects.
The Friends of the Environmental Trust called Rickettsâ appointments to the Nebraska Environmental Trust board âunfortunateâ and âbackwardâ because the appointments resulted in a panel that consists entirely of white men and has no representatives who live west of Hastings.
âThe mission of the Nebraska Environmental Trust is statewide, and the board should reflect our entire citizenry,â said former Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler, who chairs the Friends group and introduced the bill that created the trust when he was a state senator.
January 29, 2021 - 4:09pm
The Friends of the Environmental Trust oppose Governor Pete Ricketts’ recent appointments to the Nebraska Environmental Trust Board. Chris Beutler is the chair of the Friends groups and former state senator who introduced the legislation that created the board. He said the mission of Nebraska Environmental Trust is statewide but now all the board members are men from eastern Nebraska. We think the trust is going backwards in that whole area of diverse representation, he said.
Beutler calls for more racial, gender, age, and geographic diversity on the board. He said the move violates the clear direction of society to have boards that represent all the people of Nebraska.
BY NPPD | January 14, 2021
Columbus, Neb. – Mary Harding of Plattsmouth was elected as Chair of Nebraska Public Power District’s Board of Directors for 2021 following that body’s annual election of officers Wednesday in Columbus.
Also elected were Jerry Chlopek of Columbus as first vice chair, Melissa Freelend of Kearney as second vice chair, and Ed Schrock of Elm Creek as secretary. NPPD Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Traci Bender was elected treasurer.
“I look forward to working with our Board, management team, and customers during 2021 as we look to the future, serving Nebraskans with low-cost, reliable and sustainable electric power,” Harding stated.