Ag & Range

Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

An Eastern spotted skunk climbs on a rock. This species is native to Nebraska but has not had a recorded sighting in the state since 2017 in Cherry County.

Public asked to aid in spotted skunk survey

u By Kamryn Kozisek

Ag and Range Editor

The last recorded sighting of an eastern spotted skunk in Nebraska was in 2017 in Cherry County.

This species is considered as a Tier one species in the Nebraska Natural Legacy Project, according to Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, meaning it is one of the most at risk species for extinction.

A graduate student from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, April Sperfslage, has helped to put together a public based survey to try to find remaining populations of the spotted skunk in Nebraska.

Sperfslage first learned about the species as an undergraduate at Penn State University.

“I first learned of spotted skunks while I was an undergraduate student studying wildlife biology at Penn State University in 2011, but there was very little discussion over spotted skunks at the time, because there was so much unknown about them,” She said. “Fast forward to last year when I learned that I would be moving to Nebraska to study spotted skunks, I dove into the literature and tried to learn as much as possible. Although they are fascinating little creatures, I never dreamed that I’d be studying skunks! I’m definitely okay with it though!”

Eastern spotted skunk populations have fallen across their historical range. In Nebraska the species population has decreased since the 1940s, according to Nebraska Game and Parks.

“Due to the decline of eastern spotted skunks across their range and increased interest in determining their current range,” Sperfslage said. “Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) saw a need to determine the status of spotted skunks within the state of Nebraska. NGPC proposed the project and provided the funds for a graduate student to carry out the project.”

Sperfslage plans to continue the survey through May, 2023, and hopes that they will be able to locate spotted skunks in the state.

“Recent research across the eastern spotted skunk’s range highlights the difficulty in finding spotted skunks on the landscape,” Sperfslage said. “Not only are they rare, but they’re also elusive, likely in part due to being a nocturnal species. Our most recent confirmed detection of a spotted skunk was a roadkill from Cherry County in 2017. There has only been four confirmed detections in Nebraska over the past 20 years. Given that there are currently no known populations of spotted skunks in Nebraska, we are expecting to have a very hard time locating them. That is why we hope to get other cooperators, especially members of the public, involved in helping us locate spotted skunks.”

Spotted skunks are smaller than striped skunks, they have upside down triangles on their foreheads, two diagonal strips across each hip and a few spots on their backs and hindends.

To report a sighting the public can call 402-471-5708 or email photographs to ngpc.spottedskunk@nebraska.gov.

Feb. 3, 2022 | The Eagle | csceagle.com Ag Range&

Photo Courtesy Aretta Brennemann Aretta Brennemann, 19, freshman of Kurtis stands in her handmade wool dress and blazer at the National Make It With Wool finals.

CSC student knits her way to national competition

u By Kamryn Kozisek

Ag and Range Editor

CSC student Aretta Brennemann, 19, freshman of Kurtis, attended the National Make It With Wool finals in San Diego after winning the finals in the senior division of the Nebraska state competition.

“Make It With Wool is a national contest that promotes the wool industry in cooperation with the American sheep industry,” Brennemann said. “So they are kinda sister things. It promotes the wool industry. There is a state level and contests, you make garments so you can crochet, sew, knit any medium you choose, garments out of wool. Then you model them, there is a construction judging then the top from there’s four age division and the top from each age division competes.”

Brennemann was taught how to sew by her mother when she was 8 years old to compete in the sewing competition for 4-H.

“I started sewing when I was 8 years old for 4-H,” Brennemann said. “My mom said, ‘I’ll teach you to cook but I won’t teach you to sew because I’m so busy unless you have a deadline.’ So then sewing for competition gave us that deadline to have to be done by so it forced us to learn how to sew. And I’m the same way, I’m super busy. I won’t do it unless I have a deadline, and it’s a skill I want to use, I loves doing it. So competing at Make It With Wool gives me a reason to keep doing it and keep that skill active and keep learning.”

Brennemann has been competing for four years, her mother has competed and her sister and cousin are currently competing, her grandmother also began competing. “It is very much a family thing for us,” Brennemann said.

She says she enjoys all aspects of the contest from meeting new people to getting inspiration to making your own garments. She plans to continue to compete in the coming years.

“It’s all fun, getting to meet those people and making those connections,” Brennemann said “I love that. And then the finished product just what you made and like I made this, it fits me perfectly because you get to tailor and construct to your body, your taste your design, your colors, so you can find an outfit that you think is cute in a store but there is always something you wish you could change about it, when you make your own garment, you get to change that, you get full control, I love it.”

The national competition was in San Diego. There were nine awards in the contest including Fashion Design Division, Adult Division, Senior Division, Junior Division, Handwork Award, Needlework Award, Outstanding Use of Mohair Award, Creative Machine Embroidery Award and Exemplary Construction Award “The people were great, getting the inspiration because seeing what everyone made you are blown away,” Brennemann said. “Like almost everything you see on someone is something that they made and most of the time you cannot tell the difference between something that was handmade and something that was factory made. It’s incredible. That level of competition and level of skill is mind blowing and meeting the people from all over the nation it was so fun.”

CSC students attend Young Farmer and Rancher Conference

u By Kamryn Kozisek

Ag and Range Editor

CSC’s Farm Bureau Club recently attended the Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference in Kearney.

Also in attendance was Nebraska Farm Bureau, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and two other chapters of Farm Bureau, as well as local farmers and ranchers.

Speakers at the conference covered topics from every corner of agriculture including agriculture business, cattle veterinary medicine, agriculture economics and potato and lavender farming

“It was really cool to learn what other people were doing on their ranches in Nebraska,” Kristin Van Beek, senior of Crawford, president of the Farm Bureau club said. “That you wouldn’t think of doing one guy was raising cows and having shrimp alongside so it was really cool to see how he was using the ecosystem in that area to the best of his ability.”

Van Beek says the club plans on attending the conference annually noting the importance of the conference. She felt that the Farm Bureau club members can learn alot from other ranchers.

“With the human population growing, agriculture is going to become a huge aspect,” Van Beek said. “It already is huge but it’s going to become more dominant because agriculture produces a lot of our food and with cities expanding we are more than likely to start producing more food on less land.”

Van Beek also mentioned the importance of having people attend confrence like this.

“I think its really important for people to understand where their food comes from,” Van Beek said. “Yes it comes from the grocery store but where did it come from before that.”

Van Beek mentioned that she learned the most from the cattle vet and agriculture banking.

“The banker that came in talked about how to afford a farm,” Van Beek said.