During the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's spring break week, 10 students traveled alongside four School of Natural Resources instructors to central Nebraska to watch as hundreds of thousands of Sandhill cranes descended on the Platte River. The cranes rest in Nebraska to refuel during their yearly migration north.
The trip, co-led by Carlee Moates, Michael Forsberg, Larkin Powell and John Carroll, is part of "Prairie Cranes and Sandhill Chickens," a one-credit course offered by the School of Natural Resources. Over several days, students watched cranes roost along the Platte River before traveling north to the Nebraska Sandhills to observe prairie chickens in their native habitat.
For many students, the experience extends beyond observation. Following the trip, each Husker creates a project reflecting on what they witnessed and learned in the field.
To view the cranes up close, the class used blinds provided by the Crane Trust, an independent nonprofit conservation organization along the Platte River.
Every spring, sandhill cranes visit Nebraska's central Platte River Valley as a main stop during their migration, which happens from mid-February through early April. Numbers peak in mid-to-late March. The migration also is an economic driver in Nebraska. In 2025, about 35,000 visitors set on seeing the cranes had a $28 million economic impact.
