What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 4pm Tuesday 9am - 4pm Wednesday 9am - 4pm Thursday 9am - 4pm Friday 9am - 4pm Saturday 9am - 4pm

Crane Trust

We welcome guests year-round to experience and learn about the Platte River and its inhabitants. These experiences are all led by expert guides.

Founded in 1978, the Crane Trust is an independent nonprofit conservation organization located on the beautiful Platte River in South Central Nebraska. We ensure a future for wildlife in Nebraska's Big Bend area of the Platte River through scientific research, habitat management, and outreach & education. The beautiful Nature and Visitor Center welcomes guests to the Crane Trust’s rare, protected

lands year-round and to the great Sandhill Crane migration in the spring. Come explore nature trails, interactive exhibits, tourism information, and a unique gift shop and art gallery. Located at Interstate 80 Exit 305, the Center is open Monday through Saturday, 9am to 4pm. Crane Trust is dedicated to protecting, preserving, and educating about critical habitat for endangered Whooping Cranes, Sandhill Cranes, and other important species in the Central Platte River Valley. In addition to offering tours of one of the greatest spring migrations in the world, the Trust works year-round to protect and preserve nearly 10,000 acres of critical habitat. Crane Trust offers a variety of options in March to make your crane viewing experience truly magical. Our riverfront blinds are located along the largest Sandhill Crane roost in the world. We invite you to book a Public Crane Viewing Tour, Daytime Driving Tour, or Footbridge Tour. For an elevated premier experience, you can stay one or two nights with us for a VIP Overnight Experience. Crane Trust members can join us from anywhere in the world for Virtual Crane Tours. Generous support from Crane Trust's donors and members helps ensure a future for wildlife in Nebraska's Big Bend region of the Platte River.

08/29/2026

Bison Stampede Sept. 26th Sign up today!
https://www.cranetrust.org/event/bison-stampede-5k/

08/28/2026

📸Happy Photographer Friday! This week we’re excited to feature Russ Dobson, Steve Sovern, and Tom Friedman.

Thank you for sharing your amazing photographs with us!

Russ- 1, 4, 5
Steve- 3, 7, 8
Tom- 2, 6, 9

08/27/2026

Last week we had the privilege of welcoming a special guest to the science team!

Chaya Gordon is a second-year PhD student in Wildlife Biology and Conservation at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Her research focuses on wood bison ecology, with goals of better understanding their diet, behavior, and impact on boreal ecosystems in Interior Alaska.

Throughout the week, Chaya helped our science team with a variety of vegetation monitoring, bumble bee surveys, and fish seining. She also worked with us to complete bison body condition scoring, f***l sampling, and parasite egg counts, tasks that both help us maintain a healthy bison herd and help her prepare for her wood bison research! This week was also a great chance for Chaya to refine her research approach and questions with Josh Wiese, who manages the Crane Trust bison herd.

We can’t wait to see what amazing research Chaya puts out as she continues to study wood bison! Check out some of her favorite photos from her week at the Crane Trust here.

📸 Chaya Gordon and Will Hamson

~ Clara Freese, Lila O. Wilson Biological Monitoring Fellow

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08/26/2026

Welcome to another Wild Cam Wednesday!

Did you know a group of pelicans can be called a pod, colony, squadron, or even a brief, depending on what the birds are doing? These American White Pelicans seem to be taking it easy. They're not doing much fishing or swimming. Instead, they're loafing, resting, and doing a bit of preening along the Platte River. In this case, we might call this gathering a pod or colony of pelicans.

This time of year, American White Pelicans begin gathering and staging as they prepare for their migration south. The Platte River's unique braided channels, shallow water, and exposed sandbars can provide some pretty desirable "loafing" real estate for pelicans, just as they do for cranes and other birds throughout the year. And pelicans need the room. American White Pelicans are among North America's largest birds, with wingspans that can reach around nine feet. Open stretches of river and mid-channel sandbars give these big birds space to rest, preen, dry their feathers, and keep an eye on their surroundings before continuing their journey.

We hope you've enjoyed this late-August look at American White Pelicans through our river cameras. And remember, if you're feeling a little discouraged by the approaching end of summer, they're pel-I-CANS, not pel-I-CAN'TS. 😉

Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time for another Wild Cam Wednesday!

08/24/2026

The Crane Trust Nature Center will be CLOSED on Monday, August 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to allow our staff to attend a funeral.

May we all take a moment to recognize and appreciate the people around us who bring light and joy into our lives.

08/21/2026

📸Happy Photographer Friday! This week we’re excited to feature John Gussman.

Thank you for sharing your stunning photographs with us!

08/20/2026

Will here from the science team!

Fishy Fridays are back🐟🐟!!!!! Every Friday throughout August the science team, with the help of USFWS, survey our backwater sloughs. We do this to examine the fish populations within these unique waterways, specifically looking at the plains topminnow (Fundulus sciadicus, slide 2 and 5). The plains topminnow is a small minnow species which is at risk within its home range. Some other species we find are brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans), brassy minnow (Hybognathus hankinsoni), and invasive western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis).

To survey sloughs, a lot of people are needed! First, one person operating a YSI Pro 1020 water quality meter reads off the dissolved oxygen levels, pH, and water temperature (slide 4). Another person records the turbidity (clearness of the water) using a turbidity tube. Next, we have two people operating the seine net, running one direction on the slough. Coming to meet them, multiple people use hand nets to draw the fish toward the seine net. Without the hand net people, the fish could easily slip into the vegetation away from our seine net. Once we have scooped up our fish (and a ton of vegetation), we start counting! While maybe 5-6 people help count, one person surveys for presence/absence of target invertebrates (dragonflies/damselflies, mayflies, and caddisflies to name a few) and soil texture while another measures the water depth, bank slope, dominant vegetation present, and slough width. While all of these activities occur there is also one person responsible for recording all of the data. Like I said, a lot of people are needed!!

I cannot wait to see what fish we find this Friday!!

📷Drone shots thanks to Josh Weise
🐟Featured throughout the photos are Abraham Kanz (director of conservation research), Bethany Ostrom (lead biologist), Elsa Forsberg (wildlife biologist), Elizabeth Martin (science intern), Clara Freese (science fellow), Ben Jones (range manager), Jaden Jardine (land management intern), Grace Trankina (USFWS biologist), Matt Rabbe (USFWS biologist), and myself

08/16/2026

What a wonderful Thursday evening celebrating our fourth Party with Purpose!
Thank you to everyone who joined us, supported the event, and continues to believe in the future of conservation.
We were honored to welcome our special guest Bill Wallauer, Videographer, Filmmaker, and Scientific Advisor for the Jane Goodall Institute. Bill shared stories from his incredible career and spoke about something at the heart of our work at Crane Trust: investing in the next generation of conservationists.
That means creating opportunities for young people to connect with nature, ask questions, get their hands dirty, and discover why places and species are worth protecting. Funds raised through this year’s Party with Purpose will help support youth programming and our goal of establishing a full-time Education & Outreach position at Crane Trust, allowing us to reach even more students, families, and communities.
A very special thank you to Cass and Gary Pietrok, our incredible Crane Ambassadors, who graciously host this event and continue to champion Crane Trust and our mission year after year. We are so grateful for their generosity and friendship.
And to everyone who attended, donated, and helped make the evening possible thank you for investing in what comes next.
Want to help us continue building the future of conservation through Education & Outreach?
Make a gift today:
https://cranetrust.app.neoncrm.com/forms/donation-form

Address

9325 S Alda Road (Alda Exit #305)
Wood River, NE
68883

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 4pm
Tuesday	9am - 4pm
Wednesday	9am - 4pm
Thursday	9am - 4pm
Friday	9am - 4pm
Saturday	9am - 4pm

Telephone

+13083821820

Website

https://linktr.ee/crane_trust

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