Ducks Unlimited has established a $30,000 endowment fund to further close the property tax gap created when land has been acquired for waterfowl conservation.
Tim Horst, Ducks Unlimited’s Nebraska land manager, of Edgar, announced the endowment during the Clay County Board of Supervisors’ regular meeting on Nov. 12 at the courthouse in Clay Center.
“It’ll help pay the difference,” he said.
Clay County has 16 designated waterfowl protection areas, totaling 6,709 acres, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Land repurposed for federal wildlife refuge is exempt from property taxes, as is the 35,000-acre federal U.S. Meat Animal Research Center situated between Clay Center, Fairfield, and Glenvil. A total of approximately 11.3 percent of Clay County’s 367,360 acres does not collect annual property taxes.