Robert A. Stratbucker of Omaha, Nebraska was found guilty during a trial in United States District Court on April 26, 2016 of destroying vegetation on Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge near Fort Calhoun, Nebraska. Stratbucker was sentenced to six months federal prison and a $5,000.00 fine, plus a special assessment of $25.00. The prison sentence and fine were suspended while Stratbucker serves three years of federal probation.
Stratbucker tilled, applied chemicals, and planted a vegetable crop of asparagus on the federal refuge within a public road right-of-way in Washington County, Nebraska between 2014 and 2015. Stratbucker had been repeatedly warned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the property boundary of the refuge continues to approximately the center of the road and includes the road right-of-way. Stratbucker pled guilty in U.S. District Court in 2009 to committing a similar violation on the same piece of property. Approximately 1.2 acres of native prairie grass, wildflowers, and other prairie plants were damaged by Stratbucker from the tillage operations.
“Boyer Chute is managed to enhance and protect wildlife and their habitat for the continuing benefit of the American people,” said Tom Cox, project leader for DeSoto and Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuges. “Just because part of the land falls within a road right-of-way doesn’t allow any citizen to destroy the vegetation and manage it to their personal preference,” continued Cox.
Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1992 to restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat in and along the Missouri River. The refuge is one of more than 550 refuges across the country.
Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuges is located east of Ft. Calhoun, Nebraska. For more information contact 712-388-4800 or email the refuge at desoto@fws.gov. Learn more: http://www.fws.gov/refuge/boyer_chute/
