Nebraska § 37-706 - Game refuges; establishment; description.

§ 37-706. Game refuges; establishment; description.

(1) For the better protection of birds and the establishment of breeding places therefor, the following area within the State of Nebraska is hereby set aside, designated, and established as a state game refuge: All that portion of the State of Nebraska on the North Platte River and for one hundred ten yards back of the banks of said stream on the land side in Garden County, Nebraska.

(2) For the better protection of birds and the establishment of breeding and resting places therefor, the following areas within the State of Nebraska are hereby set aside, designated, and established as state game refuges: (a) All that portion of the State of Nebraska on the Platte River and for one hundred ten yards on each side of the banks of said stream from the west line of Dodge County and Saunders County east and southeast to the bridge across said Platte River, west of Venice, Nebraska, on U.S. Route No. 30A and State Route No. 92; (b) all that portion of the State of Nebraska embracing the channel or channels of the Niobrara River and for one hundred ten yards back from the banks of such stream on the land side in Boyd and Holt Counties, extending from the west line of Boyd and Holt Counties on the west to State Highway No. 11 on the east; and (c) all that portion of the State of Nebraska on the North Platte River, and for one hundred ten yards on each side of the banks of the stream in sections twenty-one, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, thirty-four, thirty-five, and thirty-six, township fourteen north, range thirty, west of the sixth principal meridian, Lincoln County, Nebraska.

(3) For purposes of sections 37-701 to 37-708, the banks of said stream means the banks of the river which are the elevation of ground which confines the water at a level not exceeding flood stage.

This section neither includes nor excludes man-made waterways from the "banks of the river." Instead, the Department of Natural Resources has the responsibility to determine whether any particular waterway should be considered part of the banks of the river. Scofield v. State, 276 Neb. 215, 753 N.W.2d 345 (2008).

Game Refuge Act was sustained as constitutional against contention that it was special law for protection of game and fish. Bauer v. State Game, Forestation and Parks Com., 138 Neb. 436, 293 N.W. 282 (1940).