Walters will work closely with the conservancy, the Nebraska Game and Parks and Commission, the Fish and Wildlife Service and other partners to develop and advance conservation on private lands in the Big Bend reach of the Platte River from Gothenburg to Columbus. His office will be housed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners Program in Grand Island.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the Nature Conservancy signed a cooperative agreement in July 2001 to initiate the partnership.

The partnership combines resources from these agencies and other public and private partners with willing landowners who are interested in assistance to make improvements on their land for livestock production and wildlife.

"We are very excited to have Rich on board," said John Heaston, the conservancy's Platte River Program director. "He will work with our conservation partners and landowners to add capacity to an already successful program."

Heaston said that along with Tim Tunnell, who is grassland manager, Walters will be able to do more with channel restoration, grazing management, and grassland and wetland restoration and monitoring.

Walters earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in wildlife biology from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. His graduate work focused on invasive species management within the Rainwater Basin, and he has experience as a wildlife biologist with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Walters, a lifelong Nebraska resident, lives in Kearney with his wife, son and daughter.