ANebraska Prairie

ANebraska Prairie

The Nine-Mile Prairie Management Committee, comprised of University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty from several different departments plus resource people from several agencies and organizations, is charged with the stewardship of this biological treasure. Management consists of springtime burning on a 3-year fire-return interval, along with periodic haying and weed/brush control using herbicides. The prairie has not been grazed since 1968. Nine-Mile Prairie is a 230-acre (97-hectare) relict tallgrass prairie owned by the University of Nebraska Foundation. It is located in on the northwest edge of Lincoln, in Lancaster County. The prairie was so named because it is five miles west and four miles north of the University of Nebraska campus in downtown Lincoln.

Nebraska

Owned by the University of Nebraska Foundation (purchased in 1983) and leased to the University of Nebraska (see History of Land Ownership). The initial purchase of Nine-Mile Prairie was made possible with a generous donation by Mrs. Marguerite Hall. In October 2009, university researchers and staff together with Nine-Mile Prairie friends celebrated the 25th anniversary of Nine-Mile Prairie under University of Nebraska management. Also celebrated was the 100th anniversary of prairie ecologist John Weaver's undergraduate degree at the University of Nebraska.Nine-Mile Prairie provides many values to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln community. As one of the largest intact tracts of tallgrass prairie left in the Midwest, it serves as a nationally important outdoor laboratory for the study of biological processes in grasslands. Nine-Mile is the longest-studied natural area in Nebraska, serving as the site of pioneering research in plant ecology by Professor John E. Weaver, the father of grassland ecology, beginning in the 1920s, and seeing decades of continued use by researchers at University of Nebraska–Lincoln and UNO.

This 4,944-acre preserve in northwestern Nebraska includes some impressive cliffs, buttes, valleys, and meadows - in the west you can even see all the way to Wyoming's Rawhide Hills. The Niobrara River runs through it, and the fossil beds that are characteristic of this part of the state also occupy the preserve and are under exploration by the University of Nebraska. The prairie is near Agate Hills, the Hudson-Meng Bison Kill Site, and Toadstool Geologic Park. Its abundant natural beauty does not disappoint.Central Nebraska is characterized by the gentle rolling Central Nebraska Loess Hills. This 320-acre property is divided evenly into cropland - which is used to generate funds to manage the land - and native prairie. Some of the prairie land has never been broken and is in its true natural state. Of the areas that were once cropland, some have been carefully restored to diverse prairie land, and other parts are returning to their natural state after being used as cropland. A small bison herd roams that land, and cattle occasionally graze here. (Source: www.onlyinyourstate.com)