Nebraskaland

NEBRASKAland Aug/Sept 2018

NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.

Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1008599

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Nebraska's Saline Wetlands • NEBRASKAland Magazine a myriad of seeps and springs and is nearly as salty as the ocean, coming from deep upwellings of water infused with salt passing through layers of limestone bedrock and Dakota sandstone laid down ages ago when the Great Plains was a vast inland sea. It is this salt in the water that formed a white crust at the surface when the wetlands would periodically dry out that brought hope of economic opportunity to the area and helped establish Lincoln in the 1860s. The commercial salt mining industry was short lived, but it did serve its purpose long enough to help Lincoln set roots as a thriving community and Nebraska's capital city. Growth and Decline To accommodate the growth of Lincoln over the next century and the inevitable building into the floodplains, saline wetlands were drained, filled in and covered. Salt Creek was channelized and straightened for flood control and to transport wastewater away from the city. As the channels were straightened and the banks modified the channel cut deeper, velocities of water in those channels Nebraska's eastern saline wetlands (inside the green border) are contained within the Salt Creek watershed, a 1,627-square- mile watershed that encompasses much of Lancaster and Saline counties, and includes the city of Lincoln. Salt Creek and its tributaries eventually drain to the Platte River near Ashland. An aerial view containing Little Salt Fork Marsh Preserve, and portions of Little Salt Springs and Little Salt Creek West Wildlife Management Area, shows off these connected conservation lands at the peak of fall color. The long-term integrity of our remnant saline wetlands and tallgrass prairies is dependent on scale, connecting these lands together.

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