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
44 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2018 ebraska's Pine Ridge has much to offer, and a prime example of it is a piece of public land named for the tree most prominent in northwestern Nebraska – the ponderosa pine. Ponderosa Wildlife Management Area is a 4,020- acre property along Squaw Creek Road six miles southeast of Crawford that is as beautiful as it is distinct. Pine Ridge With a peak elevation of 4,492 feet, about 580 feet higher than its lowest points along the hardwood-lined creekbottoms, "the Ponderosa" features an array of habitat. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission acquired the property in 1965, and it was immediately popular with hunters. After all, that was just three years after the reintroduction of the Merriam's subspecies of wild turkey had taken hold in the Pine Ridge and the Commission initiated the first hunting season for the species. Greg Schenbeck, a wildlife biologist who recently retired from his post of managing the property, said turkeys are just one of many species that enjoy the range of habitat, which includes Squaw Creek and two other unnamed streams. A total of 13 food plots, two water catchment systems and a solar well add to the offerings enjoyed by wildlife. Both whitetails and mule deer are harvested on the property. Elk are known to traverse it on occasion, and bighorn sheep inhabit the rough country on the north end that includes Crown Butte. Other game species at Ponderosa include sharp-tailed grouse, dove, rabbit and squirrel. Bobcats and red foxes are also observed on the property. Furthermore, skilled anglers might harvest a brook trout along the narrow banks of Squaw Creek. Birders also frequent the area, enjoying sightings of Cassin's kingbirds, prairie falcons and red crossbills. Among the Ponderosa's botanical gems is a native stand of quaking aspen trees. The Early Days Lon Lemmon, who was based at the Ponderosa from its beginning to his retirement in 2005, has witnessed the Commission's entire history of the property, and more. For much of his employment, Lemmon, his wife Carolyn and their children lived on site. After retirement, the couple moved to a house just up the road. Lemmon's family also ranched the property prior to its purchase by the Commission in 1965. Lemmon's career with Game and Parks began when the land on which he and Carolyn were living was offered for sale to the Commission, later to become Ponderosa Wildlife Management Area. James Ivins, a banker in Crawford and Harrison and a long- time business partner of Lemmon's family, had owned the property. Unfortunately, Ivins was diagnosed with terminal eb a p lan no Po ac southeast of Cr A mountain lion is photographed by camera trap while visiting a mule deer it killed and cached. The Ponderosa was the site of the first cougar captured for study in the Pine Ridge.