38 Nebraskaland • April 2025
ne June morning in 2021,
Nebraskaland regional editor
Eric Fowler and I explored
an abandoned channel of the
Elkhorn River on Red Wing Wildlife
Management Area in Antelope County.
Eric was taking photos and gathering
material for an article about the
historic 2019 fl ood and how it altered
the river's course along this stretch. I
was there to help him understand the
ongoing changes in the vegetation as
the channel gradually transitioned
from sandbar to marsh or woodland.
While Eric took advantage of the
warm, early-morning sunlight to
capture photos, my botanical eyes,
and camera, were immediately drawn
to the obscure rushes thriving on
the channel's sandbars. It was no
coincidence that the fl ood we were
investigating was responsible for the
rush colonies.
Let me explain. When buried in
sediment and shielded from the
elements, tiny, nearly microscopic rush
seeds can remain viable for decades.
As fl oods have done for millennia,
the churning waters of the 2019 fl ood
tore down streambanks, scoured the
streambed and carried away sediment,
mainly sand, along with long-buried
rush seeds and those of other plants.
When the fl oodwaters receded and
slowed, the sand and seeds settled
across the fl oodplain.
O
Rushes Reborn
By Gerry Steinauer, Botanist
The abandoned Elkhorn River channel on Red Wing Wildlife Management Area, as seen in September 2020. Severe fl ooding in
2019 caused the river to return to a channel it had abandoned during an earlier fl ood sometime before 1938. The abandoned
channel's sandbars provide ideal habitat for several rush species. ERIC FOWLER, NEBRASKALAND
