54 NEBRASKAland • APRIL 2015
way that protects and preserves the integrity of the site
and the land," Josiah said. "We can do it to maximize the
management of wildlife as well as protecting the forest
from the risk of wildfire and pests. We're hoping eventually
that these techniques and approaches rub off on more
landowners."
Thinning forests will prevent catastrophic wildfires like
the ones that burned hundreds of thousands of acres in the
Pine Ridge and Niobrara River Valley in 2006 and 2012.
Those fires raced through overcrowded stands of trees. In
the Niobrara Valley, cedars choked the understory of many
pine forests and served as a ladder that carried the flames
into the forest crown. In areas that are thinned, fire can stay
on the ground where it is easier to fight.
The Niobrara River Valley is just one of many places in
Nebraska where cedars are spreading. In 1983, there was
an estimated 42,000 acres of cedar forest in Nebraska. In
2005, that total had ballooned to 172,000 acres. By 2010, it
had doubled to 350,000 acres. "We've got to get this under
control so we don't have these catastrophic wildfires,"
Josiah said.
Once the forest is thinned and fire breaks established,
the Commission envisions using prescribed fire and short-
term, high intensity grazing, or a combination of the two, to
replicate the historic disturbances under which the grasslands
and forest evolved. This will help increase the diversity of
plant life and also control regrowth of cedar trees in areas
where they were removed.
Canterbury had already burned and reseeded 50 acres
of grasslands on the north side of the river to restore the
diversity of grasses and wildflowers that had been lost to
years of grazing, which hasn't occurred on the area since
Bush morning glory blooms on a September day in the prairie
north of the Niobrara River.
A spike bull elk runs along a fenceline at Chat Canyon Wildlife Management Area. Elk found their way back into the Niobrara River
Valley in the 1990s after more than 100 years of absence and numbers are increasing. They are thought to use the Chat Canyon
area most often in the winter, and visit sporadically the rest of the year.
