JUNE 2018 • NEBRASKAland 51
on horseback." Recently, Julie heard
rifle shots and redirected her horse to
investigate. Coming around a bend
she found a man sighting in his rifle.
Stunned to see her, the man declared,
"I've been coming out here for 47
years, and I've never seen another
person!"
"I often get puzzled looks when I
tell people where I work," Bain said.
"There's a forest in Nebraska!?"
"But the locals know it well. It's a
playground for them."
Julie looks after the land's well-
being and to remain healthy, grasslands
need fire. "Prairies evolved with fire,"
said Bain. "To maintain a healthy
ecosystem our goal is to burn 10,000
acres each year." Controlled burns
are much about getting rid of invasive
plants like cedar trees that can overtake
grasslands. "From an ecological
standpoint, this land is amazingly
intact," Bain said. "It didn't get plowed
up during the Dust Bowl, grazing
has been well managed, and invasive
species don't do well here."
Pocket gophers rule by sheer quantity
within mounds that carpet the Forest's
hills, but large animal tracks are
perpetually visible. It's sand, so their
every step leaves a print – something
we hard-dirt people find mesmerizing.
Walk far enough in these hills and
you may flush a covey of quail or
sharp-tailed grouse, the flying jugs of
the prairie. Accompanied by songbirds
you will likely spook deer, maybe
turkeys, perhaps a distant antelope.
Evenings bring crickets, yipping
coyotes, hooting owls, and emerging
badgers. As people bed down for the
night among the trees rooted deeply in
sand, engines cooled, horses resting,
the Forest comes alive.
This is Nebraska's paradoxical
masterpiece. As the Dismal and
Middle Loup waters flow silently
past, the legacy of Dr. Bessey and his
determined associates lives on.
■
Mark Harris is the Associate Director
of the University of Nebraska State
Museum.
Alia Bejot of Ainsworth drops her line off the deck overlooking the Forest's pond.
