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Nebraska National Forest
The Bessey Ranger District of the Nebraska National Forest, near Halsey, Nebraska.
Location of Nebraska National Forest in the United States.
Location	Thomas, Dawes, Blaine and Sioux counties in Nebraska, U.S.
Nearest city	Chadron, NE (Pine Ridge unit); Halsey, NE (Bessey unit)
Coordinates	42°44′46″N 102°54′7″W / 42.74611°N 102.90194°W / 42.74611; -102.90194
Area	141,864 acres (574.10 km)
Established	July 1, 1908
Governing body	U.S. Forest Service
Website	Nebraska National Forest

The Nebraska National Forest is a United States National Forest located within the U.S. state of Nebraska. The total area of the national forest is 141,864 acres (221.663 sq mi; 574.10 km). The forest is managed by the U.S. Forest Service's Nebraska Forests and Grasslands Supervisor's Office in Chadron, Nebraska. The national forest includes two ranger districts, the Bessey Ranger District and the Pine Ridge Ranger District. In descending order of land, the forest lies in parts of Thomas, Dawes, Blaine, and Sioux counties.

History

The Nebraska National Forests & Grasslands began in 1902 as an experiment. University of Nebraska botany professor Charles Edwin Bessey, with the assistance of Gifford Pinchot, first Forest Service Chief, convinced President Theodore Roosevelt to set aside two treeless tracts of Nebraska sandhills as “forest reserves." Bessey's intent was to grow trees, which would offset what some thought would be a national timber shortage from large fires, unregulated harvest, and the country's growing appetite for wood products.

Nebraska National Forest was established on November 15, 1907, by the consolidation of three smaller forests: Dismal River, Niobrara and North Platte National Forests. The Niobrara district is now known as the Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest.

The national grasslands and the native ponderosa pine forest of Nebraska's Pine Ridge area were added to the National Forest System in the 1950s. The nearly 1.1 million acres (1,700 sq mi; 4,500 km) administered by the Nebraska National Forests & Grasslands are scattered across a large arc extending from central Nebraska west to the northern Panhandle, into southwestern South Dakota and on east to the state's center. At one point it was the largest man-made forest in the world, but has been surpassed by a forest in China.

Bessey Ranger District

The 90,000-acre (141 sq mi; 364 km) Bessey Ranger District is in the Sandhills of central Nebraska. Encompassing about 63.9% of the forest's total area, it lies in parts of Thomas and Blaine counties. It was established in 1902 by Charles E. Bessey because he believed the area to have once had a natural forest and as an experiment to see if forests could be recreated in treeless areas of the Great Plains for use as a national timber reserve. This effort resulted in a 20,000-acre (31.3 sq mi; 80.9 km) forest, the largest human-planted forest in the United States. Today the forest's nursery supplies 2.5 to 3 million seedlings per year. The Bessey Tree Nursery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a local ranger district office in Halsey.

Biodiversity of the Bessey District

The presence of the artificial forest in the Great Plains has allowed multiple species to colonize the area, including birds such as red-breasted nuthatch Sitta canadensis and the pine siskin Spinus pinus.

Pine Ridge Ranger District

The 52,000-acre (81 sq mi; 210 km) Pine Ridge Ranger District is in the Pine Ridge region of northwest Nebraska. It contains about 36.1% of the forest's total area, and it lies in part of Dawes and Sioux counties. The native ponderosa forests were added to the National Forest system in the 1950s. The Soldier Creek Wilderness, a federally designated wilderness area, is in the forest.

The 6,600-acre (10.3 sq mi; 27 km) Pine Ridge National Recreation Area is located within the ranger district.

Management and additional lands

The Nebraska National Forest is managed by the Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands Supervisor's Office in Chadron. Additionally, this office manages the following public lands:

Nebraska National Forest west of Halsey

References

"Land Areas of the National Forest System" (PDF). U.S. Forest Service. January 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
"The National Forests of the United States" (PDF). ForestHistory.org. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
^ This article incorporates public domain material from History & Culture. United States Forest Service.
Davis, Richard C. (September 29, 2005), National Forests of the United States (PDF), Forest History Society, archived from the original (PDF) on October 28, 2012, retrieved April 29, 2009
"Nebraska National Forest". History Nebraska. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
Moxley, Mitch (September 23, 2010). "China's great green wall grows in climate fight". The Guardian.
Bray, Tanya Christensen (May 1994). Habitat utilization by birds in a man-made forest in the Nebraska Sandhills (MA thesis). University of Nebraska at Omaha – via ProQuest Dissertations.

External links

Media related to Nebraska National Forest at Wikimedia Commons
Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands - United States Forest Service

Protected areas of Nebraska

Federal

National Monuments	Agate Fossil Beds Homestead Scotts Bluff
National Historic Trails	California Lewis and Clark Mormon Oregon Pony Express
National Wildlife Refuges	Boyer Chute Crescent Lake DeSoto Fort Niobrara John and Louise Seier Karl E. Mundt North Platte Rainwater Basin Valentine
National Forests	Nebraska Samuel R. McKelvie
National Grasslands	Oglala Hudson-Meng Bison Kill Toadstool Geologic Park
USFS National Recreation Areas	Pine Ridge
National Wilderness	Fort Niobrara Soldier Creek
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Missouri Niobrara

State

State Parks	Chadron Eugene T. Mahoney Fort Robinson Indian Cave Niobrara Platte River Ponca Smith Falls
State Historical Parks	Ash Hollow Ashfall Fossil Beds Arbor Lodge Bowring Ranch Buffalo Bill Ranch Fort Atkinson Fort Hartsuff Fort Kearny Rock Creek Station
State Recreation Areas	Alexandria Arnold Atkinson Lake Blue River Bluestem Bowman Lake Box Butte Reservoir Branched Oak Bridgeport Brownville Calamus Champion Lake Cheyenne Conestoga Cottonmill Lake Crystal Lake Dead Timber DLD Enders Reservoir Fort Kearny Fremont Lakes Gallagher Canyon Johnson Lake Keller Park Lake Maloney Lake McConaughy Lake Minatare Lake Ogallala Lewis and Clark Long Lake Long Pine Louisville Medicine Creek Memphis Merritt Reservoir Mormon Island North Loup Olive Creek Oliver Reservoir Pawnee Pelican Point Pibel Lake Pioneer Red Willow Reservoir Riverview Marina Rock Creek Lake Rock Creek Station Rockford Sandy Channel Schramm Park Sherman Reservoir Stagecoach Summit Lake Sutherland Reservoir Swanson Reservoir Two Rivers Union Pacific Verdon Victoria Springs Wagon Train Walgren Lake War Axe Wildcat Hills Willow Creek Windmill
State Recreation Trails	Cowboy Trail

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

v t e National forests of the United States
List of national forests of the United States
Allegheny Angeles Angelina Apache–Sitgreaves Apalachicola Arapaho Ashley Beaverhead–Deerlodge Bienville Bighorn Bitterroot Black Hills Boise Bridger–Teton Caribou–Targhee Carson Chattahoochee–Oconee Chequamegon–Nicolet Cherokee Chippewa Choctawhatchee Chugach Cibola Clearwater Cleveland Coconino Coeur d'Alene Colville Conecuh Coronado Croatan Custer Daniel Boone Davy Crockett De Soto Delta Deschutes Dixie El Yunque Eldorado Finger Lakes Fishlake Flathead Francis Marion Fremont–Winema Gallatin George Washington and Jefferson Gifford Pinchot Gila Grand Mesa Green Mountain Gunnison Helena Hiawatha Holly Springs Homochitto Hoosier Humboldt–Toiyabe Huron–Manistee Idaho Panhandle Inyo Kaibab Kaniksu Kisatchie Klamath Kootenai Lake Tahoe Basin Lassen Lewis and Clark Lincoln Lolo Los Padres Malheur Manti–La Sal Mark Twain Medicine Bow–Routt Mendocino Modoc Monongahela Mount Baker–Snoqualmie Mount Hood Nantahala Nebraska Nez Perce Ocala Ochoco Okanogan–Wenatchee Olympic Osceola Ottawa Ouachita Ozark–St. Francis Payette Pike Pisgah Plumas Prescott Rio Grande Rogue River–Siskiyou Roosevelt Sabine Salmon–Challis Sam Houston Samuel R. McKelvie San Bernardino San Isabel San Juan Santa Fe Sawtooth Sequoia Shasta–Trinity Shawnee Shoshone Sierra Siuslaw Six Rivers St. Joe Stanislaus Sumter Superior Tahoe Talladega Tombigbee Tongass Tonto Tuskegee Uinta Umatilla Umpqua Uncompahgre Uwharrie Wallowa–Whitman Wasatch–Cache Wayne Wenatchee White Mountain White River Willamette William B. Bankhead
List of former national forests of the United States

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