Sustaining prairie in metropolitan Omaha: The Glacier Creek Environmental Initiative

By Thomas B. Bragg and Barbara A. Hayes

“The prairie is a culmination of the arts, experiencing a symphony, a poetry reading, and a vast watercolour mural, all in the same moment. It is both peaceful and chaotic, a restorative niche providing sanctuary for the soul. The prairie is a photograph of our past, and sometimes our present, but, possibly, not of our future as the images are fading.” (Barbara A. Hayes, 2007)

The present

Flames leap across the prairie as smoke curls into a bright blue sky. Below, the yellow shirts of the burn crew herds the fire along its intended path… It’s spring and another fire season at Allwine Prairie, a unique, landscape-level tallgrass prairie preserve. Nestled amongst farm fields of northwestern Douglas County, Neb., the restored tallgrass prairie has remained a little-known resource, yet one that has played an important role in environmental education and research, not just for the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), who manages it, but for the entire region. Nationally significant, Allwine Prairie is the sixth oldest and the second largest of the early tallgrass prairie restorations in the United States. Historically, the location of today’s preserve once was a gathering place for wagon trains preparing for the journey across the prairie to the west. Glacier Creek, which originates from springs on the preserve, was part of this historic landscape as well being described as “Spring brook 4 links wide runs E” in the General Land Office Survey of July 10, 1856. Today, Glacier Creek is the only high-quality creek remaining in Douglas County (Douglas County Stream Assessment, CH2M Hill, 2008).

The 160-acre Allwine Prairie Preserve, uniquely situated 12 miles northwest of downtown Omaha, was established in 1959 when donated to the University of Omaha (now UNO) by Antoinetta and Arthur Allwine. Reseeded to native grasses in 1970, locally collected prairie seeds have been collected and scattered across the preserve each year since then resulting in the diverse plant community of today. In 2000, with financial support from The Nebraska Environmental Trust, old farm ponds and successional trees were removed creating an additional five acres of lowland prairie to the preserve and restoring Glacier Creek to its historic channel. Today, the preserve forms the westernmost corner of a triangle of major regional environmental education and research centers. Extending from Fontenelle Forest and Neale Woods, with their forest and savanna ecosystems along the Missouri River, westward to Allwine Prairie with its tallgrass prairie ecosystem and headwaters stream, these natural areas represent the diversity of eastern Nebraska’s natural heritage.

Plant communities of the preserve vary from uplands of big bluestem to slopes of little bluestem and side-oats grama to spring seeps with sedges. Throughout the year the flora of Allwine Prairie flows from spring colors of bright green, with pinks and whites of prairie phlox and white indigo, through summer to fall with the yellows and purples of goldenrods and asters. More than 260 plant species have been recorded at the preserve, a number comparable to that of local native-prairie remnants. Also abounding at the preserve are more than 28 species of mammals, 133 species of birds, eight species of reptiles, seven species of amphibians, and 53 species of butterflies. Of particular interest is the reproductive population of regal fritillary, a butterfly of national concern because of its decreasing habitat. Breeding bird species include the dickcissel, grasshopper sparrow and meadowlark, but the preserve is also a haven to migrant species such as marsh hawk, LeConte’s sparrow, Harris’ sparrow and an occasional bald eagle. The presence of Harris’ sparrow is particularly noteworthy both because of its close association with native tallgrass prairie and because of its status as a species of conservation concern in Nebraska.

Allwine Prairie is managed to maintain a diverse, dynamic, landscape-level tallgrass prairie to provide metropolitan Omaha with a place for the study and appreciation of our native prairie heritage. In 2007, nearly 1,000 visitors trekked across the preserve’s hills, valleys and spring-fed seeps. For individuals, families and school classes, ranging in levels from prekindergarten through university, Allwine Prairie Preserve has been a place to see and feel at first hand the broad sweep of Nebraska’s tallgrass-prairie heritage. Four academic departments—biology, geography-geology, chemistry and English—and 16 different classes from UNO, Creighton and other institutions have variously used the preserve for study. Further exposure to the tallgrass prairie results from the participation of numerous volunteers, interns and work-study students who assist in management of the preserve—including prescribed burning. For all who visit, Allwine Prairie provides opportunities to learn basic ecological and environmental concepts in a tallgrass-prairie landscape that is our natural heritage.

The future

Today, Allwine Prairie stands at the crossroads of its future. Within the very near future, present plans call for development that will surround the preserve and that, based on studies elsewhere, are likely to change the dynamics of the physical environment (e.g., altering surface and below-ground water flow and water quality), interrupt the prairie viewshed, and increase light and noise pollution. If these changes are substantial, consequences include alteration of habitat and loss of plant and animal diversity, either of which would greatly diminish the value of the preserve as a functioning prairie ecosystem for realistic environmental education and as a landscape-level representation of the region’s historic tallgrass prairie. These concerns were recognized in the early 1990s culminating, in 1999, with the creation of the Glacier Creek Coalition and definition of the Glacier Creek Environmental Initiative (then referred to as the Glacier Creek Project). The value of the preserve to the region was further recognized in 2008 with its listing in “The Omaha Catalogue of Urban Design Philanthropy” (under the title “Glacier Creek Wildlife Project: Environmental Education and Research Facility”), published by Omaha by Design.

The Glacier Creek Environmental Initiative encompasses four major efforts. Each of these efforts offers unique challenges, with some requiring particularly creative thinking.

Ecological connections. Acquisition of the upland and floodplain immediately east of Allwine Prairie would provide a broad and uninterrupted connection for movement of wildlife between the preserve and the woodlands along the Big Papillion Creek. Equally important, the eastern expansion would provide a location both to reestablish the floodplain channel of Glacier Creek and to create a wet­­- land-habitat complex that could also serve to mitigate for wetland losses elsewhere in the region. The result would be a regionally unique, interconnected prairie-stream-wetland complex ideally suited for environmental education. It also would improve significantly the long-term sustainability of our local native habitats. UNO and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District (NRD) are combining resources for this portion of the project which includes a $1,000,000 grant to UNO from The Nebraska Environmental Trust. We expect to be close to having funds for this portion of the project.

Road alignment. Present plans show 144th Street to curve to the east to avoid running immediately adjacent to Allwine Prairie. While this alignment would avoid directly impacting Glacier Creek itself, it would physically separate Allwine Prairie from the lowland and floodplain along the Big Papillion Creek. In addition, bisecting the preserve would adversely affect wildlife through air and noise pollution and increased wildlife mortality as well as effecting landscape-level processes, such as water flow. To ensure an ecologically sound preserve, it is important that the alignment of 144th Street be planned more as shown. Timing is critical for resolving this issue since decisions now, such as approving platting for housing developments, could eliminate options for future consideration.

Environmental education and research facility. Current plans are to construct an environmental educational and research facility to replace existing 1940s-era structures. The new structure, designed by Randy Brown, Architects, will contain laboratory, lecture and classroom space as well as administrative and living space for the preserve manager. This facility will significantly increase the suitability of the preserve for teaching and research, particularly for classes from among the lower grade levels. Since it will be constructed on the existing preserve, the construction of this facility does not rely on acquiring additional land. We are currently seeking funding sources for this structure. The project is currently included in “The Omaha Catalogue of Urban Design Philanthropy” (Omaha by Design, 2007).

Protecting the prairie viewshed. In a forest, one’s view extends to the nearest treeline behind which can be anything, from a shopping mall to more forest. For the prairie, however, one’s view extends to the distant horizon, where the prairie meets the sky. At Allwine Prairie, the hills that overlook the preserve from the north are the boundary of the prairie viewshed, thus acquiring these hills is central to maintaining the openness of our historic prairie landscape. Reducing runoff and pollution onto the preserve are additional benefits—but it is maintaining the viewshed that would be the truly unique feature of this landscape. Nowhere else in the region would the prairie horizon be part of the early morning or evening experience. Acquiring the north viewshed, thus, is a significant concern and one that would provide an asset with great preservation value.

With an expanding metropolitan Omaha, we are approaching the last moment in time when it will be possible to preserve such a resource for future generations. Fire that swept the horizon of our past was one of many processes that invigorated the diversity of tallgrass prairie—until interrupted over time by roads, farm fields and cities. The Glacier Creek Environmental Initiative is designed to protect a prairie site within which these natural processes can continue, processes ranging from microscopic interactions among insects on a single plant to the interaction of living and physical features of the broad sweep of prairie communities that extend to the horizon—a legacy of the past, protected by the present to ensure its continuation for the enjoyment and enrichment of the future. The success of the initiative would also serve as a model for how foresight, cooperation and creative planning can protect unique natural habitats, even in an expanding metropolitan area.

There is much yet to be done to ensure the success of the Glacier Creek Environmental Initiative, from fundraising to strategic planning to volunteer efforts of all kinds. We encourage anyone with an interest in assisting or in obtaining more information to contact us since the rate of land development provides us with a strong sense of urgency.
 

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