The Nebraska National Forest is a

United States National Forest In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed by ...

located within the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. The total area of the national forest is 141,864 acres, or 222 sq miles (574 km²). 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 Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...

, 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 1950’s. The nearly 1.1 million acres 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 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 harles 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 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 National Park Ranger, ranger district office in Halsey, Nebraska, Halsey.

Pine Ridge Ranger District

The Pine Ridge Ranger District is in the Pine Ridge (region), Pine Ridge region of northwest Nebraska. It contains about 36.1% of the forest's total area, and it lies in part of Dawes County, Nebraska, 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 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: * Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest *

Buffalo Gap National Grassland Buffalo Gap National Grassland is a National Grassland located primarily in southwestern South Dakota, United States. It is also the second largest National Grassland, after Little Missouri National Grassland in North Dakota. Characteristics of t ...

* Fort Pierre National Grassland *

Oglala National Grassland The Oglala National Grassland is a United States National Grassland in the northwest corner of Nebraska. It is in northern Sioux and northwestern Dawes counties, on the borders with South Dakota and Wyoming. It is in size and is one of the sma ...

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