Nebraska Historical Marker: Nine-Mile Prairie

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[[Image:________ |thumb|center|upright=3.0|alt=________]]

Location

6301-6405 W Fletcher Ave, Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska

View this marker's location 40.871658, -96.805541

View a map of all Nebraska historical markers, Browse Historical Marker Map

Marker Text

This is one of the largest tracts of virgin prairie remaining in eastern Nebraska. Starting in the 1920s, it was the site of more than 40 years of pioneering studies of scientific plant ecology by J. E. Weaver and students at the University of Nebraska. Of aesthetic and scientific interest, the prairie, in the words of Weaver, "is composed of many different species of native American plants. . . . One is awed by its immensity, its complexity, and the seeming impossibility of understanding and describing it. But after certain principles and facts become clear, one comes not only to know and understand the grasslands but also to delight in them. . . . The climax vegetation is the outcome of thousands of years of sorting and modification of species and adaptations to soil and climate. Prairie is much more than land covered by grass. It is a slowly evolved, highly complex, organic entity, centuries old. Once destroyed, it can never be replaced by man." Acquisition of this remnant of Nebraska's natural heritage was through the University of Nebraska Foundation. Two citizens were tireless in their efforts to secure this prairie for posterity: Ernest Rousek and A. T. Harrison.

Further Information

Bibliography

Marker program

See Nebraska Historical Marker Program for more information.