The Nature of Nebraska

Where the eastern and western currents of American life merge as smoothly as one river flows into another, we find Nebraska. There we find the Platte, a river that gave sustenance to the countless migrants who once trudged westward along the Mormon and Oregon trails. We find the Sandhills, a vast region of sandy grassland that represents the largest area of dunes and the grandest and least disturbed region of tallgrass prairies in all the Western Hemisphere. And we find the Ogallala aquifer, the largest potential source of unpolluted water anywhere. These ecological treasures are all part of the nature of Nebraska, a state of unhindered vistas of the West, vast stores of pure water and fossil deposits, and endlessly varied flora, fauna, and land formations that speak with breathtaking detail of the past, the present, and the future. And this is the state, natural and Nebraskan, that Paul A. Johnsgard helps us discover-through all its byways of topography, geography, biology, botany, and ecology-in this indispensable book. With characteristic clarity, energy, and charm, Johnsgard guides us through Nebraska's incredible biodiversity, introducing us to each ecosystem and the flora and fauna it sustains and inviting us to contemplate the purpose and secrets of the natural world as we consider our own roles and responsibilities in our connection with it. Paul A. Johnsgard is Foundation Professor of Biology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His many books include Birds of the Rocky Mountains (Nebraska 1992), Crane Music: A Natural History of American Cranes (Nebraska 1998), This Fragile Land: A Natural History of the Nebraska Sandhills (Nebraska 1995), and Those of the Gray Wind: The Sandhill Cranes (Nebraska 1986).