As the Equinox nears, it’s time to start planning spring camping adventures!
Spring (May/June) and fall (September/October) are the best times to visit the Nebraska Sand Hills. Summer temperatures can get quite hot and winter is too blustery and cold. Bird migration times are best. That’s when migrants join the locals to make birding a rewarding adventure. Migrating birds take advantage of the myriad pothole lakes to feed and rest for the continuation of their journey north in spring and south in fall.

The sand hills consist of small interior drainage basins that don’t connect to larger rivers. Groundwater comes to the surface to form small lakes and marshes that dot the dunes. The water is alkaline but many species of plants and animals have adapted. Cattle don’t do well with the high Ph water in the potholes, so ranchers use windmills to fill stock tanks.

The area is important habitat for resident and migratory birds, such as the sandhill cranes, phalaropes, stilts, avocets, long-billed curlews, upland sandpipers, and swans. The whole area sits atop the northern end of the Ogallala Aquifer. These sandy soils are very important for recharging the aquifer.

Sand Hills cover about a quarter of Nebraska. The part that interests me, is the semiarid Nebraska panhandle (general elevation 3000’, dunes 300’) rather than the subhumid east where farmers grow crops with irrigation from the underlying aquifer.

In the Cretaceous (100 mya) a large inland sea split North America into two landmasses for 34 million years. The ancient sea, connected the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. I thought the dunes were deposited by that prehistoric sea and then blown into dunes when it dried up. But no, the dunes are a much more recent phenomenon. (Recent in geologic terms.)
These dunes are from the Pleistocene Epoch (the geologic time period spanning around 2.5 million to about 11,000 years ago). They were formed of sediments from the early Rocky Mountains that were eroded and washed out onto the plains after the monumental glaciers of the last ice age retreated. Carried by rivers and blown by wind, fine grains of sand formed the dunes. Now these dunes are stabilized by deep-rooted prairie grasses.

The Sand Hills are the largest sand dune formation in N. America. The sandy soils, unlike other richer soils of the Great Plains, were not attractive to farmers, so the area was left largely unplowed by European settlers. Therefore, the area is one of the least disturbed remnants of the vast prairies that once covered the central United States.

Most of the area is still native flora because it was never plowed. The sandy soil and native grasses are good for grazing…if it’s not overgrazed. Cattle (many thousands now) started arriving in the 1870’s. After the 1904 Kincade Act allowed settlers to claim 640 acres instead of the Homestead Act’s 120, many made the move west. Now cattle fill the niche that buffalo and elk once did, keeping the soil fertilized and aerated.

Ranchers must manage them because cattle do not move as readily as the bison once did. Because the sand underlies the thin surface layer, the land would degrade quickly if the ranchers weren’t invested in protecting it.

The Crescent lake Wildlife refuge has a number of larger lakes which attract all sorts of wildlife. From Oshkosh on Highway 26, it’s a resonable dirt road north.

 

 

 

Before one arrives at the refuge boundary is the southern end of Crescent Lake. Camping is allowed in the parking lot where the boat put-in ramp is. There is also a field near the outhouse before reaching the lake where some camp. Walking between the 2 areas are prairie dog burrows, some with burrowing owls living in them.

 

 

 

At the parking lot I began to notice: in Nebraska, eastern and western bird populations overlap.

Here one finds Western and Eastern Meadowlarks.

There is no camping allowed in the refuge. The last few times we visited there were no rangers manning the headquarters. I think they are very short-staffed. However, at the entrance one can get a map of the various roads winding through the various lakes.

Carp are invasive fish. Rangers are trying to extirpate them from the Crescent Lakes wildlife refuge. Carp muddy the clear water and eat important lake plants. Lakes without carp support more waterfowl. Rangers use Rotenone to kill all the fish in a lake and then restock it with natives after the sun breaks down the poison. Not sure what they do on private land. Maybe carp aren’t a problem there? Many of the larger lakes are stocked with largemouth bass, walleye, bluegill, crappie and channel catfish for the fisherfolk.

Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds flourish where cattails grow.

Heading to the drier areas north of the refuge, on the 28 mile stretch that intersects with Highway 2 near Lakeside, different birds and animals are found. Numerous smaller, shallower potholes attract a wide array of waterfowl.

The plains lubber grasshoppers can’t fly, but can really jump. Landing, however, is an amusing, uncoordinated affair. Females lay 20-35 eggs underground where they overwinter before hatching in May or June. They molt 5 times before attaining full size. Bright colors warn predators that these hoppers are unpalatable to poisonous.

Time to let the sun set over Crescent Lake. I’ll add a chapter for the rest of the loop soon.