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 small handful of National Grasslands administered by the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. It is managed by the U.S. Forest Service together with the Nebraska and Samuel R. McKelvie National Forests and the Buffalo Gap and Fort Pierre National Grasslands from common offices in Chadron, Nebraska.
Setting The Oglala National Grassland features a landscape of shortgrass prairie and dramatic badlands formations. It is Nebraska's only region of the Pierre Shale.
Deciduous trees common to the Oglala National Grassland include the eastern cottonwood, the green ash, and the peach leaf willow. It includes the native range of the American bison. Over one hundred birds and fifty mammals have been observed in the Oglala National Grassland. The historian Francis Moul (1940-2023) wrote:
During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built around one hundred ponds and a few reservoirs for livestock on the Oglala National Grassland.
Climate and geology Oglala National Grassland has a semi-arid climate with temperatures that vary. Precipitation is of a light nature.
The region experienced volcanic ash deposits in the Eocene and Piacenzian periods.
Attractions Oglala National Grassland is home to some of the most striking badlands formations in Toadstool Geologic Park, near Crawford, Nebraska and Whitney, Nebraska.
The Hudson-Meng Bison Kill, also located on the grassland, is an archaeological excavation in progress.
The Warbonnet Battlefield Monument, commemorating the 1876 Battle of Warbonnet Creek, is located in Oglala National Grassland on Montrose Road.
The grassland also contains the Agate, Bordgate, and Rock Bass reservoirs.
References
External links Oglala National Grassland - Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands Wildlife Viewing Area: Oglala National Grassland