INTERPRETIVE PLAN Sandhills Journey SCENIC BYWAY 2013 complements the theme of “World Class Natural Wonders” utilized in the Sandhills TheJourney Sandhills Scenic Byway’s (Client) is marketingan iconic American landscape, a land that fundamentally changed the way Americans view the country and themselves. 1 Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Interpretive Plan Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Interpretive Plan 2 complements the theme of “World Class EachNatural site Wonders” encompasses utilized in the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway’s (Client) marketing a unique set of stories that connect the site to the theme and the respective storylines. 3 Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Interpretive Plan Contents Project Purpose /5 Storyline 4: The Nature of Prairies /37 Project Benefits and Map /5 Stories /39 Project Facts /5 The Grassland Birds /39 The Wetland Birds /39 Introduction /7 The Miracle of Migration /40 Thematic Structure /9 Waterfowl /40 Theme /11 Raptors /41 The American Bison /41 Storyline 1: Sea Change /11 The Black-tailed Prairie Dog /42 Stories /13 The Inland Sea /13 Thematic Structure Summary /43 Oceans of Grass /13 Theme: /45 The Ocean Beneath Our Feet /14 Storylines: /45 Prairie Rivers /16 Stories: /45 Storyline 2: Two Degrees of Separation /17 Public Engagement /47 Stories /20 Traditional Interpretive Media /49 The Great American Desert /20 Digital Media /52 Necessity and Invention /20 Barbed Wire /22 Measuring Success /53 The American Windmill /23 Benchmarks /55 Center Pivot Irrigation /25 Baselines /55 Cow Country /25 Measures of Success /56 Increased Visitation /56 Storyline 3 Survive and Thrive /27 Stories /29 References /57 The American Indian /29 The Emigrant Trails /31 The Rule and Role of the Law /31 The Land, The People, and the Legacy /33 Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Interpretive Plan 4 Project Project Purpose Facts he purpose of this project is to • The Byway stretches 272 miles through provide for the professional an amazing section of landscape, one of T development of an interpretation the last remaining unplowed prairies in plan for the entire Sandhills Journey Scenic the Great Plains. Byway (Byway). The Byway interpretive plan • As much as 85% of the Sandhills ecoregion complements the theme of “World Class is intact natural habitat, the highest level in Natural Wonders” utilized in the Sandhills the Great Plains. Journey Scenic Byway’s (Client) marketing plan. The interpretive plan expands on the According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, route’s intrinsic qualities. The interpretive plan the Sandhills encompasses: includes recommendations of the following interpretive products for the Byway: interpretive • 19,600 square miles panels and/or kiosks, trail markers, smart • Largest grass-stabilized sand dune formation phone apps, educational maps, and in North America guidebooks. The interpretive has been • 1.3 million acres of wetlands developed to comply with the Byway’s original • 1 billion acre-feet of groundwater Corridor Management Plan (CMP). • 2.4 million acre-feet of spring-fed streamflow discharged annually The Byway has been developed to bring this Project iconic part of the American landscape to the attention of the millions across this country and Benefits the world who have no concept of the Sandhills and its ecological and historical significance. and Map his project benefits the Byway traveler by planning for interpretive signage, T information/ interpretation at points of interest, and other educational products. The Byway follows a major east-west transportation route through central Nebraska (see map). 5 Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Interpretive Plan The Byway stretches 272 miles through an amazing section of landscape, one of the last remaining unplowed prairies in the Great Plains. Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Interpretive Plan 6 Introduction 7 SandhillsSandhills JourneyJourney ScenicScenic BywayByway IInterpretiventerpretive PPlanlan “What begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value.” -Yi-Fu Tuan Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Interpretive Planlan 8 Introduction he Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway There are few byways that stretch such a stretches along Nebraska Highway 2 distance across a rural landscape. The Byway T between Grand Island and Alliance, is 272 miles from end-to-end, and in the Nebraska. The Byway begins east of the 98th distance the traveler is exposed to one of Meridian, at the edge of the more humid Platte the most open landscapes in the nation. The River Valley. The Byway ends west of the 100th interpretive challenge, therefore, is to engage Meridian, in the arid, treeless grasslands of the the visitor in a landscape that, at times, appears west. With each mile a different sentence in the featureless. great American story is inscribed. The Sandhills is an iconic American landscape, a land that Yet distance itself provides the interpretive fundamentally changed the way Americans view backbone for the Byway, allowing the the country and themselves. interpreter the opportunity to explore its defining landscapes at leisure. Yes, the land The utility of the 100th Meridian as an ecological changes subtly, but it changes nevertheless. and social dividing line continues to be Rooted in the forested east, the Byway debated. In the late nineteenth century this terminates in the semi-arid west. This is a line represented, at least metaphorically, the landscape that redefined America, certainly boundary between the moist east and the arid as much as the Mississippi River or the west. In 1879, U.S. Geological Survey head Appalachian Mountains. The Byway may hold John Wesley Powell established the boundary “World Class Natural Wonders,” but at its in a report of the west that has carried to this essence this is an American story. day. Later in this strategy we will discuss the controversy over this delineation. However, we do note that the following is posted on the Thematic Nebraska State Historical Society website: “Here on the 100th Meridian the humid East meets the arid West.” Structure The 100th Meridian bisects the Byway a short The concept of thematic structures is distance east of Dunning and the Nebraska fundamental to interpretive planning. Research National Forest near Halsey. Certainly far more has demonstrated that people are able to of the Byway extends west of this demarcation. absorb information that is organized as opposed The purpose of this demarcation is not to divide to information that is chaotic or disorganized. the Byway into equal halves. We believe that The thematic structure that has been created the transition between humid east and arid west for the Byway overarches all of the communities does play out along the entire length of the and resources. The central theme and the Byway, and the 100th Meridian represents early storylines remain the same no matter the attempts to map that transition. specific location in question. What changes are 9 Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Interpretive Plan the stories themselves. Each site encompasses human history of the region. The Crane Trust a unique set of stories that connect the site to Nature and Visitor Center is located directly on the theme and the respective storylines. While the Platte River, one of the defining river systems the central theme and storylines (often called bordering the Sandhills. Each spring thousands subthemes) will not change along the Byway, of Sandhill cranes stage on this river before there is a never-ending supply of stories that migrating north to breed. emanate from the sites themselves. The Platte River Valley is also the route for There is little doubt that the Byway is dominated many of the emigration trails that transported by a single feature – the Sandhills. The numbers pioneers west in the late nineteenth century. themselves are astounding: While the great Sandhills was not initially seen as a place for settlement, it later became known • 19,600 square miles (about 25% of for its rich resources. The Stuhr Museum of the Nebraska) Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, for example, • Largest grass-stabilized sand dune formation has collected and restored a late 1890’s railroad in North America town, a living history community where visitors • 95% grassland are able to experience life among early settlers. • As much as 85% of the ecoregion is intact natural habitat The late David Larsen, a long-time interpreter for • The largest and most intricate wetland the National Park Service, stated the following complex in America about interpretive themes, • 1.3 million acres of wetlands • 1 billion acre-feet of groundwater An interpretive theme statement provides an • 2.4 million acre-feet of spring-fed stream organizational compass. The theme statement flow discharged annually guides the selection of tangible/intangible links. Those links must be developed into In a sense, the Sandhills as a natural opportunities for emotional and intellectual phenomenon is sufficient to justify the creation connections to the meanings of the resource of the Byway. More importantly, there are and arranged in an order that “adds up” to the destinations that are publicly accessible along interpretive theme. The theme is the tool that the Byway, such as the Bessey Ranger District cohesively develops the central relevant idea of the Nebraska National Forest, Crescent Lake or ideas for the audience. NWR, and Valentine NWR, that allow intimate contact with this resource. However, the In addition to providing an organizational Sandhills also offers