Nebraska National Forest

Home to the largest hand-planted forest in the Western Hemisphere at the Bessey Ranger District, Nebraska National Forest was created as a bold early-1900s experiment by Charles Bessey and the US Forest Service to prove that trees could be successfully cultivated on the treeless Great Plains. The 141,000-acre forest is divided into two units -- the Bessey District in the central Sandhills and the Pine Ridge District in northwestern Nebraska's rugged pine-covered bluffs. The Bessey Recreation Complex offers camping, swimming, and hiking through the remarkable planted forest of ponderosa and jack pine that now covers what was once open grassland. An astronomical observatory takes advantage of the region's exceptionally dark skies, making this one of the premier stargazing destinations in the Great Plains. The surrounding Sandhills ecosystem, the largest grass-stabilized sand dune formation in the Western Hemisphere, supports unique wildlife including sharp-tailed grouse, prairie chickens, mule deer, and an incredible diversity of grassland birds. The Pine Ridge District offers a dramatically different landscape of ponderosa pine-covered escarpments and deep canyons reminiscent of the Black Hills to the north.