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Smallest of the Rocky Mountain region's grasslands, the 94,400-acre Oglala National Grassland, named for the Oglala Lakota Sioux, is in the northwest panhandle of Nebraska.
There is a diverse abundance of wildlife, including pronghorn, turkey, mule deer, white-tailed deer, sharptail grouse, swift fox, burrowing owl and prairie dog.
The 30-million-year-old "badlands" moonscape of Toadstool Park on the grassland is noted for unusual geologic formations and critical fossil deposits. It also contains the longest known mammal trackway of the Oligocene epoch.
This trackway, extending one mile, is featured in an interpretive kiosk. A one-mile loop trail from the campground highlights many examples of eroded clay and sandstone formations.
A reconstructed sod house provides a look into the past when homesteaders on the prairie used the only abundant building material available. This area has six picnic tables and fire grates, and fully-accessible vault toilets.
Fossils and artifacts at Toadstool are protected by federal laws. A $5 camping fee or a $3 per vehicle daily use fee is charged during summer.
The grassland is also home to the Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed. When farmer and amateur archaeologist Albert Meng discovered bones sticking up out of an eroding bank nearly 50 years ago, he could not have imagined how important his discovery would become. Meng and his friend Bill Hudson tried to get professional advice to see if the bones were important to science.
Finally succeeding, the two men gave their names to what today is the largest bison bonebed of its age, nearly 10,000 years old, in the Western Hemisphere.
Scientists are still studying what killed several hundred bison here thousands of years ago.
The site is located in the shadow of Nebraska's picturesque Pine Ridge, overlooking the Oglala and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. It is only a few miles to the moonscape of Toadstool Geologic Park.
Nearby Fort Robinson adds to the area's historic theme.
Outdoor Activities |
