Denton Hills Initiative

The Denton Hills landscape (in Lancaster, Seward and Saline counties) is a primarily privately owned, intact prairie system that is approaching a tipping point as threats – encroaching cedar trees, highly variable landowner management – contribute to habitat decline. Within the Denton Hills, SCPAC serves as an anchor to one of Nebraska’s largest remaining tallgrass prairie complexes. SCPAC encompasses 1,010 acres of virgin and restored prairie, and 100 acres of native oak woodlands and riparian areas. 

SCPAC uses grazing, haying, prescribed fire, rest, herbicide applications, and mechanical removal of unwanted plant species to manage its property. Over the last three years, as a partner with the Tri County Prescribed Burn Association (TCPBA), we have worked with local landowners to provide access to equipment, training, and technical advice to conduct prescribed burns and other management practices on their own land. All this work has an emphasis on expanding and connecting existing tallgrass prairie environments to create larger, contiguous blocks of habitat. Demand for this type of landowner assistance has increased in recent years due to expanding woody encroachment and prairie fragmentation. SCPAC is positioned to serve as a demonstration site for landowners, public land managers, and the public, and will provide storage space, equipment, and assistance with maintenance/repairs of TCPBA-owned equipment. 

Encouraging the wise management of tallgrass prairie habitat will have a positive impact on local populations of grassland birds. This group of birds – which have been showing steady population declines over the past decades – needs healthy, connected areas of prairie as breeding grounds and migration stopovers. 

SCPAC staff and volunteers have been conducting regular breeding bird surveys on Audubon property for over 10 years. This data is being studied to see how the grassland birds are being impacted by our habitat management.