Discover one of Nebraska’s hidden gems just a short drive from Lincoln! Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center invites you to explore more than 1,160 acres of tallgrass prairie and associated habitats, join us for special programming, or check out our visitor center.
General Admission: Free
Group Tours: A 45-minute to one-hour guided tour is $10/person (minimum of 6 people). Email scp@audubon.org to schedule .
Our 4-mile trail system winds through tallgrass prairie, woodland, riparian, wetland, and restored habitats. Most trails are mowed; the ones around the visitor center are accessible and covered in crushed limestone. Guests are welcome to use the trails and grounds when the visitor center is closed. Trails are open sunrise to sunset throughout the year.
Animals and vehicles, including bicycles, are not allowed on most trails. The only trail where pets and bicycles are allowed is the Prairie Corridor trail that goes from the parking lot north to our property boundary (1/3 mi. up and back).
The 6,400 sq. ft. visitor center opened in 2006 with interactive education exhibits, a nature store, bathrooms, and staff offices. The building can be rented out for weddings, parties, business meetings, and other social gatherings. It is open throughout the year except for major holidays. Admission is free.
The building is situated upon a previously disturbed location just next to the existing windbreak. Some of the primary goals we literally built into it are reflected in its energy efficiency, and in the use of both salvageable and reclaimed materials and renewable, sustainably harvested materials. It is built using straw-bale construction techniques, a technique developed in the Nebraska Sandhills in the early 1900s. The building has accessible walkways from the parking lot to the visitor center, pond, and pedestrian bridge. Inside, there are automatic entrance and bathroom door openers. The interactive education exhibits were installed in 2015 to help visitors better understand life on a tallgrass prairie and to encourage outdoor exploration and discovery.
In 2024, Audubon Great Plains received a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to install solar-powered electrical systems to the roofs of the visitors centers at Spring Creek Prairie and Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary. Both systems are now generating clean, efficient energy. By producing our own clean energy, we are reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and improving the air quality for the region. The roof’s design intensifies nature’s efficiency, blocking summer rays and inviting the sun to help heat it in winter. By super-insulating both walls and roofs, we model the responsible behavior our educational initiatives encourage.
A picnic area with 10 tables and trash cans is available between the parking lot and visitor center, as is an outdoor bathroom and drinking fountain. Reservations are not needed to use the area.
Historic trail ruts from the Nebraska City-Fort Kearny Cutoff to the Oregon Trail are visible as several locations on the property. The cutoff was a direct freighting trail in southeast Nebraska and was active in the 1850s and 1860s. Thousands of wagons were pulled by oxen across the prairie during this time as the travelers made their way west. The ruts are used in our education programs as we tell the tales of those who used this land before us: the native peoples, European immigrants, and early homesteaders.
The ruts are in the National Register of Historic Places.
DISCOVER HISTORIC WAGON RUTS
Check out the Nebraska City-Fort Kearny Cutoff to the Oregon Trail by David Murphy, Nebraska State Historical Society
Cows are on-site typically from April through October. The cows are docile and are kept behind electric fences. They are rotated around various pasture areas during the growing season to ensure they don’t overgraze and degrade any prairie area. Rotational grazing benefits the prairie by improving soil health, increasing forage production and diversity, and enhancing livestock health.
Spring Creek Prairie encompasses 1,160 acres, most of which is in native tallgrass prairie. Over four miles of trails wind over hillsides, around ponds, and next to a woodland stream for visitors of all ages to enjoy. There are wonderful views of the surrounding countryside from atop the hilltop trails. Nature abounds: lots of birds and other wildlife, wildflowers, grasses, trees, and wetland plants. The visitor center has interactive exhibits, bathrooms, a gift shop, and staff and volunteers to answer questions. No food or water is sold on site, and there is an outdoor bathroom by the parking lot.
Over 235 species of birds have been seen. Our prairie is managed for grassland birds such as Henslow's sparrows, bobolinks, dickcissels, and grasshopper sparrows. Other notable species are red-headed woodpeckers, Bell's vireos, Sprague's pipits, and willow flycatchers. Mammals are mostly active outside of Center hours, but tracks and traces of coyotes, white-tailed deer, badgers, bobcats, and raccoons can be found.
Yes, the trails are open sunrise to sunset, seven days a week throughout the year. No appointment is necessary. There is an outdoor bathroom available by the parking lot.
Only the trails around the visitor center are accessible. Specifically, the path from the parking lot to the visitor center, the trail north from the parking lot to our boundary line, the trail south from the visitor center to the footbridge, and the trail from the visitor center east to the Oregon Trail cutoff wagon ruts across the pond. All of the trails beyond these paths are not accessible.
The visitor center is accessible. The building has automatic entrance door openers, as do the bathrooms.
Hunting and fishing are not permitted on the property. We recognize hunting and fishing can be appropriate habitat management tools, but they are not needed for wildlife management at our prairie.
Also, pets and bicycles are only allowed on the Prairie Corridor trail (see question below).
Dogs and bicycles are only allowed on the Prairie Corridor trail. This trail begins at the kiosk along the walkway from the parking lot to the visitor center, and extends north about 1/3 mile and ends at our north boundary.
For the safety of our breeding grassland birds and other wildlife, dogs and bicycles are not allowed on any other SCPAC trail.
Drones are allowed on our property only as part of research activities, and flights must be approved by and scheduled with staff.
Yes, Audubon Nebraska has recently joined with Audubon Dakotas to create Audubon Great Plains. Read more about this here.
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