Valentine man recognized for helping protect the world’s largest intact grassland
The Nebraska Sandhills are home to the largest intact grassland in the world, and a Valentine man is being recognized for helping protect it.
VALENTINE, Neb. — The Nebraska Sandhills are home to the largest intact grassland in the world, and a Valentine man is being recognized for helping protect it.
Chad Christiansen, a private lands biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners Program, recently received the Grassland Hero Award from the Nebraska Grassland Alliance for his work conserving prairie habitat across the state.
“When you look at grasslands worldwide, it’s huge. It’s a huge biome,” Christiansen said.
Christiansen works with landowners and agencies to preserve native grasslands, including removing eastern red cedar trees that are spreading rapidly throughout the Sandhills and other parts of Nebraska.
“His work definitely shows throughout the state of Nebraska. He’s done 350,000 acres in the past nine years,” said Travis Connot with the National Park Service.
Connot said multiple agencies have partnered together on conservation projects.
“Protecting the grasslands, removing eastern red cedar trees throughout the Sandhills and much of the state of Nebraska,” Connot said.
Eastern red cedar has been invading the region at an increasing rate, threatening native grasses and the wildlife that depend on them.
“The wildlife species — there are species that are endemic to this place. We have threatened and endangered species that only thrive in the Sandhills of Nebraska,” Christiansen said.
The grasslands also play an important role in Nebraska’s economy. Native grasses provide forage for cattle, supporting the state’s ranching industry.
“My objective with a lot of this is I just want to keep ranchers ranching,” Christiansen said. “They are our biggest conservationists of the land. In a state like Nebraska where we’re 97 percent privately owned, the only way for us to be successful in conservation efforts is to work hand in hand with landowners.”
Christiansen said he appreciates the recognition, but the real reward is helping ensure the Sandhills remain intact for future generations.
“If you’ve been out here and experienced the beauty of what the Sandhills is like, I want that for my grandkids to be able to come out here and enjoy, and see these large, vast grasslands that you can’t see in other parts of the world,” he said.
Conservationists say protecting the Sandhills is critical to preserving one of the most unique landscapes in the world.