Nebraska National Forest

Welcome to the Nebraska National Forest!

History: The Nebraska National Forest started off as a science experiment by Professor Charles Bessey, a botanist at the University of Nebraska. Bessey, along with Gifford Pinchot, the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, helped convince President Theodore Roosevelt to set aside two tracts in the Nebraska sandhills as forest reserves. Though the land was treeless, Dr. Bessey had the long term goal of producing wood products on the land in order to meet the nation’s growing timber needs. In 1902 the Dismal River Forest preserve was established and contained the Charles E. Bessey Nursery. The Nursery helped produce the seedlings for what was to become the “World’s Largest Man-Made Forest.” Though the forest never lived up to Bessey’s dream of being a major timber producer, it still holds great value for conservation and recreation to this very day. The Charles E. Bessey Tree Nursery still produces up to 3 million seedlings each year which are distributed across the public and tribal lands of the plains and western states.

For the lover of the outdoors the Nebraska National forest boasts many hiking trails and scenic vistas. Come on out and have a blast!