Lincoln Creek Prairie and Trail

Take Me to Lincoln Creek

This is a great place to stroll along Aurora's first hike and bike trail, enjoy the plant variety and wildlife of the restored prairie or just find a quiet place to sit. Lincoln Creek Prairie is part of a community greenway connecting with the Leadership Center (Nebraska Vocational Agricultural Foundation), Streeter Park and residential areas.

History

In 1983, Wilma Aalborg donated PPRI's first property, a 6-acre triangle of creek land south of Highway 34. Following this gift, we were able to lease approximately 10 acres of adjoining land from the City of Aurora. This area became a nucleus for our land management and high-diversity prairie restoration activities through the 1980s. In the 1990s, additional prairie plantings were completed across the highway north on Leadership Center ground.

The trail began to take form in the '90s, as well, and included a collaborative project to construct an experimental bridge across the Lincoln Creek on Leadership Center property. With completion of the bridge and additional trail work by the city, the trail now extends from the east edge of town west to Streeter Park and the north residential area of Parkview Estates.

Unique Features

Although relatively small in acreage (16 acres), Lincoln Creek Prairie is special for a number of reasons. It is very accessible to the community from a residential street and contains both wild prairie and wooded areas, as well as maintained park-like areas. The trail makes walking, running or biking easy through the prairie. Also, with its creek bed and meadow terrain next to productive cropland at the town's edge, it offers visitors subtle, beautiful scenery through the four seasons.

This preserve is important to our history because it is where the early attempts to plant high diversity prairies — 100+ species — from harvested seed took place. There are five different plantings on Lincoln Creek and four plantings on Leadership Center land north of Highway 34.

Stewardship

Prescribed burning has continued on a regular basis since 1981, primarily to control brome grass and to encourage the growth of native grasses and wildflowers.

Location

Located at N Street and McCullough Lane in Aurora, Nebraska.

GPS Coordinates

Latitude/Longitude: 40.870 -97.988

More Information