The Niobrara Valley Preserve is a 56,000 acre conservation area in Brown and Keya Paha counties of Nebraska owned by The Nature Conservancy. Prior to the European settlement the Niobrara River valley was grazed by large herds of bison and other prairie animals. In the nineteenth century the Ponca Indians inhabited the area near the mouth of the river and …
The Niobrara Valley Preserve is a 56,000 acre conservation area in Brown and Keya Paha counties of Nebraska owned by The Nature Conservancy. Prior to the European settlement the Niobrara River valley was grazed by large herds of bison and other prairie animals. In the nineteenth century the Ponca Indians inhabited the area near the mouth of the river and the nomadic Lakota or Sioux and other nomadic tribes ranged over the remainder of the watershed. Ranchers began to graze cattle in the region in the 1870s and homesteaders established farms and small ranches here in the 1880s. Most of the Niobrara Valley, however, was not suitable for farming. Most of the farmers soon left and in the twentieth century land was primarily used for grazing cattle on large ranches. With the decline of agriculture the population of Brown and Keya Paha counties decreased substantially between 1890 and 2010.
Location: Brown Cherry and Keya Paha counties, Nebraska
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