Last updated: October 26, 2021
Place
"A Sea of Grass" Wayside
NPS/Walker Donnelly
Quick Facts
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
Description of Wayside: Low-profile wayside that is 42 x 24 inches. It has a black rectangular base with two rectangular pillars supporting the wayside panel. The panel is framed in black metal. The wayside is located on the south side of the asphalt-paved Prairie View Trail east of the Scotts Bluff National Monument visitor center.
Wayside Layout: At the top of the wayside is a thin black banner with white text. Aligned to the left is "Scotts Bluff National Monument". Aligned to the right is the text "National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior," and finally the National Park Service arrowhead. The title of the wayside is below the black banner in large black font. The panel has a cream-colored background. Black text is arranged in two columns on the left side of the wayside. Below the text are two photographic images. In the upper right hand corner of the panel are two sketches of plants.
Wayside Title: A Sea of Grasses
Text: Pioneers saw the Great Plains as an endless and monotonous "Sea of Grasses," but it was much more. It was a land inhabited by nomadic people who followed the immense herds of bison. These Native American tribes knew and understood the prairie, its animals and plants.
The Great Plains are very different today. They have been altered by modern people; both the bison herds and the plains Native Americans' nomadic way of life are gone.
Thousands of acres of untouched prairie are lost to agriculture and development each year. Less than one percent of the original 400,000 square miles (256 million acres) of native prairie exists. What remains grows in small, fragmented acreages. Today the dominant native prairie plants at Scotts Bluff include needleandthread and blackroot sedge.
Image: Fire moves across grasses, leaving charred remains on the left-hand side.
Image: Prairie grasses and plants are seen below sandstone bluffs.
Image Caption: Prescribed fire is used to maintain a restored prairie. Fire, a critical part of the natural prairie ecosystem, controls non-native vegetation, recycles nutrients, and stimulates the native plants, which are adapted to periodic burning. Scotts Bluff National Monument has an ongoing program dedicated to restoring and protecting the native prairie.
Image: A sketch of the above and below-ground parts of Needleandthread.
Image caption: Needleandthread Stipa comata
Image: A sketch of the above and below-ground parts of Blackroot sedge.
Image caption: Blackroot sedge Carex filifolia Bellamy Parks Jensen, artist
Wayside Layout: At the top of the wayside is a thin black banner with white text. Aligned to the left is "Scotts Bluff National Monument". Aligned to the right is the text "National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior," and finally the National Park Service arrowhead. The title of the wayside is below the black banner in large black font. The panel has a cream-colored background. Black text is arranged in two columns on the left side of the wayside. Below the text are two photographic images. In the upper right hand corner of the panel are two sketches of plants.
Wayside Title: A Sea of Grasses
Text: Pioneers saw the Great Plains as an endless and monotonous "Sea of Grasses," but it was much more. It was a land inhabited by nomadic people who followed the immense herds of bison. These Native American tribes knew and understood the prairie, its animals and plants.
The Great Plains are very different today. They have been altered by modern people; both the bison herds and the plains Native Americans' nomadic way of life are gone.
Thousands of acres of untouched prairie are lost to agriculture and development each year. Less than one percent of the original 400,000 square miles (256 million acres) of native prairie exists. What remains grows in small, fragmented acreages. Today the dominant native prairie plants at Scotts Bluff include needleandthread and blackroot sedge.
Image: Fire moves across grasses, leaving charred remains on the left-hand side.
Image: Prairie grasses and plants are seen below sandstone bluffs.
Image Caption: Prescribed fire is used to maintain a restored prairie. Fire, a critical part of the natural prairie ecosystem, controls non-native vegetation, recycles nutrients, and stimulates the native plants, which are adapted to periodic burning. Scotts Bluff National Monument has an ongoing program dedicated to restoring and protecting the native prairie.
Image: A sketch of the above and below-ground parts of Needleandthread.
Image caption: Needleandthread Stipa comata
Image: A sketch of the above and below-ground parts of Blackroot sedge.
Image caption: Blackroot sedge Carex filifolia Bellamy Parks Jensen, artist