The Doane College Aldrich Prairie Research Site is located 40 miles west of Crete near Grafton, Nebraska. It consists of about 50 acres of wetland and prairie. The site also includes a black-tailed prairie dog colony. This combination of habitats in one location is unique to this area. The prairie dog colony, for example, is the eastern-most colony in Nebraska. It is therefore extremely rare and of high conservation value.
For its efforts at the site Doane College received the Conservation Education Award from the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. Each year, the federation honors select Nebraskans for conservation of the state's fish, wildlife and natural resources. The award recognizes the college's efforts to protect and preserve the prairie/wetland complex and associated wildlife communities and its use of the land as an outdoor laboratory.
Concerns have been raised regarding destruction of prairie dog habitat and accompanying population decline. The historical populations of the prairie dog have been reduced by 99 percent due to hunting, poisoning, and loss of a prairie habitat.
Wetlands are important ecosystems as well. They provide many beneficial functions that include aquifer recharge, water cleansing, and habitat for plants and animals. The Prairie Research Site consists of a type of wetland called a rainwater basin.
This area provides a focus for biology undergraduate research and study in such areas as microbiology of wetlands, animal behavior and genetics studies, plant science, and the ecology of the prairie. The site is currently being enlarged by an additional 13 acres. This provides opportunities for prairie restoration and prairie dog colony expansion projects.
Undergraduate research is planned or underway in the departments of history, physics, biology, and information science and technology. The Prairie Research Site has also been used in classes such as Introductory Biology, Ecology, Wetlands Biology, Analytical Chemistry, and Animal Behavior.
Find out how the research site will help in the classroom