OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The nonprofit Grasslands Unlimited acquired 6.5 acres of land near the Lake Cunningham Ridge neighborhood. It wants to transform the woodland into a native prairie to better support urban wildlife.
- Grasslands Unlimited focuses on restoration and conservation of the Great Plains.
- Founder and president of Grasslands Unlimited, Trevor Pellerite showed us around the area to see what changes the nonprofit plans on making.
- Work on the project will begin in a couple of weeks.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
This woodland sitting on 6.5 acres is on the edge of the Lake Cunningham Ridge neighborhood. For a long time, this area has been ignored, but the nonprofit Grasslands Unlimited is looking to change that.
"I mean look at this thing."
That's Trevor Pellerite and his favorite tree on the lot. He's the founder and president of Grasslands Unlimited, a nonprofit dedicated to restoration and conservation of the Great Plains.
Recently, they bought this land and it'll be its biggest project yet.
"It's got a ton of potential. It needs a lot of work, but it's stuff that we're really excited to see and show people again."
Right now, the area is covered in trees; some native, but a lot are invasive.
"The reality is that there are so many problematic species around, especially in areas of development that if you don't actively maintain habitat, it'll start to get taken over by problematic species that make the habitat a lot worse."
With the help of Grasslands Unlimited, the area will be thinned out: removing invasive species and bringing back the natives, all to support urban wildlife.
"It's just incredible to me that we have houses right there and 680 right there and beaver activity and I bet most of the people that live in this area have probably no idea."
This is just one of many places in Omaha neighborhoods that have the potential to become healthy grasslands with some TLC.
"There are hundreds of out lot’s like this around Omaha that could function as probably really high-quality urban habitat but because nobody's taking care of them they're going to get out of balance and they're not going to have those native species and those habitat opportunities."
He wants to use this space as an example to show that transforming areas like this can make a big difference.
"It doesn't take anybody or anything extraordinary to make an extraordinary difference."
The goal is to get started on the project in the next couple of weeks.
