Arboretum brings native plants to towns across Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – The town of Battle Creek preserves their history with Heritage Park, a small plot of land with historic buildings and a teepee. But visitors are walking in the footsteps of their ancestors as soon as they walk through the park’s gates.

This summer, the Heritage Park Committee and volunteers installed plants that the Pawnee tribes would recognize.

“We’re trying very hard in this project to be able to have this be a community project,” said Marcie Sextro, member of the Heritage Park Committee. “But it’s also an education project and that’s the reason we put native plants and grasses in.”

Native Americans would have plants for medicinal and religious purposes. Examples include purple coneflowers, milkweed, service berries, white sage and sand cherry. Some of these species will be used by the museum to host cooking demonstrations.

“(Native plants) provide habitat. They provide biodiversity. They provide a working landscape that handles storm water,” said Sarah Buckley, a Nebraska Statewide Arboretum sustainable landscape specialist. “But they also create a sense of place. they tell us that we’re in Nebraska and that we’re proud to be in Nebraska.”

The plants are also built to withstand the Midwestern seasons.

“Once native plants are established in the landscape they require less water and to a certain extent, less maintenance than other exotic plants that you might be putting in your landscape,” said Brad Kindler, Nebraska Forest Service project manager and sustainable landscape specialist. “Native plants also this time of year are starting to flower and attracting a ton of pollinators.”

The Battle Creek Heritage Park Committee reached out to Buckley last October, and they planned for the project throughout the winter. The site was prepped in late spring. The Arboretum and Forest Service joined volunteers for planting on June 6, and they finished on June 30.

Together, Sextro said they planted 341 plants and over 40 bushes and trees. Rows of purple and yellow flowers were planted in honor of Battle Creek Public Schools colors. High school students in the Future Farmers of America helped install the plants.

“The FFA students can work with the state arboretum anytime they want to,” Kindler said with a smile. “They really know how to work. They were hands-on the whole time and required very little instruction.”

Two students are also assisting with the garden’s maintenance throughout the summer.

“A lot of kids think that this just kind of sat here,” said Macey Moore, the Battle Creek FFA President. “So redoing it and coming up with all of these new plants that are specifically made to thrive in Battle Creek, Nebraska is really cool. I think some of the younger kids in the elementary- I think we’re going to try to get them to visit over here.”

Some of the park’s historic treasures include a statue of Pawnee Chief Petalesharu and a school house. Volunteers also fixed up an old-timey doctor’s office turned museum with a mural of Battle Creek’s past inside.

The Skala Timber House is a unique asset because it’s the only building of its kind in Nebraska. The two-room cabin that was constructed in 1868 by a cabinet-builder who used Czech carpentry skills. The park’s second phase focuses on a walkway throughout the area, but the third phase will be directed toward restoring the Czech house.

The committee is searching for groups, perhaps with a Czech background, who would like to help. Restoration is needed especially for the house’s roof and foundation.

“It’s fallen into disrepair over the decades recently,” said Ginger Howser, Heritage Park Committee member. “We’re looking for people who can help physically restore it, financially restore it and also bring the history of the Czech culture back into the cabin.”

The committee has a quote for the cabin, and Howser said it could take $70-80,000 to repair. The entire Heritage Park restoration effort will take $200-250,000 with all the garden, walkway and cabin combined.

“We just have so many gifts and talents and diverse culture here,” Howser said. “It just kind of brings all the community together because there’s a little bit of everything.”

The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum and Nebraska Forest Service are encouraging communities to apply for grants and for shade trees. The organizations are planning for a tree-planting project at the Syracuse Area Health Center in the future.

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