{"id":59,"date":"2023-10-02T17:55:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T17:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/?p=59"},"modified":"2023-11-02T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T16:32:09","slug":"ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring how humans shape the ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nebraska photographer Dana Fritz is intrigued by grand gestures. Few gestures are as grand as creating what was once the world\u2019s largest hand-planted forest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fritz spent years exploring Bessey Ranger District and Nursery of the Nebraska National Forest and Grasslands in north-central Nebraska near Halsey. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Dana Fritz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The result is \u201cField Guide to a Hybrid Landscape\u201d <\/em>(University of Nebraska Press, 2023).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got interested because planting a forest by hand sounds a little crazy,\u201d said Fritz, Hixson-Lied Professor of Art. “Then I started learning about it. It\u2019s infinitely complex and incredibly fascinating.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fritz uses her camera to document how humans shape the land. Her new book visually captures the forces \u2013 human and non-human \u2013 that formed today\u2019s forest. It includes historical photos, maps and essays by an ecologist, art historian, geographer and others to incorporate multiple perspectives.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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Cover image of “Field Guide to a Hybrid Landscape,” published in 2023 by the University of Nebraska Press.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At University of Nebraska chancellor and botanist Charles E. Bessey\u2019s urging, the federal government established the tree nursery and forest in 1902 in the Sandhills, one of the world\u2019s largest grass-stabilized dune regions. He believed the area was once forested and sought to create a national timber reserve.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some hoped a forest would bring rain, failing to appreciate the area\u2019s unique ecosystem, Fritz said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always thought it was a story about climate change. The nursery was established to grow trees for the new forest in an effort to change the local climate. Now the nursery produces trees for reforestation in native forests damaged by climate change. It\u2019s a radically different mission.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driving home the point, since Fritz\u2019s book went to press, three forest fires have wiped out nearly half of the forest\u2019s trees. Scenes she captured no longer exist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy book is probably the most complete visual examination of the forest before the big fires,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are multiple ways into the book,\u201d<\/span> she added,<\/span> citing its ecological, artistic, geographical and philosophical viewpoints.<\/span> \u201cEven though it\u2019s about this small place in Nebraska, <\/span>it\u2019s a story that has lessons for anywhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the fires, Fritz returns regularly to document what\u2019s happening. Because the forest didn\u2019t exist 120 years ago, it\u2019s an unpredictable adventure.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWill it return to grassland? Will it be resilient as a forest? The story continues.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nebraska photographer Dana Fritz is intrigued by grand gestures. Few gestures are as grand as creating what was once the world\u2019s largest hand-planted forest.  Fritz spent years exploring Bessey Ranger District and Nursery of the Nebraska National Forest and Grasslands in north-central Nebraska near Halsey.  The result is \u201cField Guide to a Hybrid Landscape\u201d (University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,59,44,41,42,46,45],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-we-do-big-things","tag-field-guide-to-a-hybrid-landscape","tag-arts-and-humanities","tag-climate-change","tag-dana-fritz","tag-nebraska-national-forest-and-grasslands","tag-photography","tag-university-of-nebraska-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}