Senior News & Views

Websites of Ted Turner list acreages of his five Nebraska ranches totaling 446,755. That is 11.7% the size of Cherry County, Nebraska’s largest.

 Turner has died, CNN reported May 6. He was 87.

A Turner website describes the ranches:

Spikebox—Located in the heart of the Nebraska Sandhills, the 142,000-acre Spikebox Ranch is comprised of some of the most majestic and remote rangeland in the state.  From its beautiful wetlands and meadows to the choppy dunes of the Sandhills, the ranch provides a great wealth of conservational quality. The North Loop River flows along the southern border of the ranch, providing excellent habitat for numerous animal species.  

In 2015, Spikebox Ranch served as the site of the largest stream restoration project ever conducted in the Sandhills.  The project raised the creek and ground water to historic levels, improving the functionality of the stream and the meadow.  This project continues to be a success with increased forage production and improved wetland habitat.

Spikebox is home to a variety of wildlife, including whitetail and mule deer, pronghorn, trumpeter swans, sharp-tail grouse, ring-neck pheasants, a variety of migratory song birds, waterfowl, prairie dogs, and many other unique animals.

Blue Creek— Blue Creek is located on the southwestern edge of the Nebraska sandhills, and is home to more than 5,000 bison.  The 85,635-acre ranch is mainly made up of native sandhills rangeland with the unique feature of being divided on the southern half of the ranch by Blue Creek, a tributary of the North Platte River.  Blue Creek is the dividing line between the true sandhills region of Nebraska to the north and the clay soils and hard grass prairie system to the south.

Wildlife present on Blue Creek includes mule deer, whitetail deer, prong-horn antelope, wild turkeys, ring-neck pheasants, sharp-tail grouse and prairie chickens along with a variety of waterfowl and smaller species of wildlife. Blue Creek outfits trophy deer hunts and American bison hunts.

Blue Creek utilizes 36 solar-powered stock wells, which provide approximately 20% of the stock water required to water the bison herd.

The property was the site of “The Battle of Blue Water” the first major conflict between the U.S. Military and the Sioux Indians from 1854 to 1856.  Blue Creek is also the site of a naturally occurring spring called “Gusher Springs.”  Gusher Springs is believed to be the second largest spring in Nebraska with a measured flow of 3,750 gallons a minute.

McGinley—Spanning a total of 79,145 acres, McGinley Ranch straddles the state line of northern Nebraska and southern South Dakota. The ranch lies above the Ogallala Aquifer and transitions between low-lying wet meadows and mixed grass sandhills, and has approximately 60 natural lakes and ponds.

The McGinley Ranch has made significant strides in the renewable energy arena by constructing five solar-powered wells on the property, a 200-mile, solar-powered electric fence, and building 185 windmills providing water for the bison herd.

Fawn Lake—This ranch is made up of 63,792 acres of contiguous prairie in the Nebraska Sandhills.  The ranch is characterized by rolling to choppy sandhills and expansive meadow-wetland complexes.  The ranch includes 25 lakes and 55 miles of streams originating on or flowing through the ranch. 

Bison herds are grazed on native range year-round, utilizing a deferred rotation system.  Fawn Lake is home to elk, pronghorn, whitetail and mule deer, black-tailed prairie dogs, coyotes, badgers, greater prairie chickens, pheasant and Blanding’s turtles. It provides critical habitat for several species of migratory shorebirds, waterfowl and a variety of song birds.

Deer Creek— Deer Creek Ranch is a 76,183-acre property located along the boundary of two ecosystems in northwestern Nebraska. The Nebraska sandhills prairie ecosystem encompasses the southern third of the ranch and includes large areas of sand dunes stabilized by the abundant prairie growing above the dunes and water beneath them. The northern third of the ranch is dominated by mixed grass prairie ecosystems and is characterized by rolling, sandy loam-type soils. The central area of the ranch is a mixture of both of these ecosystems.

Due to its diversity and expanse, Deer Creek ranch has an abundance of wildlife including: sandhill cranes, turkeys, sharp-tailed grouse, mule deer, whitetail deer, pheasants, long-billed curlews, as well as geese and ducks. In addition, elk, nesting swans and bald eagles frequent select areas of the property.