UNL students, staff restoring 80-acre prairie south of Lincoln

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A group of students and volunteers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are fixing up the Reller Prairie near Martell.

The prairie, which is 20 miles from campus, is managed by the UNL Biological Sciences Department after the Reller family gifted it to the university in 1970.

Michael Herman, the director of the department, said they’ve been renovating the buildings there since 2019.

On Saturday, volunteers worked on the perimeter of the property fixing up a fence. Herman said they are trying to discourage hunters from entering the land.

Right now, there are archaeology courses, a soils class, and a research project on bird behavior happening at the space.

Students will soon be initiating a study on spiders as well, and Herman hopes to continue expanding classes and activities there.

“This allows us to do research in the field,” he said. “We are very committed to providing experiential learning opportunities for our students and so to do that you need to get them out and have them have some experiences. And this is an accessible place we can do that.”

The ultimate goal is to promote conservation and restore the space back to a native prairie.

Every month, volunteers come out to work on different areas, and two students have also been hired to work on it every week.