At the beginning of the 20th century, a study investigating tree planting in the Sandhill region of Nebraska was made. The success of an early tree growing experiment by University of Nebraska Professor Charles Edwin Bessey along with the study's conclusion were privotal in the later establishment of the Bessey Nursery, seen here. Today, Nebraska National Forest has the largest man-planted forest in the country and Bessey Nursery produces over 3 million tree seedlings a year. Of course, there are occasionally problems for both the Nursery and in the Forest. The spring of 2004 saw a major ice-storm that killed many of the Nursery's hardwood seedlings. In May of 1965 a wildfire destroyed about one third of the trees on the Forest land.
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