Review of Cheyenne Bottoms: Wetland in Jeopardy

Authors

Ernest Rouske, Lincoln, Nebraska

Date of this Version

1993

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly 13:4 (Fall 1993). Copyright © 1993 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Abstract

Millions of years ago earth crust movements caused a sixty-four-square mile area near what is now Great Bend in central Kansas to drop, creating a shallow, poorly drained basin. These wetlands, called Cheyenne Bottoms, draw hordes of waterfowl and shorebirds during spring and fall migrations. Its importance is such that it is considered one of the three major stop-over places for shorebirds east of the Rockies, "an oasis in a parched and wind seared landscape beckoning the greatest travelers on the globe."