Where the eastern and western currents of American life merge as smoothly as one river flows into another is a place called Nebraska. Located here is the Platte, a river that gave sustenance to the countless migrants who once trudged westward along the Mormon and Oregon trails; the Sandhills, a vast region of sandy grassland that represents the largest area of dunes and the grandest and least disturbed region of mixed-grass prairies in all the Western Hemisphere. And, below it all, the Ogallala aquifer, the largest potential source of unpolluted water anywhere. These ecological treasures are all part of the nature of Nebraska. Paul A. Johnsgard provides a guide to Nebraska's incredible biodiversity, introducing each ecosystem and the flora and fauna it sustains.