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Fontenelle Forest Nature Center
Bellevue, Nebraska is just south
of Omaha, and the first city in the state, being incorporated in
1855. Fontenelle Forest has a great history of human settlements and
usage, beginning with the early Native Americans that lived here,
evidenced by the archeological explorations that have discovered
over 70 known sites of lodges and mounds that have become known as
the Nebraska phase which existed in the 1100 to 1400 AD. period.
When Lewis and Clark journeyed across the northern expanses of this
great nation, they had to have went through this area. Joshua
Pilcher constructed a trading post in 1822 for the Missouri Fur
Company in the forest region, by the great marsh and thus started
the early settlement of Bellevue. Soon it became a big stopover of
the Rocky Mountain fur trading routes and was bought by Lucien
Fontenelle, in 1828, who was a French-American fur trader. Years
later, it would become an Indian Agency headquarters run by the US
government. One interpreter of the agency was named Logan
Fontenelle, the son of Lucien and his Omaha Indian wife, Me-Um-Bane.
Logan would learn both heritages, and was a very respected
spokesperson for the Omaha tribe before he was killed by a raiding
Sioux war party at the age of 30. Both he and his father were buried
on the forest grounds, although no one is sure of where those burial
sites are located; although the forest was named after Logan. A
group of area businessmen and scholars met in 1910 to decide if they
could save some of the lands along the Missouri River that were
located just south of Omaha for future generations. In that time,
the land had most of its forests cut down, except for the areas in
the ravines, and when the state declined to allow them to purchase
the area for preservation purposes, the group bought the land
themselves. The Fontenelle Forest Association was formed in 1913 to
do that, and the state parks system was still 8 years in the future.
The first World War caused the group to delay buying any lands, but
in 1920, they were able to get $60,000 to acquire their first tract
which was 300 acres. Today that small plot has grown into 1400 acres
with gifts, trades and purchases. Before the mid 1960s, the area was
used primarily for hiking and picnicking, with only a caretaker to
manage the land. During that period, Omaha city forester, Jim
Malkowski started taking folks for an educational hike in the woods,
which became quite popular and this was the prelude to the
Fontenelle Forest Nature Center, and Jim became the first director.
In 1995, the group was able to acquire another 262 acres to Neale
Woods when they bought the Krimlofski lot with the wonderful help of
the Lozier Foundation. Now the tract would run all the way to the
Missouri River and include a small pond, a mile of river frontage
and an area of bluffs. In these bluffs, is the former site of Manuel
Lisa's Fort Lisa, that was built in 1813, as a trading post.
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