Some places in Nebraska look ordinary from the parking lot and then hand you something you did not expect. Picture walking a wooden bridge thirty feet up in the treetops, eye to eye with a screech owl that has a name and a rescue story printed right beside its enclosure.
Twenty-some hawks, owls, eagles, falcons, and turkey vultures live here because injuries kept them from returning to the wild, and every one of them has a card explaining how it arrived. It sits minutes from a major metro area, costs about as much as a sandwich, and most people driving past have no idea it exists.
A Forest Preserve on the Edge of Bellevue
At 1111 Bellevue Blvd N in Bellevue, Nebraska, a wooded ridge above the Missouri River holds one of the state’s oldest protected natural areas. Fontenelle Forest works as a nature preserve first, with miles of marked trails, a nature center full of exhibits, and an elevated boardwalk that carries walkers over the forest floor without a single muddy shoe.
Then there’s the part that surprises people. Attached to that same trail system is the Raptor Woodland Refuge, a permanent home for birds of prey that cannot survive on their own anymore…