Land of Opportunities

Following a three-year cleanup effort and after a decade of limited use, the Reller Prairie Field Station — located 20 miles south of campus near the village of Sprague — is ready to support a full range of experiential learning.

To mark the occasion and celebrate the hard work of volunteers during the past three years, the School of Global Integrative Studies hosted a ribbon-cutting and open house last fall.

The effort involved faculty, staff and others working at least one Saturday a month to clean up overgrowth, remove invasive species including red cedar, and completely gut and remodel the on-site steel building, transforming it into a classroom, office and lab. The building is now insulated and has a wood-burning stove for heat, making it available during all seasons.

Anthropology Professor Sophia Perdikaris said on any given Saturday, 25 to 60 volunteers, including spouses and area farmers, helped on the project.

The transformation began in 2019 when Perdikaris learned about the property from Jon Garbisch, associate director of the Cedar Point Biological Station near Ogallala. Perdikaris said that Michael Hermann, School of Biological Sciences director, was critical in the