Lincoln's Prairie Corridor on Haines Branch is supposed to become one long trail from Pioneers Park Nature Center southwest to Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center. Today only a quarter of it is built. The city's Summer 2026 parks guide says nearly 70% of the corridor has been secured and 25% of the trail is in place.
Both ends keep bikes and pets off most of their trails, and at each end the short piece of corridor trail is the exception. Want to ride a bike at the Nature Center, or walk a leashed dog at Spring Creek Prairie? The corridor is the one place you're allowed to. Between now and mid-November, the two sites have four events on the calendar, which gives you plenty of reasons to try both ends.
The Pioneers Park end has a bike lane on its south side
The Nature Center takes up the western half of Pioneers Park and has more than 8 miles of hiking trails. Bikes can only go two places there, the loop road and "the crushed limestone Prairie Corridor Trail on our southern boundary," according to the City of Lincoln's Nature Center visitor rules. The same page says no pets are allowed past the Nature Center parking lot.
To get there, enter the park at 3201 S. Coddington Ave. or 2801 W. Van Dorn St. and follow the signs west about a mile and a half. The city calls the lot just inside the Nature Center entrance the best place to park, and there's more room along the loop road west of the Prairie Building. Admission is free, and donations are welcome.
Check the clock before you go. The Nature Center's hours page lists the gated trails south of the park road as open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ungated trails north of the road and the bison viewing area are open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. during daylight saving time and 7 a.m. to sunset the rest of the year. The corridor trail runs along the southern boundary, so the gated hours are the ones to plan around. From November 1 to April 1, the Chet Ager Building south of the road is open only limited hours on weekdays.
The Spring Creek end has the one trail where dogs are welcome
About 1,160 acres of tallgrass sit at the other end, at 11700 SW 100th St. near Denton. Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center calls the sanctuary one of the largest intact tallgrass prairies in Nebraska. It also holds wagon ruts from a mid-1800s cutoff to the Oregon Trail, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Its 4-mile trail system is mostly mowed, and the paths around the visitor center are crushed limestone and accessible. Animals and bikes aren't allowed on most of these trails. Audubon's visitor page names one exception, the Prairie Corridor trail that runs north from the parking lot to the property line, about a third of a mile up and back. It's short. It's also the only path on the property where your dog can come along.
Here are the two ends side by side, rule for rule:
| Pioneers Park Nature Center | Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 3201 S. Coddington Ave., Lincoln | 11700 SW 100th St., Denton |
| Where bikes can go | Loop road and the Prairie Corridor Trail | Prairie Corridor trail only |
| Pets | Not allowed past the parking lot | Prairie Corridor trail only |
| Trail hours | South of the park road: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Sunrise to sunset, all year |
| What changes in November | Chet Ager Building moves to limited weekday hours | Visitor center weekend hours shift to 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. |
That last row matters for anyone who goes on weekend mornings. Spring Creek's visitor center is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. On weekends it's open 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. from March through October, then 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. from November through February. The trails stay open whether the building is open or not.
The stretch in between is still mostly mowed paths and new ground
The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District says corridor properties are open dawn to dusk all year, with parking and mowed walking paths at the Nature Center, at Spring Creek, and at designated LPSNRD sites. Its rules are to stay on the mowed paths, keep dogs leashed, pick up after yourself and your pet, and leave motorized vehicles at home. On any visit you may run into prescribed fire, haying, or sometimes grazing. The district uses all three to keep the prairie healthy and asks visitors to obey any active-management signs.
Denton Prairie is one of those in-between spots. The city keeps mowed trails there for public use. A trailhead parking area was built in the spring and summer of 2020, paid for by a donation from Assurity, according to the Prairie Corridor's 2020 annual report.
The biggest change this year is ground you can't walk yet. In early January, the City of Lincoln, the LPSNRD and Solidago Conservancy bought the Prairie Corridor Link property from the Lauk family, Nebraska Public Media reported. It's nearly 100 acres northwest of West Claire Avenue and Southwest 56th Street. 10/11 NOW put the price at $924,630. Nebraska Public Media said the land will carry the trail from the Nature Center to within a quarter mile of the Stiefel-Johnson Trailhead at Two Creeks Prairie, about two miles north of Denton.
The city's summer guide describes sandstone and limestone outcroppings on the property, along with bur oak groves, ponds, and wide views of the Capitol. Crews have already started pulling out fencing, invasive plants and scrub trees and replanting native grasses and wildflowers. The guide says work is "beginning to map the future trail route," which will come in at the northeast corner and leave to the west. The city's 2025 trail report set 2026 for planning and design and lists construction as "TBD."
At the Lincoln end, the 1.7-mile Bison Trail already connects to the Jamaica North Trail and Pioneers Park. The city's trails page lists a link from the Bison Trail to the corridor as a future connection. Lincoln Parks and Recreation Director Maggie Stuckey-Ross told 10/11 NOW that "families will hike these trails, students will learn about Nebraska's natural history, and visitors will experience a landscape that exists in very few places today." For now, you can do that at the two ends.
Three weekends of events, split between the two ends
Both ends have events scheduled over the next few weeks, and each one is a good reason to make the drive:
- SparrowFest 2026, Oct. 23 to 25, Spring Creek Prairie. It starts Friday at 6 p.m. with a $15 lino-cut workshop and T-shirt print party. On Saturday and Sunday, a $5 bird-banding demo begins at 8 a.m., followed by a free Sparrow Sit or Stroll at 9:30 a.m. Saturday's lineup also has a free sparrow scavenger hunt at 2:30 p.m. and Brown Birds 'n' Brown Ales at 7 p.m., which costs $10 and is 21 and over. An all-access pass for every program is $75, and tickets are sold through Audubon's SparrowFest registration page.
- Wild Fall Festival and Bison Day, Nov. 7, Pioneers Park Nature Center. The city's parks calendar lists it as a free, family-friendly day for learning about plants, animals and the environment from local experts and educators.
- We are the Buffalo and the Buffalo are Us, Nov. 8, noon to 3 p.m., Spring Creek Prairie. This Native American Heritage Month program is led by Umóⁿhoⁿ educator Renée Sans Souci. It opens with bison snacks and Indigenous foods to taste, with donations welcome, and moves on to arts, crafts, activities and stories about the buffalo, according to Audubon's event poster.
- Nocturnal November, Nov. 14, 5 to 8 p.m., Spring Creek Prairie. Audubon's events listing calls it a free nighttime festival for the whole family.
If you're going to one of the Spring Creek events, think about bringing the dog. It can walk the corridor spur north from the parking lot while the rest of the property stays dog-free. On Wild Fall day at the Nature Center, the dog stays home, but a bike can still go out on the limestone trail along the south edge. Plans and hours can change between now and then, so check the linked pages the week you go.
I live on an acreage in Seward County and spend a lot of time around horses, so nearly 100 more acres of prairie being restored this close to Lincoln is good news to me. If walking the corridor this fall has you wondering what it would take to have some native grass, a pasture or a shelterbelt of your own outside town, I'd be glad to talk it through with you. You can reach me through Ashley Terry. Let's Connect.
