Status of Platanthera praeclara Sheviak & Bowles (Western Prairie Fringed Orchid) in the Platte River Valley in Nebraska from Hamilton to Garden Counties
During June and July, 1991, a search for western prairie fringed orchid was conducted in the Platte River Valley in central and west-central Nebraska. No orchids were found in the 370 sites surveyed. Factors which may contribute to the scarcity of this orchid in the area surveyed include drought conditions in the previous three years; habitat alteration by draining, ditching, herbicide application, mowing for hay, crop cultivation and planting of non-native species for hay fields; invasion of the area by trees; and the presence of alkaline soils in some area
