Sandhill Research Articles

Boreal Sand Hills are Areas of High Diversity for Boreal Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The boreal forest in Canada comprises a wide variety of ecosystems, including stabilized (overgrown) sand dunes, often referred to as sand hills. Globally, sandy soils are known for supporting a high diversity of invertebrates, including ants, but little is known for boreal systems. We used pitfall trap sampling in sand hill, aspen parkland and peatland ecosystems to compare their ant diversity and test the prediction that areas with sandy soils have higher invertebrate diversity compared to more mesic/organic soils. Overall, sand hills had ~45% more ant species compared to other sampled ecosystems from Alberta. Similar to other studies, local canopy cover within sand hills was found to be inversely related to ant species richness and diversity. Although sand hills are rare across the region, they are high biodiversity areas for ants, with the sand hills of north-central Alberta having higher species richness of ants compared to other studied areas in Canada.

The American Role in European Venture Capital

European regulators and pundits grumble that US companies are gobbling up Europe’s startups. So far, however, the public discussion remains data-free. The goal here is offer data to illuminate the role of Americans in European venture capital, both as investors in the startups and as buyers of them. The big picture is this: based on data from VentureSource and Sand Hill Econometrics for 14,000 European startups, from 1992 - 2018q3, the fraction with at least one investment from American VC fund during the startup phase is 20 percent. Among the 14,000, there are 7,000 companies which are exited from the startup phase, and 9.3 percent of these were acquired by a US company. The money flows in both directions—American VC funds invest in European startups, and US companies acquire some of them. The companies with US investors raise far more money and have much more successful outcomes than those with no US investor.

Chronology of dune development in the White River Badlands, northern Great Plains, USA

Abstract Aeolian dune field chronologies provide important information on drought history on the Great Plains. The White River Badlands (WRB) dunes are located approximately 60 km north of the Nebraska Sand Hills (NSH), in the western section of the northern Great Plains. Clifftop dunes, sand sheets, and stabilized northwest-southeast trending parabolic dunes are found on upland mesas and buttes, locally called tables. The result of this study is a dune stabilization history determined from samples collected from stratigraphic exposures and dune crests. Thirty-seven OSL ages, from this and previous investigations, show three periods of dune activity: 1) ∼21,000 years ago to 12,000 years ago (a), 2) ∼9 to 6 ka, and 3) post-700 a. Stratigraphic exposures and low-relief dune forms preserve evidence of late Pleistocene and middle Holocene dune development, while high-relief dune crests preserve evidence of late Holocene dune development. Results of 12 OSL ages from the most recent dune activation event indicate that Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) droughts and Little Ice Age (LIA) droughts caused dune reactivation on the tables. Dune reactivation was accompanied by other drought-driven geomorphological responses in the WRB, including fluvial incision of the prairie and formation of sod tables. Regional significance of the MCA and LIA droughts is supported by similarities in the aeolian chronologies of the NSH at 700–600 a and some western Great Plains dune fields at 420–210 a. Aerial photographs of the WRB show little activity during the Dust Bowl droughts of the 1930s.

The Bones of Paradise by Jonis Agee

Reviewed by: The Bones of Paradise by Jonis Agee Diane D. Quantic Jonis Agee, The Bones of Paradise. New York: HarperCollins, 2016. 416 pp. Cloth, $25.99; paper, $15.99; e-book, $11.99. "It was midmorning in early May when J.B. Bennett crested the hill, stopped, and surveyed the little Sand Hills meadow where the windmill was slowly clanking in a wobbly circle" (3). This sentence opens Jonis Agee's novel, The Bones of Paradise, signaling that place, the landscape, will be an important element in this story. By the end of the first chapter J. B. Bennett is murdered, his body next to that of an Indian girl named Star. Powerful cattlemen control the lives of everyone around them. It is only ten years after the massacre of Indian men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, on the reservation, a few miles north of the Sand Hills ranches. Agee traces the tension among the Bennett ranches of J.B. and his father Drum, J.B.'s estranged wife Dulcinea, her friends the Indian Rose and Rose's husband Jerome Some Horses, and Graver, a wandering homesteader. When he is murdered, J.B. is on his way to reclaim his son Cullen, who has been raised by his irascible grandfather Drum Bennett, following a family tradition of surrendering the oldest son to his grandfather to be raised as a tough-as-nails rancher. Dulcinea returns to her husband's ranch determined to claim her place in the Bennett family, only to learn of J.B.'s death. She has been sent away by her husband, an act that puzzles her until she discovers much later that her exile was the price her husband agreed to in exchange for 20,000 acres. Although the men assume that the widowed Dulcinea will abandon the Sand Hills, she proves instead to be a force to be reckoned with. Agee weaves together the stories of the two Bennett ranches, the greedy oil men determined to force Dulcinea to reward them with leases on her land, and the massacre at Wounded Knee. The Bennetts have always been drawn to the Indian reservation. As a boy Cullen regarded the reservation as a place to harass boys and young women. J.B. takes his second son, Hayward, there to witness (and be disgusted by) the escalating tensions that culminate in the soldiers' slaughter of the Indian encampment. The opportunistic lawyer Chance regards the killing field as a source of plunder. [End Page 520] The horrific acts at Wounded Knee, the murder of J.B. and the Indian girl Star, and the subsequent violent deaths of Cullen, Drum, and the lawyer Chance, and the fate of certain items of value to Chance and to Star and her sister Rose result in a saga as bloody as Mari Sandoz's Slogum House. But Dulcinea is no Gulla Slogum: instead of Sandoz's grim conclusion that women are complicit in the cruel life of the Sand Hills, Agee's women persevere as forces for good. Dulcinea loves the Sand Hills. With the support of the homesteader Graver, Rose, Some Horses, and her ranch hands, she buries the bones of manifest destiny. The imagined masculine paradise in the West is dead. It is Dulcinea who resurrects the ranches that would have failed while J.B. and his father fought for control over their domains. Agee's prose is strong in the tradition of Great Plains writings—controlled, direct, and attuned to the natural world that is an important element in the story. The novel closes: Dulcinea could not leave this land. She finally understood how the wind out here made a place for itself in your ear, in your mind, and in your heart, stilling your thoughts, making everything you see one vast wholeness: the swan gliding across the silent marsh, the mossy turtles climbing like ancient men out of the water, their claws gripping the soil with great effort to drag themselves despite the tangled water plants that dragged their yellow-scaled legs back, their ragged beaks parted with effort. She couldn't think without the Sand Hills wind hushing the great world around her as she pushed...

Plans and Priorities: Multifamily Housing Types and French Canadian Builders in Northern New England, 1890–1950

This article explores varieties of multifamily housing types in the textile production landscape of northern New England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Using the Sand Hill neighborhood of the small industrial city of Augusta, Maine, as a case study, it explores the role of French Canadian immigrants as builders and their choice of building types that deviated from more recognized forms such as the three-decker and company house. Instead, these builders chose comparatively unusual and decidedly informal kitchen-focused plans with exterior circulation in both new construction and conversion of older single-family houses. Building on fieldwork and research based on archival sources, this paper elucidates some of the ways in which these plans responded to distinct cultural preferences and explores the financial motivations and methods for their construction.

Application and accuracy of cosmic-ray neutron probes in three soil textures on the Loess Plateau, China

The cosmic-ray neutron probe (CRNP) is a new tool for continuously monitoring mean soil–water content (SWC) on a hectometer scale, but the performance of CRNPs in highly heterogeneous distributions of SWC, vegetation and especially soil texture caused by the broken surface on the Loess Plateau in China remains uncertain. The study evaluated the application and accuracy of the method for three soil textures in a small watershed on the plateau to provide a reference and scientific basis for its application. Three CRNPs were installed in a loamy sand hills (LSH) plot, a silty loam dam (SLD) plot, and a sandy loam slope (SLS) plot, soil moisture sensors were buried at various depths in three plots. The footprints of the CRNPs for SWC observation had radii of 127–170, 126–174 and 148–174 m in SLD, SLS and LSH, respectively, and the mean measuring depth was about 20 cm for SLD and SLS and 40 cm for LSH based on general calculation equations. The accuracy of the CRNP method was high when validated using oven-dried method (RMSE = 0.068 cm3 cm−3). The mean SWCs estimated from the other types of sensors were consistent with the mean SWCs from the CRNP probes in the three plots. The coefficient of determination of the linear relationship was in the order: SLS > LSH > SLD. The coefficient of variations (CV) were higher in LSH than SLD and SLS, indicating that SWC varied most in LSH. During periods of rain, the variations were larger for SLD than SLS and LSH, with a CV of 32.2%. The CRNP for SLD had the highest rates of change during periods with and without rain for both increasing and decreasing SWC, but this plot held more water than LSH and SLS, consistent with the high clay and organic-matter contents in SLD. The rates of change were significantly correlated with the antecedent SWCs (P < 0.01), and the higher the antecedent SWC, the faster the rate of change for each plot. This study verified the application of the CRNP for monitoring field-average SWC of the broken surface on the Loess Plateau and represents a new approach for the study of the spatial distribution of SWC on the plateau. CRNP can measure SWC of the complex underlying surface accurately, so as to provide a more reliable assessment of the impacts of landscapes and vegetation changes, such as conversion of cropland to forest and grassland on the Loess Plateau on water resources.

Investigating Dismal River obsidian use in central Nebraska

Nineteen obsidian artifacts from surface contexts of probable Dismal River complex sites in the Sand Hills of Nebraska were analyzed via energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry. The artifacts derive from six distinct geological volcanic glass sources. One of the artifacts was made from ash-flow tuff obsidian of the Brown’s Bench chemical type and another from Wild Horse Canyon, Utah obsidian, representing the first documented use of these western source materials in Nebraska. Southwestern obsidian sources are less well represented than those to the west of Nebraska in this study sample, indicating that more than one pattern of obsidian use and conveyance may have existed during the Dismal River complex.

Statistical Shape Analysis of The Sand Hills in Ardestan in Presence of Measurement Error

Statistical Shape Analysis of The Sand Hills in Ardestan in Presence of Measurement Error

Recognition of Regional Water Table Patterns for Estimating Recharge Rates in Shallow Aquifers.

We propose a new method for groundwater recharge rate estimation in regions with stream-aquifer interactions, at a linear scale on the order of 10km and more. The method is based on visual identification and quantification of classically recognized water table contour patterns. Simple quantitative analysis of these patterns can be done manually from measurements on a map, or from more complex GIS data extraction and curve fitting. Recharge rate is then estimated from the groundwater table contour parameters, streambed gradients, and aquifer transmissivity using an analytical model for groundwater flow between parallel perennial streams. Recharge estimates were obtained in three regions (areas of 1500, 2200, and 3300 km2 ) using available water table maps produced by different methods at different times in the area of High Plains Aquifer in Nebraska. One region is located in the largely undeveloped Nebraska Sand Hills area, while the other two regions are located at a transition zone from Sand Hills to loess-covered area and include areas where groundwater is used for irrigation. Obtained recharge rates are consistent with other independent estimates. The approach is useful and robust diagnostic tool for preliminary estimates of recharge rates, evaluation of the quality of groundwater table maps, identification of priority areas for further aquifer characterization and expansion of groundwater monitoring networks prior to using more detailed methods.

Annual, seasonal, and diel surface energy partitioning in the semi-arid Sand Hills of Nebraska, USA

Study RegionThe Nebraska Sand Hills consisting of four major land cover types: (1) lakes and wetlands (∼5% for both), (2) subirrigated meadows (∼10%), (3) dry valleys (∼20%), and (4) upland dunes (∼65%). Study FocusExamination of surface energy and water balances on multiple temporal scales with primary focus on latent heat flux (λE), and evapotranspiration (ET), to gain a better understanding of the annual, seasonal, and diel properties of surface energy partitioning among different Sand Hills ecosystems to improve regional water resource management. New Hydrological Insights for the RegionBased on surface energy and water balance measurements using Bowen ratio energy balance systems at three locations during 2004, we find a strong spatial gradient between sites in latent (λE) and sensible (H) heat flux due to differences in topography, soils, and plant community composition on all timescales. Seasonally, all land covers show the greatest λE in summer. Our results show that subirrigated meadows, dry valleys, and upland dunes allocate roughly 81%, 50%, and 41% of available energy to λE, respectively, during the growing season. The subirrigated meadow was the only cover type where cumulative annual ET surpassed cumulative annual precipitation (i.e. net loss of water to the atmosphere). Therefore, the dry valleys and upland dunes are where net groundwater recharge to the High Plains Aquifer is occurring.

Flexural Stress-Strain Behavior of RC Beams Made with Partial Replacement of Coarse Aggregates with Coarse Aggregates from Old Concrete: Part-1: 1:2:4 Ratio

Occupancy, particularly in urban areas, requires more space than ever. Space constraints need erection of high rise buildings in place of short height buildings. This need demolishing of old structures which creates huge quantities of demolished concrete. One of its best disposals is its use in new concrete. Therefore, this research work uses 50% replacement of natural coarse aggregates with coarse aggregates from old concrete to study the flexural stress-strain behavior of reinforced concrete beams. Total of 12 reinforced concrete beams (900x150x150 mm) were cast with 2#4 bars in tension and 2#4 bars in compression zones. Ordinary Portland cement with hill sand and crush aggregate was used in 1:2:4 proportions. Water cement ratio used is 0.54. The beams were cast in two batches, one with 100% natural aggregates and another with 50% natural coarse aggregates replaced with coarse aggregates from old concrete. In each batch 3 beams were cured for 7 and 28 days respectively. After curing all beams were tested with central point load. The beams were monitored at regular intervals for load, displacement, strain and load until first crack. The beams under study were compared with the controlled specimen. The results were in good agreement with the normal concrete specimen. Maximum reduction in flexural stress is recorded as 8.8% for 7-day cured beams and 5.52% for 28-day cured specimen. Thus, the use of coarse aggregates from demolished concrete in new concrete is proved to be promising partial replacement of coarse aggregate in terms of flexural stress-strain relationship.

Estimating Fish Species Richness across Multiple Watersheds

Assessing fish species richness at the scale of an entire watershed or multiple watersheds is important when designing conservation areas and maintaining aquatic biodiversity. Estimating biodiversity at this scale requires considering the effects of habitat heterogeneity within and across drainages on the species-area relationship (SAR). I examined the SAR using unusually complete data to assess fish species richness in minimally disturbed watersheds on large public lands in the Sand Hills ecoregion, southeastern United States of America (USA). My objectives were to compare (1) true richness with estimates produced by different species richness estimators and sampling designs and (2) species richness among reservations. Accurate estimates were obtained for five contiguous watersheds (780 km2 total) by using Chao 2 or first-order jackknife estimators, coupled with (1) a stratified design that apportioned sampling effort over 25 sample sites based on major spatial correlates of assemblage composition, including stream size and drainage basin identity and (2) sufficient sampling effort to collect enough individuals to include rare species. The greatest species richness was in streams within a large land holding characterized by greater instream habitat diversity, less disturbed land coverage, more forested land, and closer proximity to source pools than other reservations. Species richness in these streams was within the range observed in high diversity Neotropical and Indomalayan realms.

Hydrogeomorphic Reference Condition and Its Relationship with Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Southeastern U.S. Sand Hills Streams

AbstractDefining stream reference conditions is integral to providing benchmarks to ecological perturbation. We quantified channel geometry, hydrologic and environmental variables, and macroinvertebrates in 62 low‐gradient, SE United States (U.S.) Sand Hills (Level IV ecoregion) sand‐bed streams. To identify hydrogeomorphic reference condition (HGM), we clustered channel geometry deviation from expectations given watershed area (Aws), resulting in two HGM groups discriminated by area at the top of bank (Atob) residuals &lt;0.6 m2 and &gt;0.6 m2 predicted to be HGM reference/nonreference streams, respectively. Two independent partial least squares discriminate analyses used (1) hydrologic/environmental variables and (2) macroinvertebrate mean trait values (mT) on 10 reference/nonreference stream pairs of similar Aws for classification validation. Nonreference streams had flashier hydrographs and altered flow magnitudes, lower organic matter, coarser substrate, higher pH/specific conductivity compared with reference streams. Macroinvertebrate assemblages corresponded to HGM groupings, with mT indicative of multivoltinism, collector‐gatherer functional feeding groups, fast current‐preference taxa, and lower Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera richness and biotic integrity in nonreference streams. HGM classifications in Sand Hills, sand‐bed streams were determined from channel geometry. This easily implemented classification is indicative of contemporary hydrologic disturbance resulting in contrasting macroinvertebrate assemblages.

Effect of River Indus Sand on Concrete Tensile Strength

In the development of Pakistan construction industry, the utilization of River Indus sand in concrete as fine aggregate has expanded tremendously. The aim of this research is to study the effect of Indus River sand on the tensile strength of various grades of concrete when it is utilized as fine aggregate. Concrete Samples of M15, M20 and M25 grade concrete were cured for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Based on the results, it is found that concrete became less workable when Indus river sand was utilized. It is recorded that tensile strength of concrete is decreased from 5% up to 20% in comparison with hill sand. The results were derived from various concrete grades.

Estimating wind turbine fatalities using integrated detection trials

ABSTRACTFatality monitoring at wind projects requires carcass detection trials to adjust fatality estimates for the proportion of fatalities not found. However, detection trials vary greatly in metric, duration, carcass monitoring schedule, species, number placed, state of decomposition, whether placed within or outside search areas, and other factors. We introduce a new approach for estimating fatalities by quantifying overall detection rates rather than separate rates for searcher detection error and carcass persistence, and by leaving placed and found fatality carcasses undisturbed throughout monitoring. We placed 2 fresh‐frozen bird carcasses weekly at random sites within fatality search areas and on randomized days Monday–Friday at Sand Hill and Santa Clara wind projects, Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, California, USA. To estimate detection rates, we used logit regression to fit detection outcomes on body mass, which served as an axis of similitude between placed trial carcasses and fatality finds. Adjusted carcass placement rates among species detected by searchers regressed on true placement rates with a slope of 1.0 so long as sufficient numbers of trial carcasses were placed, thus validating our approach as an unbiased estimator. Our approach generally estimated lower fatality rates than did conventional approaches, the latter of which demonstrated biases in searcher detection rates and carcass persistence rates whether based on proportion of carcasses remaining or mean days to removal. Our approach also revealed detection errors that highlight the difficulty of finding and identifying the remains of dead animals, and which warrant routine reporting. Despite averaging only a 5‐day search interval on intensively grazed annual grasslands where ground visibility was usually high, our experienced fatality monitors averaged 4.3 searches/first carcass detection, failed to detect 25% of 75 species represented by placed carcasses, and misidentified carcasses to species among 44% of species detected. Estimates of time since death also suffered bias and large error. Our approach more realistically simulates carcass detection probabilities associated with fatality monitoring, is less costly, facilitates hypothesis testing, eliminates multiple sources of error and bias suspected of conventional methods, and enables quantification of errors in estimated time since death, species identifications, and false negative findings. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

Two-dimensional explosion experiments examining the interaction between a blast wave and a sand hill

Two-dimensional explosion experiments were conducted to discuss the interaction between a blast wave and sand and show the mitigation effect of the sand on the blast wave. The explosive used was a detonating cord 1.0 m in length, which was initiated in a sand hill shaped like a triangular prism and whose cross section was an isosceles triangle with base angles of 30 $$^\circ $$ . Sand-hill heights of 30 and 60 mm were used as parameters to discuss the effect of sand mass upon blast-wave strength. The interaction of the blast wave with the sand/air interface causes multiple peaks in the blast wave, which are induced by successive transmissions at the interface. The increase in the sand mass further mitigates the blast parameters of peak overpressure and positive impulse. The results of this experiment can be utilized to validate the numerical method of solving the problem of interaction between a compressible fluid and a particle layer.

Impact of grassland conversion to forest on groundwater recharge in the Nebraska Sand Hills

Study regionNebraska National Forest in the High Plains Aquifer, Nebraska Sand Hills, U.S.A. Study focusThis research aimed to investigate the effects of grassland conversions to forest on recharge rates in a century-old experimental forest. The DiffeRential Evolution Adaptive Metropolis (DREAMZS) global optimization algorithm was used to calibrate the effective soil hydraulic parameters from observed soil moisture contents for 220 cm deep uniform soil profiles. The historical recharge rates were then estimated by applying the numerical model HYDRUS 1-D for simulation of two plots representing grasslands and dense pine forest conditions. New hydrological insightsThe results indicate that conversion from grasslands to dense pine forests led to vegetation induced changes in soil hydraulic properties, increased rooting depth, and greater leaf area index, which together altered the water budget considerably. The impacts of land use change, expressed in percent of gross precipitation, include a 7% increase in interception associated with an increase in leaf area index, a nearly 10% increase in actual evapotranspiration, and an overall reduction of groundwater recharge by nearly 17%. Simulated average annual recharge rates decreased from 9.65 cm yr−1 in the grassland to 0.07 cm yr−1 in the pine plot. These outcomes highlight the significance of the grassland ecology for water resources, particularly groundwater recharge, in the Nebraska Sand Hills and the overall sustainability and vitality of the High Plains Aquifer.

The Evolutionary History of Nebraska Deer Mice: Local Adaptation in the Face of Strong Gene Flow

The interplay of gene flow, genetic drift, and local selective pressure is a dynamic process that has been well studied from a theoretical perspective over the last century. Wright and Haldane laid the foundation for expectations under an island-continent model, demonstrating that an island-specific beneficial allele may be maintained locally if the selection coefficient is larger than the rate of migration of the ancestral allele from the continent. Subsequent extensions of this model have provided considerably more insight. Yet, connecting theoretical results with empirical data has proven challenging, owing to a lack of information on the relationship between genotype, phenotype, and fitness. Here, we examine the demographic and selective history of deer mice in and around the Nebraska Sand Hills, a system in which variation at the Agouti locus affects cryptic coloration that in turn affects the survival of mice in their local habitat. We first genotyped 250 individuals from 11 sites along a transect spanning the Sand Hills at 660,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms across the genome. Using these genomic data, we found that deer mice first colonized the Sand Hills following the last glacial period. Subsequent high rates of gene flow have served to homogenize the majority of the genome between populations on and off the Sand Hills, with the exception of the Agouti pigmentation locus. Furthermore, mutations at this locus are strongly associated with the pigment traits that are strongly correlated with local soil coloration and thus responsible for cryptic coloration.

Fox Under Ice

Fox Under Ice Ingmar Heytze (bio), Translated from Dutch by Joel Thomas Katz and Robert Perry This winter while skating:fox under ice.Two glass eyes staring as if it were suddenly summerand he'd jump upwith open jaw. I flee in front of a hundred farmers.Water breaks.I swim myself to death slowly. My last words get thoughtI can't continueand words don't cut it here. It's lonely. On this side.Of the paper.It's so lonely here. [End Page 30] Ingmar Heytze ingmar heytze was born and raised in Utrecht, The Netherlands, where he is a recognized and honored poet, journalist, literary organizer, musician, and performer. In 2008, he was awarded the C.C.S. Cronerprijs for his entire oeuvre. In 2009, the city council of Utrecht unanimously appointed him the first official City Poet, through 2011. After that, the Utrecht Poets Guild collectively took the post, with Heytze as a member. Joel Thomas Katz Poet and translator joel thomas katz has worked in Silicon Valley as a business software specialist. His poems have appeared in Sand Hill Review, Montserrat Review, Disquieting Muses Quarterly, Spillway, and Red Wheelbarrow. He is the author of the chapbook Away and the poetry blog Poem-Pairs. Together with Robert Perry, he has translated the work of Dutch poets Ingmar Heytze and Saskia Stehouwer. Robert Perry robert perry is a poet, translator, graphic designer, and book artist, who recently established Dutch Poet Press, where he designs and publishes poetry art as print and electronic books, letterpress editions, and artist books. In 2015, the press published The Comfort of Potatoes by poet Janice Dabney, and will release a collection of Perry's poetry, The Art of Painting, in 2018. Copyright © 2018 The Massachusetts Review, Inc.

Anthropogenic hydrological cycle disturbance at a regional scale: State-wide evapotranspiration trends (1979–2015) across Nebraska, USA

Trends in monthly evapotranspiration (ET) rates across Nebraska, the most intensely irrigated state within the US, were calculated by the calibration-free version of the nonlinear complementary relationship of evaporation over the 1979–2015 period utilizing North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) net radiation, 10-m wind velocity, as well as Parameter Regression Independent Slope Model (PRISM) air- and dew-point temperature data. State-averaged modeled ET rates rose by 5.5 mm decade−1 due to the presence of wide-spread large-scale irrigation projects in accordance with a 2.4 mm decade−1 increase in PRISM precipitation (P) and a simultaneous −2.8 mm decade−1 drop in United States Geological Survey’s state-averaged annual streamflow rates, raising the state-wide ET to P ratio from 0.89 to 0.91 over the modeled time-period. ET rates over irrigated crops increased by 7 mm decade−1 despite a −4.4 mm decade−1 drop in precipitation rates. A similar increase in ET rates (6 mm decade−1) required 8.1 mm decade−1 increase in precipitation rates across the non-irrigated Sand Hills of Nebraska. Published NARR ET rates are unable to pick up this unusual regional trend. Since an increase in precipitation rates should normally decrease the ET ratio, as predicted by the Budyko curve, this study yields evidence on how dramatically sustained large-scale irrigation can alter the regional hydrologic cycle not only through a) trivially depleting streamflow rates and/or lowering groundwater table levels; b) suppressing precipitation locally (while enhancing it a long distance downwind), but also; c) reversing the trajectory of the regional ET ratio under generally increasing trends of precipitation.