NEBRASKA — Multiple wildfires burned more than one million acres of grasslands across Nebraska in spring 2026, with the state recording more wildfire acreage in a single month than in any previous entire year. The Morrill fire alone burned over 642,000 acres before it was contained in March 2026, while the Cottonwood fire burned approximately 130,000 acres.

The Morrill fire caused the death of 86-year-old Rose White as she tried to flee her home. The fire burned parts of the Nebraska Sandhills — one of the largest intact temperate grasslands on Earth — turning them into ash and sand. In March 2026, one Nebraska wildfire spread more than 70 miles within the first 12 hours.

Nebraska ranks among the top cattle-producing states in the U.S., where cattle outnumber people by four to one. Rancher Collin Thompson described the devastation left behind. "As this fire ripped through here, it took all the grass. There's none left," Thompson said. "There are areas where you see nothing but tree skeletons."

Volunteer truckers and others delivered donated hay from across the country to affected ranchers in Nebraska. Rancher Homer Buell said the recent winter was the driest he had experienced.

At the end of March 2026, more than 40 percent of Nebraska was classified as experiencing extreme drought, according to a federal drought status update. Approximately half of the High Plains region, including Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and the Dakotas, was in severe drought at the same time.

Grasslands in the American Great Plains are more prone to wildfires in spring than in summer and fall. The spring season brings low precipitation, dry dormant grasses, and strong winds. The size and impact of grassland wildfires in the Great Plains have increased in recent years. "There is a changing wildfire dynamic in this region," Dirac Twidwell, a rangeland ecologist at the University of Nebraska, said. "The probability of ignition just goes through the roof. The deck has been stacked."

Twidwell and his research team have studied vegetation recovery in Great Plains grasslands after wildfires. Historically, wildfires occurred regularly across the region's grasslands, and Indigenous people used fire to clear and regenerate grassland vegetation and soils. Without regular fires, woody shrubs and trees encroach on grasslands, increasing the risk of extreme fire behavior.

Victoria Donovan, an assistant professor of forest management at the University of Florida, said that fire has long played a role in shaping these ecosystems. "When fires burn at high intensity they can actually help to restore the grassland state," Donovan said. "The idea that we can completely remove fire from these systems isn't really feasible."