Windbreaks, or shelterbelts, are linear tree plantings which provide a variety of ecological functions on the landscape including reducing soil erosion and protecting farmsteads and livestock. The Prairie States Forestry Project began during the dust bowl years of the 1930's in an effort to reduce soil erosion taking place in the Great Plains of the U.S. This massive undertaking planted nearly 200 million trees from North Dakota to Texas.

This data contains a digital representation of windbreaks in Nebraska that were planted during the Prairie States Forestry Project, 1938-1945. Using original paper section plat maps, the locations of the windbreaks were digitized using current aerial photography (NAIP, USDA-FSA) in a GIS (ArcMap 10.3, ESRI.) Locations were compared visually using landmarks such as roads and farmsteads identified using PLSS overlay maps. Linear features were drawn as accurately as possible with this information. The data can be viewed as one complete dataset, or by each year only.

This data also compares the condition of the original windbreak using several years of current imagery. The windbreak is can be INTACT, PARTIAL, or MISSING and has been visually reviewed using NAIP imagery for the years 2003, 2010, 2014, and 2016.