OMAHA- A 5-acre prairie plot near Omaha, which had been harvested for its hay for decades, was bulldozed away about a year ago as part of Google’s plan to build a $750 million data center just west of Nebraska Highway 133.

Tallgrass prairies once covered 170 million acres of the Great Plains, including most of eastern Nebraska. But farming and development have taken out an estimated 98% to 99% of it, leaving only small remnants in what was an ocean of grass.

The City of Omaha’s Master Plan calls for “effective measures” to protect “natural features” from destruction, features such as ravines, wetlands, Missouri River bluffs and prairies.

But Eric Englund, Omaha’s assistant city planner, said the existence of a native prairie never came up during discussions in which he was present over the Google project.

The prairie, Englund said, was identified on a map kept by the City Parks Department. But for some reason, it did not come up, he said, during the approval process of the Google project.

“I don’t know if it was missed, or if it was agreed that mitigation of the prairie was not necessary,” he said.

At this point in time, Google is aware of the prairie but has no intention to replace it.

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