The Nebraska National Forest began in 1902 as an experiment. University of Nebraska botanist Charles E. Bessey, with the assistance of Gifford Pinchot, first Forest Service Chief, convinced President Theodore Roosevelt to set aside two treeless tracts of Nebraska sandhills as "forest reserves." Dr. Bessey's intent was to eventually produce wood products which would encourage settlement in the region. Thus began a pioneering effort to produce trees and plant them in what is now the largest human-made forest in the western hemisphere.

Though the sandhill forests never met Bessey's vision of becoming a timber producing forest, it is important for its wildlife, aesthetic and recreational values and as alicing monument to that vision. Charles E. Bessey Tree Nursery, the oldest federal nursery, pioneered the large scale production of tree seedlings and still produces over three million per year for districution to national forests and states in the Great Plains and West.

The National Grasslands and native ponderosa pine forest of Nebraska's Pine Ridge area were added to the National Forest System in the 1950's.