Wildcat Hills

Located in Banner, Morrill, and Scotts Bluff counties, the high tableland between the streams has been eroded by wind and water into a region of forested buttes, ridges and canyons that rise 150 to 300 m (490 to 980 ft) above the surrounding landscape.

The plant and animal life in the Wildcat Hills is atypical for Nebraska; the ecology more resembles that of the Laramie Mountains, 60 miles to the west.

Bighorn sheep, pronghorn, elk, mule deer, and wild turkeys live in and around the hills.

The Wildcat Hills (along with the Pine Ridge), are the only areas in Nebraska with a permanent breeding cougar population.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission acquired land for the Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area 41°42′08″N 103°40′02″W / 41.70222°N 103.66722°W / 41.70222; -103.66722 in stages between 1929 and 1980; the Wildcat Hills Nature Center, featuring a half-mile boardwalk trail, opened in 1995.