Fewer than 300,000 acres, or about 2 percent, of Nebraska’s original tallgrass prairie is left. And about 700 acres of it is just west of Lincoln, at the Spring Creek Prairie near Denton.

Every effort should be made to preserve this state treasure, including vacating parts of two dirt county roads often used for trash dumping.

The Audubon Society, which manages the prairie, made the request to the Lancaster County Board to vacate the 1.1 miles of road because Spring Creek’s precious few employees are having to clean and dispose of the garbage.

The stretches of road, on Southwest 86th Street and West Saltillo, also are used by four-wheelers, one of which left deep ruts in the road after a spring rain.

Hardly the atmosphere that should border a place where it’s still possible to hear birds chirping, bees buzzing, the wind whispering on tall grasses — sounds with which the pioneers would have been familiar.

There is no place else like it.

That reason alone is enough to guard it jealously.

“This prairie is an incredible asset made possible by thousands of our community members,” Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center Executive Director Marian Langan said. “That investment of time, sweat and money will be greatly enhanced by the closure. The nesting of our native grassland birds, declining faster than any other group on the continent, is affected by this road. The habitat will be greatly improved for them as well as us. Future generations will thank the county leaders for their farsightedness.”

County Engineer Dan Thomas is concerned that residents might need this road in the future, because it is a section-line road that could become a future arterial, like 84th Street. Closing the stretch would eliminate the possibility of a paved road down the line.

Thomas said another option is an upgrade. Bennett Road had similar trash issues and the county opened up the road and graded it.

But Spring Creek is different.

We hope Lincoln’s growth never encroaches upon it so much that the whir of traffic interrupts a prairie sojourn. There are few places to find such solitude with nature.

And Planner Mike DeKalb told the Journal Star that his analysis concluded that vacating the stretch of road would conform to the city-county comprehensive plan.

The needs of possible future development always must be balanced with the need for preservation.

In this case, the balance tips in Spring Creek’s favor.

Close the road.