2017 Nebraska Statehood 150th Anniv.Plate Block of 4 Postage Stamps - MNH, OG - Sc# 5179

This Nebraska forever stamp has been issued by the U.S. Postal Service to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Nebraska statehood. The forever stamp depicts a photograph taken on the banks of the Platte River as sandhill cranes flew low overhead at sunset. Nicknamed the Cornhusker State, Nebraska is the 37th state admitted to the union. "Nebraska" is derived from the Otoe and Omaha peoples' phrase meaning "flat water" and "flat river." The description originally referred to the wide, shallow river that flows eastward into the Missouri River, Nebraska's eastern boundary. On early maps, French explorers labeled the river "Platte," also meaning flat. Territorial Nebraska was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the French land sale that nearly doubled U.S. territory. Enormous buffalo herds on the plains had provided generations of sustenance to the Native American Pawnee people and many other area tribes. Nebraska is now one of the nation's agricultural giants, particularly in the production of beef, corn and beans. The photo depicted on the Forever stamp was taken by Michael Forsberg, a Nebraska native. Sandhills can grow to nearly 4 feet tall with a wingspan of nearly 6 feet. Their migration patterns begin as far away as Siberia and Alaska. They winter in parts of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, California and Mexico. At the onset of spring, half a million of these ancient birds return to the Platte River during their annual migration - a spectacle unique to Nebraska. After a day spent feeding in crop fields, wetlands and prairies nearby, they are seen in Forsberg's photograph scouting for shallow sandbars that provide nighttime roosts safe from riverbank predators. This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.