fragility of the sandy soil makes the area unsuitable for cultivation of crops. Attempts at farming were made in the region in the late 1870s and again around 1890. The 1904 Kinkaid Act allowed homesteaders to claim of land, rather than the allowed by the 1862 Homestead Act. Nearly nine million acres (36,000 km2) were claimed by "Kinkaiders" between 1910 and 1917. Some of the Kinkaiders farmed the land, but these attempts generally failed. This included Nebraska's largest black settlement, DeWitty, which was located in southeast Cherry County until the 1930s. Many of the largest ranches broke up about the same time due to regulations against fencing federal range lands. Some development of cropland agriculture in the modern era has occurred through the use of center-pivot irrigation systems. In the 21st century, the Sandhills are a productive cattle ranching area, supporting over 530,000 beef cattle. The population of the region continues to decline as older generations die out, younger generations move to the cities, and ranches are consolidated. A number of small towns remain in the region. Ecology The Sandhills contain a large array of plant and animal life. Minimal crop production has led to limited land fragmentation; the resulting extensive and continuous habitat for plant and animal species has largely preserved the biodiversity of the area. The Sandhills are home to 314 vertebrate species including mule deer, whitetail deer, jackrabbits, pronghorn antelope, elk, coyotes, red fox, Western meadowlarks (the Nebraska state bird), prairie dogs, bull snakes, prairie rattlesnakes, ringnecked pheasant, ruffed grouse, badgers, ground squirrels, skunks, native bat species and many fish species. The Sandhills' thousands of ponds and lakes are spring-fed surface water areas of the Ogallala Aquifer. Precipitation is insufficient to keep ponds and lakes permanent with the low humidity and high evaporation rates. The natural reservoirs are also primarily confined to a few regions of the Sandhills with the vast majority located in northern Garden County. The lakes and ponds are mainly sandy-bottomed and some contain many species of fish. Very few are used to water cattle as the water is usually shallow, warm, brackish, turbid, saline, alkaline or conceals "quicksand" cattle would become stuck in. Windmills and solar-powered submersible electric pumps fed by the easily-accessible aquifer filling cement-bottom steel stock tanks up to 30 feet in diameter are used to supply livestock with cool, fresh water on a daily basis. Some lakes in the area