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| Nemaha NRD August
2006 Board Meeting Report Tecumseh – A proposed budget requesting approximately the same dollars from local property taxes as last year was reviewed by Nemaha Natural Resources District directors at their meeting Thursday, August 10. Several items originally under consideration for the budget were trimmed to allow little or no increase in the tax request. This brings the total budget to around $2.7 million, which will be up for public comment at a hearing that will precede the NRD’s regular board meeting on September 14. Watershed projects and administrative costs such as wages and benefits, utilities, insurance, fuel, and supplies dominate the expenditures at nearly $1 million each. The remainder will go toward water programs, wildlife and land treatment, recreation, information and education, and capital expenditures. The major watershed project this year is in the Iron Horse Trail Lake watershed where just over $600,000 is planned for construction and engineering of practices to help reduce sediment and pollution in the watershed. Contributions from the Nebraska Environmental Trust and EPA Section 319 funds will help pay much of the bill for these practices. Representatives of JEO Consulting provided an overview of the recently completed draft of the Muddy Creek Watershed Plan. This plan focuses on the upper end of the watershed, which encompasses an area generally south of the village of Johnson. A committee of landowners, NRD officials, and local government representatives has been meeting for more than a year formulating ideas for addressing the severe erosion issues in the watershed. As a result, JEO was charged with producing the plan. Following the presentation, board members voted to approve an application to the Nebraska Environmental Trust for funds to assist with implementing conservation measures in the watershed. An informational meeting to present the plan to the public is planned for Thursday, August 24, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the NRD’s office in Tecumseh. Two more grant applications gained NRD board approval at the meeting. One, also for Nebraska Environmental Trust monies, would help fund a study to evaluate the concept of regional public water systems in southeast Nebraska. Because of a great deal of interest in the concept from area water suppliers and municipalities, the District and Five Rivers RC&D have been pursuing this topic; so far, however, the search for funding has been unsuccessful. Therefore, the NRD agreed to help sponsor the NETF grant application. With efforts underway to update the NRD’s Groundwater Management Plan, the board also approved an application for funds to help with collecting data for the plan. A request for about $40,000 will be made to the Interrelated Water Management Program, which is a new state fund administered by the Department of Natural Resources. A match of 20 percent will be required of the District, if approved. In a related item, the board also approved funding support for the Eastern Nebraska Water Resources Assessment Project. Several eastern Nebraska NRDs are proposing to work with U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of Natural Resources to collect better data in aquifers in glaciated areas of Nebraska. The group is also requesting grant funds from the Interrelated Water Management Program, so the Nemaha NRD’s financial support of about $10,000 would be needed for part of the 20% match to the grant. In yet one more grant related agenda item, the board agreed to provide a letter of support to the Cornhusker Boy Scout Council for their pond renovation project at Camp Cornhusker south of Humboldt. Should the Scouts be successful in their bid for Environmental Trust funds, they would request NRD contributions as well to supplement the project. The board’s letter of support did not include a specific dollar amount at this time, however. No action was taken on requests from landowners in Turkey Creek Watershed to water livestock directly from their ponds during periods of severe drought. Stipulations when the structures were built required that livestock be restricted from the reservoirs and instead provided downstream water through hydrants. With the lack of rainfall, water levels in some structures have dropped so low that the watering systems will not function. The board directed staff to prepare a policy for allowing emergency watering; the policy will be reviewed next month. The next regular meeting of the Nemaha Natural Resources District board of directors will be on Thursday, September 14, 2006, beginning at 8:00 p.m. at the NRD headquarters, 62161 Highway 136, Tecumseh. A hearing for the fiscal year 2006-2007 budget will precede the meeting; watch your local papers for the time and official notice. |