SPNRD Board hears update on Oliver Reservoir Recreation Area

The South Platte Natural Resources District Board held its monthly meeting on July 15 and began with a presentation and slide show by Oliver Reservoir Recreation Area Technician Kent Matsutani, who discussed several upgrades to the recreation area.

One important upgrade has been to the restrooms where ventilation and a cleaner environment have been key steps to making a better experience for those visiting the area. Another area of priority was to clean and repair the picnic tables and the playground area. More signage and a new buoy system are also helping visitors to navigate the reservoir area. In addition, about 200 trees have been planted to provide beautification and shade.

Community involvement and volunteering are important to the success of the Recreation Area and that was again evidenced by the donation of pallets for firewood by the Kimball Recycling Center over the Fourth of July weekend. Matsutani commented that all of the firewood was used by those visiting the area and that it was very much appreciated.

In other business, Thad Kuntz, the principle hydrogeologist from Adaptive Resources, presented more of the overview of the District’s modeling efforts and analyses, known as the Western Water Use Management Model, to address water management decisions. These included review of scenarios of the Aquifer Life Analysis.

Using available historic data coupled with modeling techniques, Kuntz is also able to project the aquifer life in increments of time from 10 years to a long projection of 500 years. Utilizing the information from the WWUMM will be paramount for the directors in determining and incorporating allocations for the 2016 through 2018 allocation period.

Kuntz also presented information on the Post-1997 Irrigated Depletions obligations and continued work on the South Platte River Valley Subarea Allocation Analysis issue. He also showed maps of areas where the Lodgepole Creek runs based on annual evaluations complemented with graphs showing above ground water interactions with the Lodgepole Creek.

Nebraska Youth Range Camp participant Hunter Hendrickson of Lodgepole and a senior at Creek Valley High School was invited to give a report. He represented the South Platte Natural Resources District at this year’s 52nd annual Nebraska State 4-H Camp. This was his third year attending the camp that combines educational and recreational activities and is geared toward natural resource and ranch management with particular attention to the Nebraska Sandhills.

Hendrickson described some of his experiences from this year’s camp, in particular learning about the plant life of Nebraska. He stated that new plants were introduced every day and by the end of the week around 40 plants were studied and tested.

Several fun events were included during the week, including floating down the Niobrara River, a rodeo, a Bar-B-Que, and a dance held on the last night of the camp.

The next meeting for the Board will be on Aug. 11 at 5 p.m. at the SPNRD Board Room, 551 Parkland Drive, Sidney. The public is invited to attend.