There is not a Maple Creek Watershed Project

Letter to the Editor:

How big is the Maple Creek Watershed Project, and what are the expansion plans for the Maple Creek Watershed Project? These are the questions being asked of the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) board and staff. The LENRD needs to make a very important clarification here by stating that there is NO Maple Creek Watershed project.

The LENRD is currently working through the process of the Watershed Flood Prevention and Operations (WFPO) Plan which is 30% completed. It’s important to understand that this Maple Creek Watershed Plan is simply a ‘planning document’ to evaluate what is technically and economically feasible, and socially acceptable across the area. It is not a project.

We are working with landowners in the watershed and having conversations about what they would like to see for flood protection and about what they are willing to do to help with flood reduction. While not everyone is interested in doing something, we do have individuals expressing their willingness to place small flood control structures on their property, whether it be a detention cell, wetland development, or a small dam. These ideas are being documented and worked into the WFPO plan to help the LENRD board of directors determine what level of flood reduction we are willing to tackle and help secure the dollars needed to implement the approved plan.

Extreme Weather Cycles - How often do flood events occur?

Over the last 12 years, we have had watersheds experience a 100-year storm on average every four years. While some of these storms surpassed the 100-year threshold and peaked past the 500-year storm, the most recent 500-year storm was in 2019 during the March bomb cyclone.

This may come as a surprise, but during the March 2019 flood, the City of Norfolk had as much water in the bypass channel running through the city that is usually flowing in the Missouri River. This amount of water stressed the diversion channel to its limit, and the only reason it survived was due to the LENRD flood control structure 15 miles upstream which held back 18,000-acre feet of water (5.8 million gallons). Willow Creek Reservoir has a normal conservation pool of approximately 700 acres, but during that event swelled to over 1,200 acres (which is how it was designed) and helped to significantly alleviate downstream flood impacts, most notably to the communities of Pierce and Norfolk. Think about this for a moment… a tributary to the Elkhorn River two hours west of Omaha became the size of the Missouri River as the flood waters were flowing and gaining volume, navigating, and destroying the region from the Elkhorn River to the Platte River and ultimately ending in the Missouri River.

During this same 12-year period, we have experienced the most extreme flash drought in the last 70 years, which occurred in 2012. This extreme drought brought to the forefront the vulnerability in our agriculture system that has such a reliance on groundwater for irrigation. The spike in demand from all groundwater users, most notably from municipal, irrigation, livestock, and domestic well owners, provided evidence that the natural system has limits, and in-season groundwater shortages were documented throughout the district. Should that drought have lasted another year or more (as has occurred in other parts of the United States), catastrophic environmental and economic ramifications would have been realized. The extremes we are experiencing in weather cycles is unprecedented. For example, this flash drought followed two years that were plagued with flooding along the Elkhorn River.

What’s next for the Maple Creek Plan?

By going through this planning process, the LENRD would then be eligible for funding to install flood prevention measures and work on projects that are ACCEPTABLE within the watershed, and to help communities with their flood prevention needs.

The major point of this exercise is to provide both flood protection and property tax relief. The property tax relief comes by securing federal dollars rather than raising local property tax dollars to do the same work that has been given to us by the Nebraska Legislature. NRCS could potentially provide 100% of the financial commitment for design and construction of projects within the plan.

The LENRD is asking for your help in developing your ideas and working together to research ways to reduce flooding in the Maple Creek Watershed. Once the evaluation and planning process is completed, a public meeting will be held for gathering public input followed by a presentation to the LENRD board for approval.

Please remember this is NOT a project, but rather a planning document to evaluate ideas to reduce flooding.

Respectfully,

Mike Sousek, General Manager, on behalf of the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District Board of Directors