A road structure dam built in 1955 (pictured right), near Sprague, is the district’s next USDA/NRCS Watershed Rehabilitation project. The rehabilitation of Upper Salt Dam 3-A, at Southwest Second Street and Stagecoach Road, one mile east and one mile south of Sprague, will bring the dam into compliance with current design standards:

• raise the dam 0.6 feet
• raise the flood pool 0.7 feet
• widen the auxiliary spillway
• widen Stagecoach Road for the length of the dam
• replace the concrete inlet structure
• install a larger principal spillway pipe
• add a plunge pool impact basin to slow water down as it exits the dam

Upper Salt Dam 3-A is one of 26 dams in southern Lancaster County’s Upper Salt Creek Watershed, upstream of Lincoln. LPSNRD has worked with USDA/NRCS for many years on similar upgrades to aging dams throughout the district, but this project also includes significant road improvements. Besides widening Stagecoach Road along the dam, a portion of Southwest Second Street, north of Stagecoach Road, will be realigned so it intersects with Stagecoach Road east of the present intersection. Lancaster County has completed the design of the realignment of Southwest Second Street, so it will meet current state road standards. Van Kirk Brothers Contracting, of Sutton, NE, has the $1.8 million construction contract and work is already underway. Completion is expected in late summer 2021.

Top picture is the Upper Salt 3-A Watershed Dam Construction from 1955.
Bottom picture is the stretch of Stagecoach Road, near SW 2nd Street. It will be widened and an updated guard rail will be added.

The Fiscal Year 2021 LPSNRD Budget pays particular attention to maintaining current district infrastructure. It adds $1.25 million in various Salt Creek Levee updates to the $4.7 million in erosion repairs already made along the levee since last spring, by the Corps of Engineers. About $2.5 million is in the budget for the rehabilitation of two dams, $350,000 to renovate an Oak Creek weir, $2 million for repairs to Antelope Creek at 39th Street, stream stabilization projects, trail repairs and more.

The $33.5 million budget was approved in August, by the LPSNRD Board of Directors. While the budget increased five percent from Fiscal Year 2020, the property tax requirement is the same, $10,156,870, and with a three percent increase in property valuations across the district’s six-county area, the tax levy of $0.030024 per $100 of actual valuation, is three percent lower than in Fiscal Year 2020. LPSNRD Treasurer Dan Steinkruger said the budget, “continues our conservation programs, important education initiatives, maintenance of aging infrastructure and critical projects like the Deadman’s Run Flood Reduction Project, without increasing property taxes.”

View the Fiscal year 2021 Budget

by Board Chair Larry Ruth

Flood control is a primary purpose for NRDs across the state. The flooding of March 2019 was not as bad in Lower Platte South as in other NRDs, but it did hit the City of Plattsmouth especially hard with severe damage to its wells and wastewater system.

Articles in this newsletter give encouraging updates on the Lied Platte River Bridge, and Lincoln’s Salt Creek Levee erosion repair by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In addition, repair work on the Lincoln Water System wellfield, the Western Sarpy/Clear Creek Levee and numerous other levees along the Platte and Missouri Rivers is on-going.

Strong partnerships between governmental agencies showed their value in protecting people and property during the March 2019 flood events. Those same partnerships have also proven to be tremendous assets in recovery and the Lower Platte South will proudly continue to be a part of them.

Here are your LPSNRD Board representatives, listed by subdistrict. The Board meets regularly on the third Wednesday of each month. More information about the board of directors. 

1. Don Jacobson, W Lincoln & Gary Hellerich, Valparaiso
2. Sarah Wilson, Waverly & Mark Spangler, Murray
3. Mike DeKalb, NE Lincoln & Vern Barrett, Ceresco
4. Larry Ruth, Walton & Gary Aldridge, SE Lincoln
5. Greg Osborn, W Lincoln & Bruce Johnson, W Lincoln
6. Anthony Schutz, NW Lincoln & Deborah Eagan, NW Lincoln
7. Chelsea Johnson, NE Lincoln & Luke Peterson, NE Lincoln
8. Dan Steinkruger, SE Lincoln & Tom Green, SE Lincoln
9. Milt Schmidt, SE Lincoln & Bob Andersen, SE Lincoln
10. Ray Stevens, S Lincoln & Karen Amen, S Lincoln

At-large
David Landis, Lincoln

Meeting Note
LPSNRD Board meetings to be held at the Lancaster Event Center, in the Lincoln Room, through December 2020, to allow proper social distancing.

Oak Creek Trail Closed

One mile of the Oak Creek Trail remains closed one mile west of Valparaiso, due to severe stream bank erosion. An engineering firm is designing repairs.

Virtual Classroom

We’ve been adding to our Virtual Classroom webpage all summer long. Check out the videos, activity sheets and links to other curriculum- friendly sites to help students learn about their environment. View the Virtual Classroom.

Podcasts

Learn more about all we do by listening to our podcasts. Our staff shares about groundwater, forestry, flooding, education, and more. Listen to the podcasts.

A contractor began making repairs to the railing and deck of the Lied Platte River Bridge in September and next the connector trail on the east end will be rebuilt. The connector trail was completely washed-out by bomb cyclone flooding in March of 2019. The replacement trail is being designed and the bridge will remain closed until the connector trail is completed, tentatively in 2021. The bridge was utilized, though, during the annual Market to Market Relay, from Omaha to Lincoln, on October 3, with temporary provisions between a property owner and event organizers.

LPSNRD and the Papio-Missouri River NRD (Papio), based in Omaha, own the bridge and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission maintains it. The Papio is overseeing repairs to damage from high river flows and giant blocks of ice during the record flood. FEMA is helping to pay for repairs to the bridge. Game and Parks removed large amounts of debris from bridge supports earlier this year.

Six contested LPSNRD Board races will appear on November ballots in the district. Below is a listing of candidates by subdistrict. If only one candidate is listed in a subdistrict, that candidate is running unopposed. Incumbents are listed in bold:

1. Don Jacobson, Lincoln
2. Ron Nolte, Plattsmouth
3. Mike DeKalb, Lincoln & Kenneth Vogel, Lincoln
4. Gary Aldridge, Lincoln & LeRoy Sievers, Lincoln
5. Greg Osborn, Lincoln & John Yoakum, Lincoln
6. Anthony Schutz, Lincoln
7. Chelsea Johnson, Lincoln
8. Christy Eichorn, Lincoln & Christine Lamberty, Lincoln
9. Lisa Lewis, Lincoln & Milt Schmidt, Lincoln
10. Bastienne Salners, Lincoln & Ray Stevens, Lincoln

The LPSNRD Board of Directors consists of 21 directors and meets on the third Wednesday of each month. Directors serve four-year terms, with half of the Board seats up for election every two years.

More information about the board.

Watch our website for details on the start of annual sales of tree and shrub seedlings. About 40,000 seedlings are sold each fall and winter across the district. Available species are suitable for windbreaks, wildlife habitat and many other uses. Around 30 different species are sold in bundles of 25 and the minimum order is one bundle of 25 seedlings. Pre-packaged assortments of 50 seedlings designed for specific uses are also available. Use our easy and secure online ordering portal to order until late March, then seedling orders will be delivered to LPSNRD, sorted and stored in our custom tree cooler until you’re ready to plant them in late April or May.

The NRD forester can make a free visit to your site, suggest appropriate species and draw a plan. Contact jseaton.forester@lpsnrd.org or phone 402-476-2729.

Pictured is one bundle of 25 seedlings.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has been busy along Lincoln’s Salt Creek Levee, where severe storms left erosion damage at 14 locations, from Calvert to Superior streets, in March 2019. The levee functioned properly and did not breach or overtop during last year’s bomb cyclone. At most of the 14 repair sites, the creek bank is being re-shaped, then reinforced with rock rip-rap.

Under Public Law 84-99, the Corps is not only supervising the $4.7 million project, they’re funding it. The law allows the Corps to repair damages to the levee from flooding, if the levee meets certain standards. As the local sponsor of the Salt Creek Levee project, it is LPSNRD’s responsibility to keep the levee eligible for PL 84-99 repairs, like the ones that have been taking place since March 2020. Additional updates to the levee made under the federal SWIF program since 2016 are also continuing. The Corps estimates the 13-mile Salt Creek Levee system has prevented about $100 million in flood damage to Lincoln neighborhoods and businesses, since it was built for about $1 million in the 1960s. The LPSNRD staff monitors the levee whenever high water threatens.

More information about current repairs and the Salt Creek Levee in general is available in a podcast. Listen to the podcast.

Top picture is a worker prepairing old cribbing for removal from the bank of Salt Creek, downstream of 27th Street, in August.
Middle picture is the levee repair site at Haymarket Park.
Bottom picture is the levee repair site downstream of 27th Street.

We love seeing our LPSNRD recreation areas being enjoyed. Look at these great photos that have been shared with us. If you’d like to share, use #lpsnrd or email them to us at mmascoe@lpsnrd.org.

Meet our newest employee, Jan Kush. Jan is our new district secretary in the Cass County NRCS office. She keeps busy helping callers, uploading wetland determinations, assisting with file management and managing supplies. She enjoys spending time with her kids and grandkids. She and her husband, Mitch, also enjoy fishing and the outdoors.

Jan replaces Jean Ulrich, who retired from the position in March after nearly 35 years. When she thinks about her time working she most remembers, “working with all the wonderful, friendly farmers.” In retirement, she and her husband, Don, are reading, watching old movies, selling on Ebay, and, “isolating at home until a vaccine comes out so we can get back to travelling.” Congratulations, Jean! Enjoy.

South Salt Creek Master Plan Project #4

Stream stabilization project at Salt Creek and Old Cheney Road began in September, after other work at the site. Stabilization downstream (north) of the bridge is an LPSNRD/City of Lincoln Watershed Master Plan project.

Dam Rehabilitation

The rehabilitation of our Oak Middle Watershed Dam 82-B, northwest of Garland is 50% complete. In partnership with the USDA/NRCS, 82-B is being brought up to high-hazard dam standards with a new pipe, higher dam and new auxiliary spillway.

Wildwood Dam

Thanks to all who cooperated when the dam area at Wildwood Lake was closed in June. The dam settled over the years and this year’s project brought the dam back to its original elevation, to maximize flood protection downstream.