MINUTES OF THE
NEBRASKA NATURAL RESOURCES
COMMISSION MEETING
DECEMBER 7, 2000
Those in attendance were:
Richard Jiskra, Chair Roy Stewart, Member
Clinton Johannes, Member Don Roberts, Member
Vince Kramper, Member Pat McGrane
Beverly Donaldson, Member Dean Edson
Roger Korell, Member Gabe Robertson
Wayne Madsen, Member Milton
Moravek
Jim Van Marter, Member Dayle Williamson, Staff
Richard Mercer, Member Jim Cook, Staff
Leroy Pieper, Member Tom Pesek, Staff
Wayne Davis, Member Gayle Starr, Staff
Frank Bartak, Member
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to
order by Commission Chair Richard Jiskra in the conference room of the Lower
Platte South Natural Resources District in Lincoln, Nebraska at approximately
10:05 a.m.
NOTICE OF THE MEETING
The notice of the meeting
was placed in the LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR on November 29, 2000, notifying the
public of the meeting.
INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL
The following items of
informational material were distributed during the course of the meeting and a
copy of each is attached to the file copy of the minutes.
1. Expenditures for
October and November 2000.
2.
Nebraska
Resources Development Fund Present Financial Status, Dec. 5, 2000.
3.
Nebraska
Resources Development Fund Quarterly Report.
4.
Status
of Small Watersheds Flood Control Fund.
5.
Minutes
of the Program Committee Meeting.
6.
Caucus
Schedule, Jan. 8-11, 2001.
7. Soil & Water
Conservation Fund Expenditures.
8. Water Well
Decommissioning Cash Fund Report.
9. Natural Resources
Enhancement Funds Report.
10. Land Auction Notice for
Wednesday, January 10, 2001.
11. NRCS Report to the NNRC
and NARD.
12. Republican Basin Water Meter Report.
MINUTES
Motion was made by Kramper
and seconded by Roberts to approve the minutes of the October 26, 2000
Commission meeting as distributed.
Motion carried.
Aye: Stewart, Roberts, Davis, Donaldson, Mercer,
Pieper, Bartak, Van Marter, Kramper, Korell, Madsen, Johannes, Jiskra
Nay: None
Not Present: Hahn, Hergott, Larson
EXPENDITURES
Chairman
Jiskra noted that the expenditures for the various Commission funds had been
distributed to Commission members and would be made a part of the record.
ADVISOR’S COMMENTS
Pat
McGrane distributed a report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service
and discussed the Grazing Lands Coalition, the NRCS budget, locally led conservation,
the new watershed rehabilitation bill just passed by Congress, EQIP funds, and
the Conservation Reserve Program. Dayle
Williamson also commented on the recent State Technical Committee meeting and
the various environmental and water quality issues discussed at that meeting.
Dean Edson, representing
NARD, briefly commented on NARD activities and discussed several items of
legislation that the Association tends to pursue in the upcoming legislative
session.
Vince Kramper and Richard
Mercer briefly commented on the Environmental Trust Board noting that the
Rankings Committee has completed their first review of applications and will
meet again on January 9 to further discuss and review their rankings. They added that the committee would report
their recommendations to the Board at their February 14th meeting,
which is tentatively scheduled to be in Fremont. Mercer added that some tentative work is being done on
establishing the Foundation and securing funds for that Foundation.
Jerry
Vandersnick presented a comprehensive briefing on the Platte River Cooperative
Agreement process and the status of the Cooperative Agreement activities.
PLATTE
AND REPUBLICAN RIVER ISSUES
Jim Cook noted that Roger Patterson and Ann Bleed
had been spending a great amount of time on negotiating with Wyoming on the
North Platte issue and it appears they are very close to settlement. He added that with regard to the Republican
River lawsuit with Kansas, the Special Master has established a condensed time
schedule with the trial scheduled to start in March of 2003, which was
significantly sooner than Nebraska had hoped for. He added that this would require a concentrated effort and
significantly more funding over the next two years.
COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING
COMMITTEE
Wayne Madsen noted that all Commission members now
present had also been present at the Comprehensive Planning Committee to hear
the updates on Planning and Data Bank activities provided by Kris Reed, Rich
Kern, and Mahendra Bansal. He added
that the committee was not recommending any Commission action.
Beverly
Donaldson noted that the Program Committee had met on Wednesday afternoon and
had five committee recommendations for Commission action. The first action was that subsurface drip
irrigation systems be added to the Soil & Water Conservation Fund
Irrigation Water Management practice.
Motion carried.
Aye: Roberts, Davis, Donaldson, Mercer, Pieper,
Bartak, Kramper, Korell, Madsen, Van Marter, Johannes, Stewart, Jiskra
Nay: None
Not
Present: Hergott,
Larson, Hahn
The
second recommendation was that the Commission approve the City of Wakefield’s
request for an increased allocation of $36,504.05, thereby increasing the total
project allocation of the Wakefield Levee Project to $299,216.45, obligating
the additional funds effective immediately making the project fully obligated
and revise the project components to; Component #1 (feasibility study),
$36,504.05, and component #2 (design right-of-way acquisition and
construction), $262,712.40. Motion
carried.
Aye: Davis, Donaldson, Mercer, Pieper, Bartak,
Kramper, Korell, Madsen, Van Marter, Johannes, Stewart, Roberts, Jiskra
Nay: None
Not
Present: Larson, Hahn,
Hergott
The third recommendation was that the
Commission approve the Nemaha NRD’s request that the additional $20,000
allocated to the Upper Little Nemaha Watershed Project at the September 27,
2000 Commission meeting be transferred from
Component #10 (construction, site 31) to Component number 9 (design, site 31)
and that the $20,000 be obligated effective immediately.
Motion carried.
Aye: Donaldson, Mercer, Pieper, Bartak, Kramper,
Korell, Madsen, Van Marter, Johannes, Stewart, Roberts, Davis, Jiskra
Nay: None
Not
Present: Hergott,
Larson, Hahn
The fourth recommendation is that the Commission
approve the Central Platte NRD’s request that $600,000 be obligated to
Component #3 (relocation/bridges) of the Lower Wood River/Upper Warm Slough
Project effective immediately. Motion
carried.
Aye: Mercer, Pieper, Bartak, Kramper, Korell,
Madsen, Van Marter, Johannes, Stewart, Roberts, Davis, Donaldson, Jiskra
Nay: None
Not
Present: Larson, Hahn,
Hergott
The
final recommendation – the Commission approved the Lower Platte South NRD’s
request that $24,000 be obligated to Component #4 (engineering services sites A
9-1 and A 9-6) and $189,000 be obligated to Component #5 (construction sites A
9-1 and A 9-6) of the Steven’s Creek Watershed Project effective
immediately. Motion carried.
Aye: Pieper, Bartak, Kramper, Korell, Madsen, Van Marter, Johannes,
Stewart, Roberts, Davis,
Donaldson, Mercer, Jiskra
Nay: None
Not
Present: Larson, Hahn,
Hergott
LEGISLATIVE
& BUDGET COMMITTEE
Frank Bartak reported that
Jim Cook had briefed the committee on a number of legislative items that the
agency is considering asking to be introduced.
He also noted that Gayle Starr had briefly reviewed the department’s
budget request and some supplemental requests that have been submitted.
It was noted that the explanation paper included
suggested meeting dates for the next year and that Commission action on
approving the dates would be on the agenda for the January meeting.
LeRoy Pieper noted that he intends to invite the
Commission to have a meeting in the North Platte NRD, perhaps the July
meeting. There was some discussion on
having the May and July meetings a week later.
Dayle Williamson noted that he would further check schedules and see
what changes could be made to accommodate Commission desires.
Gayle Starr briefly reviewed
the Commission member selection caucus schedule for the six basins to be held
in January. Motion was made by Davis
and seconded by Van Marter to approve the Commission member selection caucus
schedule and procedures for the January caucuses. Motion carried.
Aye: Bartak, Kramper, Korell, Madsen, Van Marter, Johannes, Stewart,
Roberts, Davis, Donaldson, Mercer, Pieper, Jiskra
Nay: None
Not Present: Hahn, Hergott, Larson
NEXT
MEETING
The next meeting of the Commission will be January 24 at
the Embassy Suites in Lincoln, from 2:00-5:00 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:05 p.m.
______________________________________ _______________________________________
Chairman Director of Natural Resources