The Lower Platte North NRD provides higher cost-share rates for soil and water conservation work in priority watersheds.
The cost-share rate can be up to 75% in these watersheds. Current priority watersheds are:
- Skull Creek
- Shell Creek
- Czechland Lake*
- Sand & Duck Creeks*
- Wahoo Creek*
- Bone Creek
Cost-share rates may vary depending on where you live within these watersheds.
*These watersheds are considered high priority because they contain completed projects where soil erosion may be a concern, such as Czechland Lake in the Cottonwood Creek Watershed or Lake Wanahoo in the Sand/Duck Creek Watershed.
Do you qualify for increased land treatment funding?
To see if your land is in one of the priority watersheds, contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service office or Sean Elliott at the NRD.
Working for Water Quality: Wahoo Creek
More financial and technical help for conservation work has been available for landowners in the Wahoo Creek watershed, thanks to the completion of a comprehensive water quality management plan. This plan was completed in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.
The 517-square-mile Wahoo Creek watershed, which includes the majority of land in Saunders County, was listed as “impaired” by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy in 2007 due to E. coli and other pollutants. The Wahoo Creek Watershed Water Quality Management Plan was developed to address those issues.
The Lower Platte North NRD initially led a two-year effort to develop a water quality management plan in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.
The plan targets major reductions in several pollutants in the watershed, including E. coli (76% reduction), nitrogen (26% reduction), phosphorus (50% reduction), and sediment (67% reduction). To achieve those goals, the plan calls for a mixture of Best Management Practices (BMPs) and education and outreach efforts.
The plan was completed in late 2013, and an update is scheduled in 2018.
With the completion of the plan, the watershed is eligible for Section 319 funding to help implement a variety of Best Management Practices (BMPs). Those BMPs could include buffer strips, no-till, terracing, small dams, rehab of existing conservation structures, and more.
Water Quality Plan – Phase II
The Lower Platte North NRD has received additional grant funding through Nebraska Environmental Trust and NDEE for Phase II of the Wahoo Creek Watershed Water Quality Plan. Environmental Trust has provided $106,000 in funds to support conservation projects in the Wahoo Creek Watershed. Additional funding is provided by NDEE for $168,215. This funding will compliment special EQIP Water Quality Initiative funding through NRCS.
The duration of Phase II is April 2016 to December 2018 and includes the four sub-watersheds of Cottonwood Creek, North Fork of Wahoo Creek, Dunlop Creek, and Miller Branch.
Water quality standards are categorized as “impaired” due levels of E. coli bacteria higher than Nebraska’s Surface Water Quality Standards. Flood control is an additional concern to the Wahoo Creek Watershed. In 1998, the Lower Platte North NRD, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ant the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) developed the Wahoo Creek Watershed Plan and Environmental Impact Statement to develop strategy for floodwater management and water quality improvement through the Wahoo Creek watershed. The plan was updated in 2013 to develop potential projects in the sub-watersheds with best management practices that are designed to reduce pollution levels that encourage water quality standards to be met.
The Wahoo Creek Watershed Water Quality Management Plan designated seven goals to protect and enhance water quality of all water resources in the Wahoo Creek Watershed. These goals are defined as:
- Remove streams from the 303(d) list
- Reduce stream bank and streambed erosion
- Reduce field and gully erosion
- Reduce nutrient runoff from agricultural lands
- Protect or enhance the aquatic habitat found throughout the watershed
- Restore impaired water bodies and protect current and future water bodies and special resource areas from water quality degradation
- Continue information, education, and public outreach programs
Various programs and practices have been designated as best management practices under Phase II of the plan. This includes the development of three potential wet detention basins, the stabilization of a grade control site in Dunlop Creek sub-watershed, encouragement of offering alternative watering sources for livestock, conversion to no-till practices, implementation of terraces, creation of buffer strips, crop production deferment, septic system upgrades, well abandonments, and various other practices.
The additional funds from the Environmental Trust grant will provide more opportunities for cost-share assistance on various water quality and pollutant reduction projects in the Wahoo Creek Watershed. To have a project approved through a cost-share program, please contact the NRCS office at (402) 443-4106.