North Platte, Nebraska

North Platte Project Updates

Yonts Water Conference Returns April 9 in Gering

Each spring, as the planting season approaches, brings fresh questions about irrigation water:  How much water will the mountain snowpack provide to the North Platte Valley? What’s the state of the irrigation infrastructure in the valley? What have we learned about the system in the past year? How does the complex system of dams, diversions, checks and canals work? Will groundwater irrigation regulations stay the same as last year?

Answers to these and other questions – as well as some fresh new questions – will be provided by presenters at the Yonts Water Conference, scheduled for April 9 in Gering. The spring water conference for the North Platte Valley returns in April 2021 after a hiatus, named in honor of the late Dean Yonts, UNL Irrigation Specialist who helped start the event.

The 2021 conference, organized by a regional group of water stakeholders, will take place Friday, April 9, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Gering Civic Center. Lunch will be included. There is no charge to attend, but space is limited and registration is needed by April 5. To register online, go to https://go.unl.edu/yonts . To register by phone, call 308-632-1230.

More information is available at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center webpage, https://panhandle.unl.edu.

This event will follow current Nebraska Extension event policy and Panhandle Public Health District guidelines, including masks and social distancing.

The Yonts Water Conference is organized by the North Platte Water for Agriculture Committee, made up of representatives from Extension, local irrigation districts, the North Platte Natural Resources District, agricultural producers, area businesses, and wildlife groups. The committee’s work, including the conference, is supported by an Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Water for Agriculture grant.

The list of topics:

  • 2021 Water Outlook and Drought Monitor Update.
  • Current Status of Goshen-Gering/Fort Laramie Tunnel.
  • Growers Panel: Managing After the Tunnel Collapse.
  • Panel: Crop Management for 2021.

The Yonts water conference is a good opportunity for anybody, including but not limited to irrigators, to learn more about where water comes from; how it developed over more than a century; the laws and regulations that govern its use; the infrastructure that delivers it; challenges; and the irrigation water supply outlook for 2021.

New Visual Story Map Released: Water and Agriculture Along the North Platte River 

The North Platte Local Leadership Committee, in collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has just released a new web-based visual story map.

This site was developed to provide residents, leaders, and businesses in the North Platte Region of Nebraska with a brief overview of water issues and challenges they faced. As you scroll through these pages, we hope that you will come away with a better appreciation and understanding of:

  • The importance of these resources to the economy, agriculture and well-being of all regional residents
  • The challenges and issues these resources face
  • The considerable success the region has made in protecting and enhancing these resources, and
  • The opportunities everyone has for working together to ensure the quality of these resources continues to be a positive factor in the county’s quality of life for generations to come.

Note, the scroll function of this tool works best in non-Microsoft browsers such as Chrome or Firefox.

This work is supported by the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Water for Agriculture grant no. 2017-68007-26584/ project accession no. 1013079 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

North Platte Survey: Summary Results Released 

The Water for Agriculture project conducted a mail survey of both agricultural and residential landowners in the North Platte region, NE. The mail survey assessed landowner values, beliefs and behaviors related to streams, rivers and groundwater. Addresses for the survey were obtained from publicly available property tax records. A sample of 501 agricultural landowners were sent surveys, and 117 responded (for a response rate of 23.3%). A sample of 499 residential landowners were sent surveys, and 64 responded (12.8%). These numbers are consistent with or above the national average for mail survey responses.

Why this survey?

The survey was developed by Penn State in conjunction with the Water for Agriculture program’s North Platte region Local Leadership Team to better understand the perspectives of landowners in the North Platte region regarding ground and surface water issues. Our leadership team and its partners will use these results to inform and prioritize its activities to meet the most critical water and agricultural needs facing these watersheds. To learn more, visit  http://water4ag.psu.edu or contact Jessica Groskopf at 308-632-1247 or

 


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