(GRAND ISLAND, NE)-  At their meeting on Thursday, the Central Platte Natural Resources District’s board of directors approved a contract with JEO Consulting Group to assist with plan developments to refine the understanding of drought vulnerabilities. JEO will develop an operational response framework of monitoring and forecasting tools to specific local triggers and actions for the District to consider during a drought. Mitigation efforts will be identified and prioritized to determine which response measures will be utilized during future drought events. Grant funds received for the Project through the Water Sustainability Funds will pay for 60 percent of the cost.

OTHER ACTION/AGENDA ITEMS

-Violation Report  Luke Zakrewski, GIS image analyst, reported that he will be sending 28 violation letters to landowners who irrigated acres not certified as irrigated. There are 135 acres in violation, with the largest violation being 10.5 acres. Zakrzewski said the number of violations in 2017 is down from past years.

-Prescribed Fire Contract The board approved the low bid of $68,696 from Scholl Fire & Fuels Management Inc of Walla Walla, Washington to conduct prescribed burns this spring for CPNRD’s Grassland Conservation Program. Chloeta Fire also submitted a bid. Scholl will provide two engines, a UTV, six firefighters, mobilization and burn management.

-Primary Election Dianne Miller, administrative director, reported that 10 of the 11 incumbents have filed for re-election. Director Bob Schanou of Subdistrict 4 did not file. The non-incumbent deadline to file for a seat on the NRD board is March 1st.

-Legislative Report  Mark Czaplewski, biologist, reported that two natural resources bills have been prioritized- LB758 and LB 98.

-Nebraska Natural Resources Commission  Mick Reynolds, Middle Platte Basin representative, reported that the committee recently adopted a rule change to allow entities to apply for up to 60 percent of project costs. Reynolds also said the requirement that a permit must be approved prior to applications being approved by the Commission remained the same.

-Natural Resources Conservation Service  Joe Krolikowski, district liaison, reported that staff is currently working through the ranked FY 2018 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) applications and will begin extending contract offers through September.  Following is a summary of applications received, the requested fund total, and application treatment acres for each NRCS Field Office in the CPNRD.  The current EQIP fund allocation for the local CPNRD fund codes is $679,297.00, this does not include statewide fund codes.

Field Office

Number of Applications

Requested Funds

Application Acres

Central City

64

$1,295,159.48

3,474.10

Grand Island

68

$1,680,968.37

2,834.20

Kearney

36

$1,161,380.01

10,338.40

Lexington

77

$2,979,344.51

12,250.40

Totals

245

$7,116,852.37

28,897.10

-Cost Share The board approved 14 applications in the amount of $54,003.46 for brush management, pasture seeding, underground pipeline, planned grazing, center pivot incentive, streambank stabilization, soil moisture sensors, and tree planting through the Nebraska Soil and Water Conservation and CPNRD cost share programs.

#####

Marcia Lee

Information/Education Specialist

Central Platte Natural Resources District

215 Kaufman Ave  Grand Island NE 68803

(308) 385-6282  www.cpnrd.org