Becky Meritt, General Manager Terry Julesgard, Assistant Manager Wade Ellwanger, Connie McCarthy

Throughout 2022, Nebraska Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) are celebrating 50 years, commemorating breakthroughs, and achievements in conservation. 

The Lower Niobrara NRD held an Open House July 14th to celebrate and a chance to look back at pictures and memories of how the NRD has changed and grown in the past 50 years. 

“We are proud to celebrate five decades of protecting, conserving and improving Nebraska’s nature resources.” Said Dr. Orval Gigstad, Nebraska Association of Resources Districts president. “It’s amazing to see the conservations progress that has been made these last 50 years and NRD directors and staff know the work we do today – planting trees, water management, soil health- will directly impact our future.”

After the devastation of the Dust Bowl, special purpose districts were developed to sole local soil and water-related problems. But the puzzle of overlapping authorities and responsibilities provided confusion at best.

In 1969, Senator Maurice Kremer introduced legislative bill 1357 to combine Nebraska’s 154 special purpose entities into 24 Natural Resources Districts by July 1972. In 1989, the middle Missouri Tributaries NRD and the Papio NRD merged to become the Papio-Missouri River NRD resulting in today’s 23 Natural Resources Districts.

Today, Nebraska’s unique system of locally controlled, watershed-based conservation is widely admired throughout the nation. NRDs deliver several state and federal programs including many projects with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE), Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NeDNR) and the University of Nebraska. These partnerships equate into real dollars for Nebraska agriculture and communities.

Across the state, Natural Resources Districts construct projects, implement programs and aid landowners in conservation and natural resources management. When necessary, they enact regulations to protect our resources. While all NRDs share the 12 main responsibilities, each district sets its own priorities and develops its own programs to best serve and protect Nebraska’s natural resources. Often the most recognizable NRD responsibilities include groundwater management, flood protection and conservation trees.

Since being created in 1972, NRDs have experienced tremendous growth in the responsibilities given to them by state statute, especially in protecting groundwater.  Despite being the No. 1 irrigated state in the nation, Nebraska’s statewide groundwater levels have been sustained at levels less than a foot below the pre-irrigation development in the 1950s.  In some areas, groundwater levels are even higher.  Many states are facing massive groundwater declines with almost depleted aquifers. 

Today the Lower Niobrara NRD covers approximately 1.7 million acres. They adopted voluntary IMP on March 3, 2014. We developed well and acre ranking models, certified all groundwater irrigated acres and recently added 700 new irrigated acres and approved 9 new wells. The area currently has 238,000 irrigated acres, 2686 active irrigated wells. Groundwater irrigation accounts for over 90 percent of all the irrigation in our district. 

The NRD issues over 1,389 chemigation permits per year, sell around 12,200 trees and shrubs yearly, present in all elementary schools in the district. The NRD is part of the Bazile Groundwater Management Area (BGMA) along with three other districts, and they have the West Knox Rural Water District in Verdigre which serves 250 rural customers plus villages of Verdigre and Winnetoon.