June 3, 2021 at 8:30 AM - Operations Committee Meeting

Rationale:  We do not have any unfinished business to consider.

Rationale:  Corners for Wildlife Payment of $3,820.00 to Gerhold Inc. in Butler County on 38.2 acres. The District is reimbursed the full amount from Pheasant Forever.

Bids for the Lake Wanahoo Habitat Enhancement grant through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program to eliminate invasive trees were due June 1, at 4:00 pm. Bids will be opened at Committee meeting. We did not receive any bids. We will have to reevaluate how to approach this problem.

Rationale:  The O & M crew finished planting trees. We continue to clear trees from the Trouble Creek Dam emergency spillway & Czechland Rec area. Regular maintenance on equipment.

Rationale:  The Corps of Engineer's contractor (Young's) is mobilizing to excavate the excess fill in the Salt Creek floodway in the National Guard Camp and also to add fence to the breach area north of Co. Road F. It's anticipated to take 10-14 days.
The Corps has not made a determination on the elevation of the 48" culvert with a gate valve that regulates Turner Lake in Camp Ashland and flows into the Salt Creek floodway.

Rationale:  Valley Corp. has finished the concrete baffles and additional welding on the bracket supports for the gabion baskets. They are starting to excavate material out of the basin to add filter 1 & 2 material, gabion baskets and their deadman anchors. They are estimating 2 weeks of work.

Rationale:  The Western Sarpy Clear Creek O & M Manual is being published and will be distributed soon. Lower Platte North will have 2 hard copies and 2 CD's.
There will be addendums in the future for current work being completed.

Rationale:  Staff would like to purchase a new vehicle to replace the 2010 Chevy. A list of available vehicles from the State of Nebraska's materials website is attached, there are three SUV's, and three Extended Cab trucks listed.

Rationale:  The District has been contacted by a Sand/Duck Creek Dam/Landowner, Dave Mensik, in regard to the fencing around a dam site. When these sites were built the fence around them were not installed with gates, limiting the landowners/tenants access. The District has placed gates on other Sand/Duck Creek dams to give access to landowners. Mr. Mensik is asking permission to remove the barbwire and steel posts, leaving the corner posts. (wood). Just the fence that is against my farming ground. The goal is not to have limbs hitting machinery, trees pulling moisture from crops, and keep ground available for haying.
The areas of concern are downstream or upstream of the dam. Staff would recommend allowing the landowner to place gates or take down selected portions of fence.
The committee is directing staff to work with Sand/Duck Creek Dam landowners on a case by case basic to remove barbed wire & steel post to improve their property.

Rationale:  Find attached a letter of request from the North Bend Tree Board for $10,000 to assist with completing their trail system. The District assisted North Bend in 2009 with $10,000 for this trail. North Bend has been doing this in phases. They would like to start construction this summer/fall.

Rationale:  Staff is seeking Board discussion on the future approval of new equipment for our flood damaged areas, Lake Wanahoo breakwater, Rawhide Ditch 8, Clear Creek Levee & Fuse Plug Levee. The District has access to FEMA funds that will cost-share 75% on new equipment to help maintain projects impacted by the floods of 2019. Staff would like to purchase a utility tractor (approximately 35hp) and a second side by side. The tractor cost will be approximately $25,000 to $30,000 before cost share, and the side by side will be approximately $10,000. Potentially replace our existing Bobcat and JD 4450. Board and Staff discussion is needed in preparation of the upcoming 2021-22 budget.

Rationale:  Attached is the Operation & Maintenance budgetary list through May for your review.

Rationale:  We have not received any new payment or application request.

Rationale:  For the month of May, the District has received $14,032.50 in annual park permit revenue. Year to date revenue totals $62,595.00. The year by year breakdown for the month of May is listed below. May 2020 was the first month we required permits after the free park entry period approved by the Board was lifted. We were still the only large recreation area open at full capacity.
 

Month	Monthly Total	YTD Total
May 2021	14,032.50	62,595.00
May 2020	29,177.50	67,110.00
May 2019	15,597.50	55,095.00

Rationale:  For the month of May, the District recieved $17,715.12 in camping revenue. The year-to-date total is $50,390.22.

Rationale:  Staff has completed the mowing and installation of signage on the ~5 miles of new trails at Lake Wanahoo. There will be a grand opening on Friday, June 4th, at 10am with refreshments afterwards at the Education Building.  Any directors interested in attending are encouraged to do so.

Rationale:  During the month of May, the building was rented 19 times. This number includes 3 NRD/NRD-involved meetings, and 6 youth events. Revenue for month of May $1,640

Rationale:  The May KTIC Radio ad and Wahoo Newspaper e-ad are attached. These ads featured the chemigation permit amounts and deadline.

Rationale:  LPNNRD Website: In May, users were connected to the LPNNRD website directly, also from outdoornebraska.gov, nrdnet.org and visitnebraska.com. We also had 47 clicks from Facebook posts to our website. More and more users are accessing our website on mobile devices.

LPNNRD Website	# of Users	Top Pages/views	Viewing Device
April 2021	1,530	Lake Wanahoo 1129 Home 926 Czechland Lake 210 Outdoor Recreation 187 Downloads 163	Desktop 53.20% Mobile 43.73% Tablet 3.07%
May 2021	1,678	Lake Wanahoo 1,496 Home 819 Czechland Lake 300 Outdoor Recreation 206 Downloads 141	Mobile 50.48% Desktop 45.95% Tablet 3.58%

Facebook:
The top posts for the month of May included a press release for the celebration of 4.5 additional miles of trails at Lake Wanahoo, a press release and pictures from the 30^th year of the Spring Conservation Sensation, and May’s migratory bird month Coffee Lakeside event.

Facebook	Total Views	Total Reach	Followers
April 2021	2,461	2,360
May 2021	4,355	4,176	1,256

Twitter:
Our top posts for May on Twitter included the Outdoor Recreation Workshop we hold with UNL Extension, flyer for the Herpetology Day, and a press release about the additional trails and Lake Wanahoo.

 

Twitter	Impressions	Engagements	Followers
April 2021	7,138	205	332
May 2021	4,824	169	334

Other posts on Facebook and Twitter in May featured the June 1^st chemigation permit deadline, pictures from North Bend Elementary students with their Blue Spruce trees, June's Coffee Lakeside event and other education events.

Rationale:  There are a few County Fairs that we can have a booth in this summer. We will plan to have one at Butler County.
• Butler County (David City) - July 13-18 (booths in place July 15 - 18) 8’ x 10’ booth $125
• Dodge County (Scribner) - August 4-8 booth $100 - getting clarification if must be manned at all times or not. 
• Boone County (Albion) - only doing outdoor exhibitor booths
• Saunders County (Wahoo) - July 25-Aug 1 not doing exhibitor booths               
• Madison County (Madison) - no response
• Platte County (Columbus) - no response
• Colfax County (Clarkson) - no response

Rationale:  We are currently rotating through three of our videos with News Channel Nebraska (Operations & Maintenance video, Projects video and Lake Wanahoo video). They are airing :30 second commercials and :05 spot with LPNNRD logo. For May, our logo was shown 61 times and the commercials aired 101 times. 

Rationale:  30th annual Spring Conservation Sensation was a success! Kids from Wahoo Public, Logan View, and St. Mary's attended (217 total kids). Overall reviews showed the kids and teachers had fun and were happy with the content/activities provided. The animal encounters show at the very end was a huge hit. 

May's Coffee Lakeside featured Paula Hoppe; Paula is a master naturalist and gave a presentation on birds of Lake Wanahoo. This was our largest attendance yet of 14 people. 

We had our final field trip at the lake with Wahoo 3rd graders. David Ruder of Live Well Go Fish brought his pontoon out again and the kids had a blast driving it, flying a kite, and dancing to music. 

Planning and prepping is underway for Wahoo's 151 Celebration where we will feature a drive in movie night at the lake on Thursday, June 24th. We will be playing Sandlot and the Hospital Auxiliary will be running a small concession stand. A shore fishing tournament and a kayak scavenger hunt will take place on Sunday the 27th. 

 I attended some virtual Project Learning Tree trainings through the Nebraska Forest Service. 

The annual Outdoor Recreation Day with the Saunders County Extension Office took place on the 28th. Kids learned the basics of kayaking (unfortunately it was too cold to actual kayak). They learned how to start a campfire and then were able to make waffle smores in pie irons over the campfire. They also learned how to play disc golf and finished the day dissecting owl pellets in UNL's mobile learning lab. Roughly 20 kids attended and were able to take an NRD tree home with them. 

Kids summer institute kicked off Tuesday with beginners disc golf; 19 kids participated. 

Wednesday we held a Herpetology Day with Dr. Ferraro, herpetologist from UNL. Four people attended and learned all about the equipment used to track, trap, and tag snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, toads, and salamanders. We then went out to check the tree frog "boxes" that I've hung on trees on the north end of the lake to see if they were occupied.

Rationale:  Looking at June, Coffee Lakeside is today and will feature Mike Luben, Conservation Officer for the NGPC, talking about fishes of Nebraska. 

Friday is our National Trails Day event, grand opening of the new trails! 

Kids summer institute sessions: Friendship rocks; and Nature Hike and Water Quality. 

We have our quarterly I & E meeting held in York.

The 151 celebration June 24th-27th. 

And I'll be working on coordinating state standards with lesson plans for the upcoming school year and developing new content for presentations. 

Rationale:  Elliott reached out to Dave Henke from JEO in regards to the proposed addition in Colon.  He responded that the project is on hold for now due to material prices being too high.  
Routine monthly sampling completed, bills mailed 6/1.

Rationale:  Lead and copper testing kits were delivered.  The testing will be done the week of 6/7.
Routine monthly sampling conducted, bills mailed 6/1.