blake
Life Member
<span style='font-size: 14pt'>Republican River to get deep disking</span>
By GINGER JENSEN
Kearney Hub
RED CLOUD - A Clarkson company had the successful bid of $41,500 to disk a 25-mile segment of the Republican River, from Naponee to Riverton, as part of the ongoing project to improve river flows to Kansas.
When the project by Doernemann Construction Co. is completed in June, about half of the river stretch in Nebraska downstream from Harlan County Dam will have been deep disked.
The bid was awarded Tuesday in Red Cloud at a Twin Valley Weed Management Area meeting. Merle Illian of Red Cloud, coordinator of the Eastern Republican River Riparian Project, said the other two bidders were Castle Construction of Columbus and A&L Leveling of Minden.
He said Doernemann has a long history of deep disking in northern Nebraska for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service and of working on land reclamation. The company must finish the Naponee-to-Riverton work by June 15.
It's part of a project started in 2004 to clean the Republican River channel and increase its ability to carry water. Twin Valley is a coalition of county weed offices, federal, state, farmer and local interest groups.
Money for current work was allocated for this fiscal year through LB701. Passed in 2007, the bill allocated $2 million for 2007 and again in 2008 for weed work in the Platte and Republican basins.
Work in the Republican River has included removing log jams, fallen trees and other debris.
Also, the buildup of river islands was blamed for hindering streamflows.
"The islands are the primary culprits in this river," Illian said at Twin Valley's annual meeting in October. "It's just like a sink drain. When something plugs up the drain, the water won't flow out of the sink. That's what the islands do to the river."
Proof of the projects' success came last summer.
In 2007, there was flooding downstream of Harlan County Dam when water flowing at 400 cubic feet per second was released from the lake. Last summer, there was no flooding with releases of 750 cfs.
Illian said additional funds for the projects have come from the state Department of Agriculture. A letter will be sent to Nebraska Ag Director Greg Ibach requesting money to complete deep disking all the way from Harlan County Lake to the Guide Rock diversion dam.
If funds are approved, Illian said the work could be done next spring.
[email protected]