Maple Creek Watershed Plan

The Maple Creek Watershed Plan and Environmental Assessment (Plan-EA) is being developed to provide flood risk reduction to the Maple Creek Watershed (watershed). The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) is partnering with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to complete the Plan-EA with the goal of identifying palatable options for providing flood damage reduction to the watershed. Potential flood damage reduction projects include linear corridors, wetland creation/enhancement, increased channel capacity, dry or wet dams, and floodplain acquisition. The LENRD is requesting that any landowner who is interested in supporting a project of any type on their property reach out to LENRD Project Manager, Curt Becker, at 402.371.7313 or cbecker@lenrd.org.

LENRD is looking for willing landowners with interest in supporting a potential project on their property. Please contact the LENRD Project Manager, Curt Becker, at 402.371.7313 or cbecker@lenrd.org.

Welcome to this project’s home page. The purpose of this project will be to provide flood risk reduction to the Maple Creek Watershed. We are currently in the formulate alternatives phase of the planning process. A variety of potential flood reduction alternatives have been evaluated as part of this phase but no alternatives have been selected. The NRD is looking for interest in potential flood reduction practices and willing landowners to ensure a favorable alternative for the Maple Creek community to carry into the next steps of this project. Please contact Curt Becker with the LENRD at 402.371.7313 if you are interested in potential practices on your land.

Project Links

Please follow these links for more information and to provide feedback.

Project Map

Please visit the Project Map to provide comments about specific locations of areas of concern or interest within the Project watershed.

See Project Map

Public Scoping Meeting

Click the link below to view the recorded virtual public scoping meeting held March 2, 2021, at 6:00 pm.

Watch Meeting

Advisory Team Meetings

Advisory team meetings were held on 4/9/2021 and 8/17/2021. Summaries from the meetings are available here.

View Notes

Public Open House - September 2021

A public open house was held on September 15, 2021, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. Click the link below to view the recorded meeting. Comments received at the meeting can be found below under "Other Documents."

Watch Meeting

Public Open House - February 2022

A public open house was held on February 16, 2022. Click the link below to view the presentation given at the meeting.

View Presentation

Survey

Please take the survey to provide input and feedback on the Project and ask any questions you may have.

Existing Watershed Flooding

Flooding During the 5-year Storm Event

A storm event with a 20% chance of occurring in any given year

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Flooding During the 10-year Storm Event

A storm event with a 10% chance of occurring in any given year

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Flooding During the 25-year Storm Event

A storm event with a 4% chance of occurring in any given year

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Flooding During the 100-year Storm Event

A storm event with a 1% chance of occurring in any give year

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Modeling output (inundation extents) used to create figures was discussed with the Advisory Team and the models were optimized using watershed landowner and stakeholder knowledge of real-world flooding frequencies and extents.

Project Progress and Phases

Project Initiation

Project Scoping

Determine Objectives

Inventory and Analyze Resources

Current Phase

Formulate and Evaluate Alternatives

Establish watershed goals and metrics. Identify alternatives that fit within the USDA-NRCS WFPO program and can achieve the goals and meet the metrics. Complete a hydrology and hydraulics (H&H) assessment for the entire watershed and use it to formulate and screen alternatives.

Draft Plan-Environmental Assessment Completion and Review

Final Plan-Environmental Assessment

Need help?

Here is a list of our frequently asked questions

Who is the main contact at the LENRD for this Project?

Curt Becker, LENRD Projects Manager

cbecker@lenrd.org
402-371-7313

Why is this Watershed Plan important to me?

This Project will gather information from landowners, agencies, and other stakeholders to identify the needs and goals of the watershed community. This information will be used to help guide the environmental and engineering analysis and to identify and develop preliminary designs for site-specific projects within the watershed. Projects included within this Plan could be eligible for future funding from NRCS to complete design and construction.

Who is paying for this planning work?

The LENRD has applied for and obtained funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations (WFPO) for development of this Watershed Plan-EA.

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