By Robert Pore
robert.pore@theindependent.com

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture will hold a meeting on Wednesday in Grand Island concerning LB701 grant money to control weeds on the Platte River.

Nebraska Agriculture Director Greg Ibach said the Department of Agriculture (NDA) is accepting grant proposals to address riparian vegetation overgrowth in fully and overappropriated river basins. The Riparian Vegetation Management Grant Program was created in LB701, the comprehensive water legislation signed into law last year.

"We will be accepting grant applications through April 7 and intend to make the grant awards in May so successful applicants have plenty of time to implement their projects," Ibach said.

NDA has scheduled a pre-application, informational seminar for 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The meeting will be at the Central Platte Natural Resources District office, 215 N. Kaufman Ave. Applicants are not required to attend.

Milt Moravek, assistant manager of the Central Platte Natural Resources District, said LB701 was passed last year by the Nebraska Legislature. The bill set aside $4 million to be used in river basins designated by the state to be fully or overly appropriated involving groundwater use to control weeds in those basins' rivers and streams.

"The intent of that bill was to see additional water in the river," Moravek said.

Last year, $2 million of LB701 funding was used on the Republican River Basin. This year, the remaining $2 million will be used along the Platte River and areas of western Nebraska.

According to LB701, Ibach said, grant funds can only be disbursed to weed management entities, local weed control authorities, and natural resources districts whose territory includes Department of Natural Resources-designated fully or overappropriated river basins.

The Central Platte NRD has both areas that are fully and overly appropriated in terms of groundwater use.

Moravek said the Platte Valley Weed Management Area (PVWMA) is applying for a $1.9 million grant from the LB701 funding.

PVWMA is a group of public and private agencies and individuals who are concerned with stopping the spread of noxious and invasive plants located in the Central Platte River drainage area.

The PVWMA is located in the Platte River drainage corridor in 11 counties, including Hall County, of south Central Nebraska. The area consists of lakes, streams, creeks, ponds, and wetlands that drain into or have an impact on the Platte River.

Moravek said if PVWMA receives the grant, plans are to start around the Gothenburg area along the Platte River and work east to eliminate phragmites, a non-native plant similar to a native common reed that is rapidly spreading in waterways and lakes across Nebraska.

"This tall, grasslike plant can grow up to 20 feet tall and form thick, dense stands, making many areas inaccessible," according to PVWMA. "This plant quickly forms a monoculture by pushing out native vegetation."

"Phragmites will completely take over the river and choke it out completely," said Rob Schultz, Hall County weed supervisor, who works with PVWMA.

Last year, Schultz's department eradicated nearly 3 miles of noxious weeds along the river in Hall County.

Moravek said controlling unwanted weeds that drain the river of water is an important part of the Platte River Recovery Plan.

Two of the goals of the recovery plan are to increase flows in the Platte River and create new habitat to benefit the four endangered and threatened species the program is designed to protect.

The species are the endangered interior least tern, whooping crane, pallid sturgeon and the threatened piping plover.

The plan proposes to acquire 10,000 acres of new habitat. The proposed area is between Lexington and Chapman.

But Moravek also said it will help in flood control.

Because phragmites grow as tall as 12 feet, "They just totally block the side channels," Moravek said. "(It's) those side channels we need on the Platte River to carry the additional flood control.

"It will really be tough if we get a flood on the Platte River for those flows to get through those phragmites," he said. "If we don't get these things under control, we are going to see a lot of additional flooding if we have a flood on the Platte River."

Moravek said the phragmites areas along the Platte River "seem to double in size every year."

"That is how invasive they are," he said.

Moravek said out in the North Platte area, the phragmites problem "... is just unbelievable. They are just everywhere. They are just clogging all the channels."

He said phragmites also rob wildlife of habitat along the river.

"They are so thick that, basically, the wildlife can't even make it through there," he said. "It is time that the state and the local weed control districts and NRDs work together to get something done, and that's what we are doing."

An electronic version of the grant application can be accessed at the NDA Web site, www.agr.ne.gov, under the "What's New Around the Department?" section. For additional information, interested parties can contact Rich Reiman or Mitch Coffin at NDA by calling (877) 800-4080 or (402) 471-2394.