LLNRD Board Approves New Irrigated Acres

Applications for a total of 2,015 new irrigated acres in the North Loup River, Middle Loup and Beaver Creek Sub-Basins have been approved by the Lower Loup Natural Resources District Board of Directors.  

Here's a breakdown of the new acres by county:

  • Boone - 510.08 acres
  • Howard - 424.82 acres
  • Valley - 400.81 acres
  • Garfield - 199.41 acres
  • Sherman - 165.09 acres
  • Platte - 111.08 acres
  • Greeley - 85.80 acres
  • Nance - 68.15 acres
  • Loup - 50.38 acres

NRD General Manager Russell Callan said that there were 49 applications for new irrigation, 21 in the North Loup River Basin, 12 in the Middle Loup River Basin and 16 in the Beaver Creek/Loup River Basin.  Callan said the average application for the new irrigation development requested 61.67 acres and the average application ranking was 260.17 points.  Special consideration was given to applications for fields in an area of rising groundwater in southern Loup, northeastern Custer, and Valley Counties.  

At their meeting October 22nd, the Lower Loup NRD Board of Directors unanimously approved a recommendation from the LLNRD Water Resources Committee to approve applications for new irrigated acres.  Letters of approval or denial have been mailed out to all applicants.

LLNRD Assistant General Manager Tylr Naprstek said applications for new irrigation were ranked using criteria approved by the NRD Board when irrigated acres had been previously granted.  The criteria included the stream depletion factors, the status of groundwater and surface water, the type of acre being developed, the number of acres being developed, and the soil classification.