NPRTmin1 2 26 08

• Basin Roundtable: North Platte
• Title: North Platte Minutes 2/08
• Date: 2/26/2008
• Basin Roundtables - Doc Type: Minutes

North Platte Basin Roundtable Meeting Minutes 0226.08
deadlines how to deal with 30 day deadlines that fall on week-ends. It was decided that if
the deadline falls on a weekend the deadline would be extended to the next working day
(Monday) following the weekend. It was suggested that the submittal of the applications
to Roundtable members could then fall to Kent Crowder or Curran Trick to insure they
were distributed by e-mail or mail.
It was recommended that a sheet of instnictions for potential applicants be developed that
sets forth the NPBRT process for handling applications, i.e. deadlines, number of copies
of application to be submitted to Roundtable, whether e-mailed applications are
acceptable, recommended presentations by applicants, and procedures applicants must
following after securing the NPBRT approval Kent said that currently, he as chairman
notifies the CWCB in writing of the official approval or disapproval of the application
and any minority positions. A copy of this letter is also provided to the applicant. It is
the applicant's responsibility to get their application filed with the CWCB within the
required deadline. Kent will talk to Deb about working on an instn~ction sheet for
applicant's seelang WSRA grant fiends. The state is also asking for this type of
information to post on the IBCC website. Pete Conovitz recommended that the North
Platte Basin Roundtable Grant deadlines also be put on the web site.
Kent presented a vision statement from Harris Sherman, Executive Director of DNR and
Director of Compact Negotiations. Kent and Carl want to discuss recommendations from
the Roundtable with them.
Kent foresees that irrigated acres in the North Platte Basin will go down; however this
probably won't be due to the conversion of ag water in the North Platte Basin to
muiucipal and industry use. Much of the land in North Park is owned by large land
owners who want to preserve the natural landscape and existing development density in
North Park. They probably don't intend to develop their lands for residential purposes.
These wealthy landowners are not as concerned about maximizing their irrigated acreage
to enhance ag production because they have other sources of income. Many have put
money into water projects for fishing and recreational activities.
Jim Baller does not see a great reduction in irrigated acres, but many will not try to
irrigate every acre.
Kincaid Waldron stated every year some water goes on the abandonment list and others
fight for that water. Some use their total water and some don't.
Barb asked how we would feed our country if the water continues to go from agriculture
to the cities?
Dave Meyring stated that he see less precipitation in the future and less irrigation.
Under the Supreme Court Decree, Jackson County has the right to irrigate 145,000 acres.
Because we currently only irrigate around 110-111,000 acres, the North Platte may have
some consumptive use allocated to the North Platte that aught be used to benefit the state.