February 29, 2024 at 8:30 AM - Operations Committee Meeting

Rationale:  There is no unfinished business to consider.

Rationale:  The wetland restoration area on the Wanahoo property was burned off on Wednesday, February 21. The Ducks Unlimited contractor, Pruss Excavating, started excavating the site on Wednesday, February 28th. They estimate 3 weeks of work.
We are also working with M.E. Collins on where they will store the excavated dirt from the cat paws and restoring the soil borrow area to as natural as it was prior to taking the dirt.

Rationale:  The O & M crew has done maintenance of vehicles, tractors, and other equipment. Assisted with the prescribed burn and cut trees from the cat paw areas for dirt excavation.

Rationale:  Hazard Engineering organized seven Geotech borings on the neighboring properties at Cottonwood 21-A on February 26 -27th. The borings are in the areas where a potential redeveloped auxiliary spillway could be placed. The two landowners were notified by Heimann via letter and phone.
HDR is tentatively planning a 60% plan meeting in early March. 

Rationale:  John Peterson of JEO has developed a plan for diaphragm/filter systems around the utilities through the dam. He forwarded his plan to NDNR Dam Safety for comments and approval. When approved, it will be forwarded to NDOT for their review and added to the project plans. The plans will be passed on to the contractor and a change order will be processed.
The District is asking Windstream to cover this cost since the District has covered the engineering & design. The estimated start date for construction is early May.

Rationale:  On February 16th we received $2,521,156.26 which closes out the Clear Creek Fuse Plug in the National Guard Camp and the Wanahoo Stilling Basin & Apron Floor. Rawhide Ditch 8 was closed in March 2022. The only amount yet to be received is NEMA's share, $2,386.97, on the Wanahoo Breakwater. (Financial spreadsheet attached)
The District was also notified by the Dept. of Economic Development that we will be receiving a $14,984.62 CDBG grant for the Rawhide Ditch 8 project. This amount covers 100% of the cost to repair that project. We are also waiting on CDBG grants for the other three projects. 

Rationale:  The two-year warranty on Valley Corp's work on the Wanahoo Stilling Basin is up April 20th. Houston Engineering is organizing an on-site meeting with Valley Corp in March. The warranty will be extended so that a diver can inspect the underwater components in warmer conditions.

Rationale:  The District's JD 4450 is open for bids until Friday, March 8 at noon. We have a 2007 Dodge 3/4 ton pick-up for sale at $12,500 but, we received an offer of $11,500 and accepted the offer. We had Sanderson Auctioneering sell our government-made triple axle trailer for $3,525.

Rationale:  We haven't received any applications or request for payments.

Rationale:  For the month of January, the District received $6,825.00 in annual park permit revenue. The year by year break down is listed below. The YTD total includes sales from the month of December.
 

Month	Monthly Total	YTD
January 2024	$6,825.00	$11,070.00
January 2023	$9,455.00	$73,017.50
January 2022	$12,837.50	$75,017.50
January 2021	$12,277.50	$85,656.85
January 2020	$11,645.00	$96,317.50
January 2019	$10,372.50	$82,252.50

Rationale:  For the month of January, the District received $3,204.00 in camping revenue. The year by year comparison is below.
 

Month	Month Total	YTD
January 2024	$3,204.00	$3,204.00
January 2023	$4,030.01	$127,792.00
January 2022	$3,607.96	$129,922.83
January 2021	$4,751.53	$118,152.11
January 2020	$2,560.92	$134,027.78
January 2019	$2,367.00	$93,337.36

Rationale:  The Clint Johannes Education Building at Lake Wanahoo was rented 9 times with 1 NRD event. Revenue for the month was $675.

Rationale:  The KTIC radio ads and Wahoo newspaper e-ads during February featured the last few nitrogen certification classes in the area. March ads will feature limited trees and shrubs are still available. The ads are attached.

Rationale:  The LPNNRD Facebook/Twitter pages, and the website are some of the fastest ways to get information out to the public. Tracking analytics are a way to see how many people are seeing the information. Sometimes a decrease in reach or impressions can mean there is an error with the Facebook/Twitter pages or the website. Facebook and Twitter posts range from 10 - 15 posts per month. If you are on Facebook or Twitter, please like, follow, share, or retweet the Lower Platte North NRD posts!

Total reach/impressions show how many people saw the post/tweet. Engagements include likes, comments, shares/retweets and link clicks.
 

FACEBOOK	Total Reach	Engagements	Followers
February	7,096	7,073	1,531
January	13,669	1,078	1,513
December	2,381	135	1,501
November	4,072	138	1,501
October	3,103	137	1,499

Twitter is in the process of updating analytics still. Some of this data may not be measured the same as it was in the previous months.

TWITTER	Total impressions	Engagements	Followers
February 1-27	932	59	416
January 2024	1528	86	417
December 2023	711	51	411
November 2023	682	16	411
October 2023	1,148	54	411

Top Posts on Facebook and Twitter:
• Bees and Brews event flyer
• Multiple job openings at the NRD
• Schuyler FFA Test Your Well event
• Remaining Nitrogen Certification classes
• Snakes of Nebraska presentation flyer

 

WEBSITE	Users	Traffic Channel	Top Pages	Devices
February 1-27	1,603	Organic 0.8% Direct -9.6% Referral 64.3% Social -61.8%	Home Lake Wanahoo Forestry Downloads Czechland	Desktop 48.9% Mobile 48.6% Tablet 2.5%
January 2024	1,718	Organic 51.06% Direct 1.06% Referral 63.3% Social 937.5%	Home Lake Wanahoo Downloads Czechland Staff	Desktop 51.4% Mobile 47.3% Tablet 1.3%
December 2023	1,075	Organic -20.26% Direct 3.1% Referral -2.27% Social -81.58%	Home Lake Wanahoo Downloads Staff Czechland	No data
November 2023	1,332	Organic -32.42% Direct -25.96% Referral -42.86% Social -81.58%	Lake Wanahoo Home Czechland Lake Staff Downloads	Desktop Mobile Tablet
October 2023	1,328	Organic -31.36% Direct -0.54% Referral -21.79% Social +245.45%	Lake Wanahoo Home Czechland Lake Staff Downloads	Mobile Desktop Tablet

Traffic channels: organic traffic means they use a search engine then choose an option that includes lpnnrd.org, direct traffic means they type in lpnnrd.org directly (or have it bookmarked), and referral traffic is any other traffic not from a search engine or social (such as a link from another site). As of mid-September changes for traffic channels and devices will show increase or decrease for the month.

Top referral clicks from: nrdnet.org 78, 1011now.com (ad during February) 41, visitnebraska.com 9, Wahoo newspaper website (LPNNRD digital ad) 0.
Clicks from Facebook: 50.
Clicks from Twitter: 0.
 

Rationale:  Bike Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN) will be making a stop in Wahoo in early June (June 2-8). Wahoo will be a stopping point for Day 6 of the ride. This would be a good opportunity to advertise our recreation areas and mention the camping options available at Czechland and Wanahoo. BRAN has a booklet that each rider will receive showing the route, towns, places to eat and places to see along the way. The advertising opportunities are at a reasonable cost:
Full Page Ad (3.5" x 6.25") is $85
Half Page Ad (3.5" x 3.25") is $45
Quarter Page Ad (1.75" x 3.125") is $30

There are other sponsorship opportunities available from $500 - $5000 if this is something else we would want to consider. 

Rationale:  February 5th & 12th: Wahoo/Ashland/Cedar Bluffs(?) and Scribner Snyder Schools. Presented on aquifers and groundwater to 40 and 25 students respectively. 
February 8th: Coffee Lakeside: Snakes of Nebraska: 13 adults and 5 kids attended. 
February 12th: East Butler, test your well night in-classroom prep. 
February 13th: Survival Club: 18 students learned about hiking basics and how to read maps.
February 14th: North Bend Career Fair.
February 16th: St. Wenceslaus Pre-K classroom: 28 students learned about woolly bear caterpillars. 
February 18th: Test your well event at Schuyler FFA Pancake feed.
February 21st: Test your well night event at East Butler.
February 28th-29th: Nebraska Environmental Education Conference at Ponca State Park. My presentation, Creating Unexpected Partnerships, will highlight the Story Walk at Lake Wanahoo; the quarterly Science and Scenes program; and the Movement in Nature night we held back in September. This will be a twenty-minute bright spot presentation. 

Rationale:  March 4th: Due to multiple comments on our Facebook page asking for another evening or weekend time, to repeat our Coffee Lakeside presentations, I will be presenting the snakes of Nebraska again. 6:30 pm.
March 6th: Linden Elementary (Fremont) Kindergartners. 
March 7th: Coffee Lakeside, Bees of Nebraska.
March 13th: Bees and Brews event.
March 19th: North Bend fourth graders.
March 20th: North Bend fifth graders. 
March 26th & 27th: I & E Meeting Hastings.
March 27th: Survival Club

Rationale:  Routine monthly sampling completed, meters read and bills mailed 2/29.  Included in this months is a lead line inventory fact sheet.  The RWDs will need to have submitted inventories to the EPA by 10/24.