Paul Hammel
LINCOLN — A Sandhills rancher and Cherry County won’t be fined for unleashing a deluge of sand into a remote trout stream, but they will have to take several steps to prevent further damage.
In April 2020, as heavy rains flooded pastures in Cherry County, rancher Dick Minor with the help of county crews dug a 2½-mile-long drainage ditch to the Snake River south of Merriman.
Rains followed, carving a chasm into the fragile soil and washing an estimated 1.6 million tons of sand and debris into the Snake, in violation of the Clean Water Act.
It turned a narrow, deep stream that sustained trout into a flat, sandy waterway similar to the Platte River 3 miles downstream.
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a work plan submitted by Minor and the county to avoid further damage.
The EPA said that Minor and Cherry County had “multiple delays” in submitting a work plan after agreeing to submit one in June 2021, shortly after the damage was done. The plan was finalized on Feb. 22.
The work, which is expected to take a year, includes:
- Place downed trees and woody debris to construct sediment traps along the ditch.
- Build earthen berms to prevent excessive flow of water and sediment down the ditch.
- Place a series of woody debris fences and log structures along the ditch to trap sediment and create wildlife habitat.
- Install a riparian corridor, consisting of native species, along sections of the Snake River.
No fines were assessed, according to a spokesman for the EPA’s Kansas City district office.
Allowing ‘natural forces’ to restore stream
Ben Washburn, the spokesman, said no mitigation work is being planned on the river itself after it was determined that letting “natural forces” restore the stream would prevent further damage.
“The Snake River has already started recovering through the formation of low flow channels through the deposited material,” Washburn said in response to questions from the Examiner.
“Massive excavation of the fill would cause substantial disturbance, additional local and downstream impacts, and set back the recovery period by several years,” he added. “It is expected that the river will continue its recovery over time.”
One of state’s few trout streams
The Snake River is a 126-mile-long tributary of the Niobrara River, which flows through the Sandhills from Sheridan County to where it is dammed to form Merritt Reservoir southwest of Valentine.
The Snake is one of the few trout streams in the state and is a challenging river for kayaks and canoes.
The stretch of the Snake below Merritt Reservoir is considered the best trout water in Nebraska, though access is all via private land. The state’s largest waterfall by volume, Snake River Falls, is also in that stretch.
Washburn said that aquatic life in the river was undoubtedly damaged by the sand erosion, but it was hard to quantify because data was not collected prior to the damage.