Terraces on the Republican River

Terraces on the Republican River

The effects that conservation practices have on our streams and rivers is truly amazing. This year we have had several major rain and snowfall events. For the most part flooding has been kept to a minimum, although some areas have received severe flooding. Despite the large snowfall and heavy rains Harlan County Reservoir and several other area reservoirs are still well below conservation levels. Some of you may be wondering how this could happen with all the flooding and storms we have had. The following pictures will show the efforts of conservation practices some mandated and paid for by the Federal Government. This email shows mostly the large storage capacity of pasture ponds. One pond by its self does not store a substantial amount of water but when you take into account amazing number of ponds in the Republican River Basin the total storage is huge. On one quarter of ground 160 acres, I counted 11 ponds and there are over 24,900 square miles (16 million acres) in the Basin and most are above Harlan Lake. Estimates show over 100,000 acre feet of water is held by pasture ponds in the Republican River Basin. The pictures below are of the Republican River Basin west of Harlan County Lake, taken on April 26, 2007.