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News and Information
Phase 2 Area Nitrogen Certification
1) Click the link to the online test below. All the materials you will need are included within the online test. You may review the Irrigation and Nitrogen Management Booklet below, which can also be used during the one hour and thirty minute timed test, but it is not necessary for the test.
2) You will need to use access code: 3XAC
3) After the test is completed, you will be given your score, which will determine if you pass or fail.
4) If you pass, you will receive a letter in the mail shortly with your certification card. If you fail, please review the booklet again and retest.
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In its effort to continue to conserve and protect the natural resources of portions of Gage, Jefferson, Saline and Pawnee Counties, the Lower Big Blue Natural Resources District (NRD) has installed remote groundwater level monitoring equipment in several of the NRD’s dedicated groundwater level monitoring wells.
In 2016 and 2017 the NRD drilled forty-three (43) dedicated groundwater level monitoring wells around the district. The project focused on installing these wells within the city and town wellhead protection areas then expanded to install more wells in other aquifer areas in the district. At that time, water level sensors were installed in each well to record the water level. The data from the sensor could then be downloaded each time someone visited the well.
Now, the NRD has just installed a telemetry device that connects to the current water level sensor already in the well. The telemetry device records the water level readings and sends the data via cell signal to be viewed remotely from a website. Water level readings are recorded twice a day and the data is uploaded once per day. The telemetry devices were installed in the wells located within the wellhead protection areas of Beatrice, Cortland, Crete, Daykin, DeWitt, Friend, Pickrell, Swanton, Tobias, Western, and Wilber. This will allow the NRD to closely monitor groundwater levels all year long.
The NRD has also partnered with the University of Nebraska Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) and the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) to install telemetry equipment in wells for the Villages of Dorchester and Plymouth and the City of Crete. There are also plans, through a Nebraska Environmental Trust grant, to install telemetry equipment in ten (10) more NRD monitoring wells located in southern Jefferson and Gage Counties. With the addition of the telemetry equipment in these wells, the NRD will have remote groundwater level readings for a good portion of the district.
The NRD will continue to manually measure all the wells in the NRD’s groundwater monitoring network in the spring and fall. This includes a total of one hundred sixty-eight (168) wells spread throughout the district. All the groundwater level data, from the manual readings to the telemetry data, can be viewed online at lbbnrd.net/groundwater. The NRD greatly appreciates the cooperation with landowners who have allowed the NRD to install and collect data from all the wells throughout the district.
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The Lower Big Blue Natural Resources District (LBBNRD) has partnered with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) regarding the Little Indian Creek Watershed Improvement Project Work Plan – Environmental Assessment (Plan-EA). A public meeting was held virtually through Zoom on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. You may view the meeting here 
https://vimeo.com/528433801/0249adec3c
A public survey is available at https://bit.ly/3rwhiG8 for those that wish to comment. Public input is greatly encouraged as we go about this process. Please view the news release below for more information.
The 10 public areas of the Lower Big Blue NRD are open for the season. Visit one our public use areas today! See the RECREATION page to learn more about our public use areas.
Camping Rate Change: At the April Board of Directors meeting the Board voted to approve a camping rate change. Electrical camping fees will now be $20/day. Non-electrical camping remains at $5/day. The campsite permit expires at 5:00pm. See the news release below for more information.
Visit the NDEE website (https://deq-iis.ne.gov/zs/bw/) for information on E.coli and harmful algal blooms.
Cub Creek Recreation area near Jansen has undergone a drastic transformation in the latter half of 2020. Nearly all the sediment has been removed. Contractors re-cently brought in a long reach excavator to finish the job. The machine’s impressive 60 ft. reach will allow crews to reach even the most inaccessible areas. Recently, district staff met with officials from the Nebraska Game and Parks to plan for fisheries development. In the coming months, LBBNRD staff will begin placing fish habitat. Those efforts will culminate with the release of catfish, bass and blue-gill. Additional possibilities for recreation development are being explored. When completed next spring, the NRD expects this 50 year old lake will provide another 50 years of quality recreational opportunities! Visit our YouTube channel to see some videos of construction.
