South Tributaries Watershed Study
The City of Lincoln (City) and the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District (NRD) are in the process of developing a Comprehensive Watershed Master Plan for the City and its future growth areas. This comprehensive watershed plan is being developed basin by basin, through the completion of watershed master plans for individual watersheds. Watershed master plans are used as planning tools to be referenced in conjunction with proposed development and as a guide in the preparation of future Capital Improvement Projects (CIPs).
The City and NRD have previously adopted watershed master plans for the Antelope Creek, Beal Slough, Stevens Creek, Cardwell Branch, Deadman's Run, Little Salt Creek, Southeast Upper Salt Creek and Stevens Creek basins. The figure on the left shows watersheds in the Lincoln area.
The Watershed Master Plans (Master Plans) for the Haines Branch Watershed, Middle Creek Watershed and South Salt Creek Watershed are being prepared because future urban growth within these basins is expected as identified in the City of Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan. The purpose of the Master Plans is to identify needed CIPs for water quality and stream stability and to quantify pre-development hydrologic conditions for sub-basins with potential near-term developments. The Master Plans also identify special or unique areas in the watershed, and additional consideration was given to protecting these areas.
The project team is led by the City and NRD in cooperation with Lancaster County. The City and NRD retained the consultant team of Intuition & Logic (I&L) in association with Heartland Center for Leadership Development and the U. S. Geological Survey to provide assistance with the planning effort.