GRAND ISLAND — The Central Platte and Lower Loup Natural Resources Districts are taking the initial step to seek grants to study flooding issues in three watersheds in the region.

The focus for the CPNRD is the Wood River and Buffalo Creek and for the LLNRD it’s the Mud Creek.

At Thursday’s CPNRD board meeting in Grand Island, the staff was authorized to spend approximately $10,000 to hire JEO Consulting Group to do a preliminary assessment required to prepare applications for federal Natural Resources Conservation Service Watershed Planning grants for more detailed studies in the Wood River and Buffalo Creek watersheds.

The grant application deadline is July 18.

CPNRD General Manager Lyndon Vogt said there will be an application for each watershed because the program limits the overall size at 250,000 acres for each grant.

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The grants would pay for more detailed studies to determine what structures might be needed to address the flooding issues, Vogt said, and for 25 percent to 30 percent of the design work.

That information then would be used to seek construction grants. He said such grants can pay up to 100 percent of construction costs, depending on how much money is available.

Vogt told his board that if they are unsuccessful getting construction grants through the NRCS program, having 30 percent of the design work done will be helpful in seeking other funding sources.

The Lower Loup NRD is pursuing a similar grant for the part of the Mud Creek watershed in southeast Custer County.

Information and Education Coordinator Larry Schultz told the Hub that the LLNRD board approved moving ahead with getting help from a consultant — also JEO — to help prepare the NRCS program grant by the July 18 deadline.

He and Vogt said it’s hoped the districts will learn if they’ve been approved for the watershed study grants by the end of this year.

In a separate watershed issue, Schultz said the LLNRD board voted at its meeting Thursday in Ord to move ahead with a study of water quality and quantity issues in the South Loup Basin.

The LLNRD will pay $10,000 and the Upper Loup NRD will contribute $4,000 for the study by HDR, an engineering firm with offices in Nebraska.

Schultz said NRD officials will determine the next step after seeing results of the study.

Meanwhile, the Central Platte and Lower Loup NRDs are working together on a three-year study of how the use of cover crops affects water quantity in a region north of Kearney, where there are concerns about groundwater depletions.

The goal is to determine if the soil quality benefits of cover crops offset the value of groundwater used to irrigate them.

The CPNRD board approved a memorandum of understanding at Thursday’s meeting that already had been signed by LLNRD officials. The LLNRD has a $250,000 grant from the Nebraska Water Sustainability Fund for the study that will be done by EA Engineering of Lincoln.

The districts will share equally any other costs and responsibilities. Vogt said CPNRD will contribute $33,500 and in-kind services.

A first step is to contact several landowners willing to participate in the study.