Nebraskaland

March 2020 • Nebraskaland 35 restore the fishery in Lake 20 on hold. Of the 20 lakes at Fremont, only two, Lakes 9 and 17, didn't flood. It also appears that Lakes 1 through 8 on the park's northwestern corner were spared from the reintroduction of carp. The rest of the lakes will eventually need to be renovated. Other work to improve water quality and fishing in recent years included the application of alum to tie up nutrients and control algae blooms. That work, which had been successful, may need to be repeated. At Two Rivers SRA, all seven lakes flooded and now contain carp and other rough fish, including the Trout Lake. A renovation will be required there to maintain that popular put- and-take fishery. At Louisville SRA, all five lakes flooded but only Lakes 1 and 1A showed carp in sampling and will need to be renovated. Lake 2 may be treated to remove shad. Carp also found their way into waters at Memphis and North Loup SRAs and Ravenna Lake in March. In early July, heavy rains in south- central Nebraska caused flooding on the Platte and Republican rivers and their tributaries. At Sandy Channel SRA near Elm Creek, floodwaters washed out the main road into the area, which also separated Lakes 4 and 8. The road was repaired and the park reopened in November. Dikes separating Lakes 1A and 2 from the south channel of the Platte were damaged. Carp invaded into four of the eight lakes on the area, including Lake 8, which had water quality high enough that it had become a popular site for scuba diving. Near Kearney, flooding on Turkey Creek west of town brought carp and nutrients into sandpits at Yanney Park, Kearney Rest Stop, Kea West and Bufflehead WMAs, four Archway Lakes and numerous private lakes, all popular fisheries because of the quality and the proximity to the city. Harlan County Lake, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir, rose 11 feet into its flood pool, inundating campgrounds, boat ramps and other facilities, limiting access to anglers for the rest of the summer. In the Sandhills, precipitation that was well above normal for the year raised the level of groundwater and that of the numerous natural lakes in the region. The flooding closed highways and county roads, making access difficult to some of these popular fisheries. It also flooded the cabins and concession at Big Alkali WMA, forcing the area to close for the year. While the campground has reopened, it is not known when, or if, the cabins and concession will reopen. With water levels high, plans to renovate more lakes on the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge were delayed. A fish bypass built by Game and Parks' Aquatic Habitat Program at Spalding Dam on the Cedar River was not damaged, but the historic hydroelectric dam itself was breached in March. The Gracie Creek Trout Pond at Calamus Reservoir SRA will have to be dredged to sand that washed in during the flood. The Valentine State Fish Hatchery and the Grove Trout Rearing Station were both damaged by flooding in March. At Valentine, dikes separating several ponds were washed out and others damaged, and several hatchery ponds were filled with silt. At Grove, a diversion dam on the East Branch of Verdigre Creek was damaged, roads Record precipitation in early 2019 caused Round Lake on the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge to spill from its normal pool east of Highway 83 and cover the road between Thedford and Valentine, reducing it to one-way traffic from June into November. High water closed other roads in the Sandhills, including Highway 97 south of Merritt Reservoir.

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