Salt Valley Lakes

Last updated

The Salt Valley Lakes is a system of more than twenty lakes in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Many of the lakes are state recreation areas or wildlife areas. All of the lakes are within twenty-five miles of Lincoln, Nebraska. [1] "These areas around Lincoln cover 15,039 total acres, with 4,438 acres of water." [2]

Contents

Lakes

The individual lakes within the system number almost 25. Originally viewed as flood control reservoirs, they included Branched Oak, Pawnee, Conestoga, Yankee Hill, Olive Creek, Bluestem, Stagecoach, Wagon Train, Twin Lakes, Hedgefield, and Holmes. [3]

Smaller reservoirs in the watershed include Wildwood, Meadowlark, Wild Plum, Merganser, Cottontail, Tanglewood, and Killdeer. Teal is another small one, but it usually does not have much water in it and has a limited fishery.

See also

Related Research Articles

South Platte River principal tributary of the Platte River

The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West. Its drainage basin includes much of the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado; much of the populated region known as the Colorado Front Range and Eastern Plains; and a portion of southeastern Wyoming in the vicinity of the city of Cheyenne. It joins the North Platte River in western Nebraska to form the Platte, which then flows across Nebraska to the Missouri. The river serves as the principal source of water for eastern Colorado. In its valley along the foothills in Colorado, it has permitted agriculture in an area of the Colorado Piedmont and Great Plains that is otherwise arid.

Lincoln County, Nebraska U.S. county in Nebraska

Lincoln County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 36,288. Its county seat is North Platte. Despite the county's name, the state capital city of Lincoln is not in or near Lincoln County.

Platte River River in Nebraska, United States

The Platte River is a major river in the state of Nebraska and is about 310 mi (500 km) long. Measured to its farthest source via its tributary the North Platte River, it flows for over 1,050 miles (1,690 km). The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itself is a tributary of the Mississippi River which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Platte over most of its length is a muddy, broad, shallow, meandering stream with a swampy bottom and many islands—a braided stream. These characteristics made it too difficult for canoe travel, and it was never used as a major navigation route by European-American trappers or explorers.

Jordan River (Utah) river in Utah, Salt Lake, and Davis counties in Utah, United States

The Jordan River, in the state of Utah, United States, is a river about 51 miles (82 km) long. Regulated by pumps at its headwaters at Utah Lake, it flows northward through the Salt Lake Valley and empties into the Great Salt Lake. Four of Utah's six largest cities border the river: Salt Lake City, West Valley City, West Jordan and Sandy. More than a million people live in the Jordan Subbasin, which is the part of the Jordan River watershed that lies within Salt Lake and Utah counties. During the Pleistocene, the area was part of Lake Bonneville.

Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program

The Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program, formerly called the Missouri River Basin Project, was initially authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, which approved the plan for the conservation, control, and use of water resources in the Missouri River Basin.

Sandhills (Nebraska) Ecoregion (WWF)

The Sandhills, often written Sand Hills, is a region of mixed-grass prairie on grass-stabilized sand dunes in north-central Nebraska, covering just over one quarter of the state. The dunes were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1984.

Colorado-Big Thompson Project

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project is a federal water diversion project in Colorado designed to collect West Slope mountain water from the headwaters of the Colorado River and divert it to Colorado's Front Range and plains. In Colorado, approximately 80% of the state's precipitation falls on the West Slope, in the Rocky Mountains, while around 80% of the state's growing population lives along the East Slope, between the cities of Fort Collins and Pueblo.

Nockamixon State Park

Nockamixon State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 5,283 acres (2,138 ha) in Bedminster and Haycock Townships in northern Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The park is one of the most popular in southeastern Pennsylvania, with most tourists visiting in the summer months.

Rainwater Basin

The Rainwater Basin wetland region is a 4,200 sq mi (11,000 km2) loess plain located south of the Platte River in south-central Nebraska. It lies principally in Adams, Butler, Clay, Fillmore, Hamilton, Kearney, Phelps, Polk, Saline, Seward, and York counties and extends into adjacent areas of southeastern Hall, northern Franklin, northern Nuckolls, western Saline, northern Thayer and northwestern Webster counties. Before European settlement, this plain was covered by prairie grasslands interspersed with thousands of ephemeral playa wetlands, called Rainwater Basins. Informally and locally, individual Nebraska Rainwater Basins are referred to as rainbasins, basins, lagoons, lakes, ponds, marshes, hay marshes, and lakes marshes. To the west, a tallgrass prairie in the east once gradually transitioned into mixed grass prairie. Currently, the Rainwater Basin wetland region is covered by farms, mainly growing corn and soybeans. Several, interspersed, stream courses, of which largest is the Big Blue River and its tributaries, drain this region. Riparian woodlands and upland slopes possessing oak woodlands are associated with these streams. In the spring and fall months, millions of migratory birds pass through the region to feed and rest. Along with riparian habitats associated Platte River, Big Blue River,its tributaries, and smaller streams, Rainwater Basins are a major component of the Central Flyway of North America.

Kettle Creek State Park

Kettle Creek State Park is a 1,793-acre (726 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Leidy Township, Clinton County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is in a valley and is surrounded by mountains and wilderness. It features the Alvin R. Bush Dam built in 1961 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a flood control measure in the West Branch Susquehanna River basin. Many of the recreational facilities at the park were built during the Great Depression by the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Kettle Creek State Park is seven miles (10 km) north of Westport and Pennsylvania Route 120. It is largely surrounded by Sproul State Forest.

Lackawanna State Park in northeastern Pennsylvania

Lackawanna State Park is a 1,445-acre (585 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Benton and North Abington Townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Lake Lackawanna, a 198-acre (80 ha) man-made lake, is the central focus of recreation at the park. Lackawanna State Park is located near Dalton on Pennsylvania Route 524 just off exit 199 of Interstate 81.

Lake McConaughy

Lake McConaughy is a reservoir on the North Platte River. It is located 9 miles (14 km) north of Ogallala, Nebraska, United States, near U.S. Highway 26 and Nebraska Highway 61. The reservoir was named for Charles W. McConaughy, a grain merchant and mayor of Holdrege, Nebraska, one of the leading promoters of the project. Although he did not live to see the completion of the project, his leadership and perseverance eventually culminated in a public power and irrigation project that helped Nebraska become one of the nation's leading agricultural states.

Saline Wetlands Conservation Partnership (SWCP) is a conservation program devoted to the protection and preservation of Nebraska’s Eastern Saline Wetlands. The Eastern Saline Wetlands of Lancaster and Saunders counties Nebraska are among the most unusual and threatened wetland communities in the state. Limited to the floodplain swales and depressions within the Salt Creek, Little Salt Creek, and Rock Creek drainages, it’s estimated that the Eastern Saline Wetlands once covered an area in excess of 200,000 acres (810 km2). Today, due to extensive degradation, draining and filling through commercial, residential, and agricultural development, less than 4,000 acres (16 km2) remain, and many of these remnants are highly degraded. Now more than ever it’s become increasingly important to preserve what remains of this unique wetland resource. Although several existing programs have been recognized to address saline wetland conservation needs, they alone have not been enough to ensure the long term protection of this endangered resource. Thus, the Saline Wetland Conservation Partnership (SWCP) was created to offer additional protection and management of the state’s diminishing saline wetlands.

Sly Park Dam dam in El Dorado County, California

Sly Park Dam is located near Pollock Pines, California in the United States. The dam impounds Sly Park Creek and Hazel Creek, natural tributaries of the North Fork Cosumnes River, to form a 41,000 acre foot (51,000 dam3), 650-acre (260 ha) reservoir called Jenkinson Lake. It was constructed as part of the American River Division of the Central Valley Project to provide irrigation water to a portion of El Dorado County, California. The dam was begun on May 1953, with clearing operations, and was completed in mid 1955.

Norris Lake (Tennessee) reservoir of the Norris Dam in Tennessee on the Clinch River in the United States

Norris Lake is a reservoir that is located in Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Grainger, and Union Counties in Tennessee. The lake was created by the Norris Dam at the Cove Creek Site on the Clinch River in 1936 by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for flood control, water storage, and hydroelectric power. Norris Dam and its reservoir were the first major project taken on by the TVA. The lake, the dam, and the town of Norris, Tennessee are named for George W Norris, who was a U.S. Senator from Nebraska and who wrote the legislation that created the TVA.

The Nebraska Ordnance Plant is a former United States Army ammunition plant located approximately ½ mile south of Mead, Nebraska and 30 miles west of Omaha, Nebraska in Saunders County. It originally extended across 17,250 acres (69.8 km2) producing weapons from 1942-45 after which the Army used it as a bomb factory during the Vietnam War. Environmental investigations in the 1980's found the soil and groundwater contaminated with the explosive RDX and the degreaser trichloroethylene. In 1990, federal agencies added the site to the National Priorities List as a Superfund site. Remediation included soil excavation and water treatment, the latter of which has been ongoing since 1997. Water is contained and treated at 4 treatment plants and the known plumes are monitored at hundreds of wells. The latest wells, dug deeper into the bedrock than previously, showed RDX and TCE above desired action levels in April 2016.

Capitol Beach Lake

Capitol Beach Lake is a 300 acres (120 ha) private lake in west Lincoln, Nebraska. The lake is managed by the Capitol Beach Community Association.

The Salt Creek Dams, are a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water resource development project located in southeastern Nebraska near Lincoln, Nebraska, the state capitol. The project was authorized by the Federal Flood Control Act of 1958 to provide flood damage reduction, water quality, recreation, and fish and wildlife enhancement. The basin drains a 1645 square mile area of southeastern Nebraska, encompassing the City of Lincoln. Salt Creek enters the Platte River from the right bank 25 miles southwest of Omaha, Nebraska and drains the southern and western part of the basin, while Wahoo Creek drains the northeastern portion. The lakes are a part of the Missouri River basin.

Bluestem State Recreation Area

Bluestem State Recreation Area (SRA) is a state park in southeastern Nebraska, United States. The recreation area is located on the 325-acre Bluestem Reservoir, approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Sprague, or about 18 miles (29 km) south of Lincoln - the State Capitol. The recreation area is managed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. The area is popular for boating, fishing, camping, and swimming. The reservoir is stocked with largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish, walleye and crappies. There are 19 primitive campsites.

References

  1. "Salt Valley Lakes 2011", Voice News, Nebraska Game and Parks Department, and the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District. Retrieved 10/26/13.
  2. "Voice of the Salt Valley Lakes 2013", Voice News, Nebraska Game and Parks Department, and the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District. Retrieved 10/26/13.
  3. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (1923) Soil Survey . United States Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, United States. Bureau of Plant Industry, United States. Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, United States. Soil Conservation Service, United States. Natural Resources Conservation Service. p 73.