OutdoorNebraska

50 Nebraska Game and Parks Commission • Floating The Good Life OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE Nebraska's rivers and lakes are dynamic natural resources that are influenced continually by environmental or climatic conditions and in return impacts lands adjacent to them. Most recognizable are periods of high-water flows and flooding, which typically deposit sediment or can wear away at riverbanks or damage vegetation and structures above the riverbanks. A commitment to long- term maintenance is perhaps one of the most significant aspects of establishing a successful water access location. The life of the access point begins once the public opening takes place. Its longevity will depend on the maintenance and operational protocols put in place. Maintaining the level of day-use amenities above the banks of the river or lake is similar to the level of care of a municipal park. Grass mowing, litter collection, and miscellaneous wear and tear repairs are typical. Satellite or vault toilet restrooms will require periodic waste removal services at a frequency determined by the level of use. Material selections in construction will contribute to the frequency and costs of maintaining the location. Drives, parking, and walk areas of rigid pavements (concrete or asphalt) will have a higher up-front cost but aid in lower annual maintenance costs and a longer lifecycle. Aggregate rock pavements will require periodic re-grading and replenishment of material. This should be weighed against the potential for flood inundation and sediment deposit occurrences. The efforts required to maintain the ramps and landings accessing the river, and to a lesser extent lakes, will most frequently involve the removal of soils and sand sediment deposited by high flows and flooding. Materials selection should respond to the influences of deposited material and the manner in which clearing the access is intended. As an example, the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District manages access locations on the Elkhorn River in Douglas County and on average responds to clearing deposited material 10 times annually. Each incident of clearing an access, pending the severity, commits three individuals and associated front end loader equipment one-half to one full day of work. Operational requirements, like maintenance, have an associated annual cost to be prepared for and have in place the day the water access opens to the public. The agency responsible for constructing and operating the access (city, county, Natural Resource District, others) is one but not the only stakeholder to account for the operation of the site. Law enforcement and emergency response services will be called to monitor or rescue when instances arise and should be included in the planning process early in the process. Operating the water access not only takes place when the location is open for use, it also calls for having protocols in place when it is closed for public use. The site should have posted signage defining daily hours of permissible use. It will be important to establish a seasonal opening and closing date for consistency. Additionally, decide upon a determined water elevation as indicated by the nearest river gage reading administered by the National Weather Service dictating when to close the access for safety purposes. These operational protocols KAYAKING AT FORT KEARNY STATE RECREATION AREA

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