Niobrara River Basin "Fully Appropriated" Yes? or No? The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources will make determination by January 20th Gordon, NE - Approximately 50 citizens gathered last Thursday in the basement of the City Auditorium to hear members of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources describe in detail why they believe the Niobrara River Basin is "fully appropriated." The region under consideration extends from Box Butte Reservoir in Dawes County to the Spenser Dam in Boyd County. The DNR is required by law to determine if the water resource in each watershed in Nebraska is "under appropriated", "fully appropriated", or "over appropriated." Areas deemed fully or over appropriated are essentially barred from adding new water uses such as additional irrigated acres. The DNR issued its preliminary finding on this portion of the Niobrara basin in October. Its westernmost portion is in the Upper Niobrara-White Natural Resources District…which covers all of Sheridan, Dawes, and Box Butte counties as well as most of Sioux County. NRD spokeswoman Lynn Webster says the designation has relatively little impact on the district and its residents because it's had a moratorium on new irrigation wells for some 4 years, and most of its land declared "fully appropriated" 2 years ago. During the hearing phase of the meeting, most of those who spoke went on record as opposing the proposed "designation" because of insufficient data used in making the determination. Most of those who spoke in opposition agreed that such a designation would have detrimental effects upon the area's economic development. The testimony and evidence given during the meeting will be used to determine the extent to which ground-and-surface water in the Niobrara basin are connected, and whether new water uses in the region should be barred. The department is scheduled to make a final determination by January 20th, 2008.