December 11, 2003

A seawall helps protect residential property from erosion damage on the southeast shore of Lake McConaughy north of Ogallala. Continued drought has shrunk the state's largest reservoir and revealed previously unseen effects of more than 60 years of shoreline erosion. Some property owners have built seawalls or graded cliff faces to slow erosion. UNL geologists are studying the erosion to learn more about its impacts in reservoirs.

Sand dunes form along the base of a cliff on the southeast shore of Lake McConaughy where near-record low water levels are revealing previously unseen effects of more than 60 years of shoreline erosion. Geologists in UNL's School of Natural Resources are taking advantage of low lake levels to study the exposed damage to learn more about reservoir erosion. Photos courtesy of Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Drought exposes erosion's effects

Geologists study damage at western Nebraska's Lake McConaughy

By Charles Flowerday and Steve Ress, School of Natural Resources

Year-record low water levels at Lake McConaughy reveal the previously unseen effects of more than 60 years of shoreline erosion, a UNL geologist said.

The lake north of Ogallala on the North Platte River is Nebraska's largest reservoir. It was filled in 1952 after Kingsley Dam's completion in 1941. Lake McConaughy was built for irrigation but also is popular for recreation.

Some of the side effects of residential and recreational development along the lake's shoreline have been hard to predict, however.

"As with anything we manipulate in the landscape, there's always a risk factor. And certain levels of risk are hard to account for," said Matt Joeckel, a UNL School of Natural Resources geologist who is studying erosion at the lake.

He and UNL geologist Bob Diffendal took advantage of the low water to learn about reservoir erosion by examining damage previously submerged for up to a half century.

The extent of erosion became more visible when lake levels fell nearly 60 feet after several years of drought. The shrinking lake revealed shoreline erosion stretching as far as 700 feet inland from the bluffs that lined the North Platte River before the lake covered them. In places, the exposed lake floor has undergone extensive wind erosion. At one site, 10- to 12-foot-high dunes have formed against the base of a cliff.

Waves up to several feet high, whipped by prevailing northwesterly winds, are a significant erosion force on the lake's southeastern shore, but much of the remodeling of the lake's shore probably resulted from the original filling of the lake, Joeckel said.

The actual rate of shoreline erosion is hard to calculate, he said. It probably has averaged one to two feet annually on protruding headlands - the bluffs or ridges extending from the lake's shore - where wave energy is concentrated. It's been negligible on the slopes of some bays where large blocks of eroded bedrock already existed before construction.

"The entire picture of shoreline erosion is complicated because it includes the effects produced as the lake filled as well as ongoing erosion by waves from the lake's post-1952 shoreline," Joeckel said.

In general, shoreline erosion often is gradual but eventually can threaten lakefront properties. However, Joeckel said, "We can rest assured that no one's home or cabin is going to pitch into Lake McConaughy anytime soon."

Erosion's effects include formation of cliffs at the ends of protruding headlands and the subsequent toppling of large blocks of soil and soft rock. These blocks can be as much as 20 to 30 feet wide and are some of the most obvious evidence of erosion, but no homes are threatened, he said.

"The lake wasn't built as a recreational property and some problems have developed, but owning coastal property anywhere is a game of chance and people need to know that," Joeckel said.

The original design and current management plan for the lake provides for erosion, but in a few cases, specific agreements have had to be made with landowners. Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, which manages the lake, "seems to have a proactive strategy in dealing with erosion issues," Joeckel said.

While seaside erosion is well studied and widely known, its impacts on large, manmade reservoirs aren't well documented, he said. UNL researchers hope their studies provide more information about this and other effects associated with the lake.

"It is a case study in how, when you combine the irrigation management aims, the recreational goals and the total natural and engineered systems, we're not always capable of balancing those all the time," he said.

Some of the lake's property owners have built steel or concrete seawalls, while others have graded the cliff faces and debris into more gentle slopes to slow further erosion.

But stopping or slowing shoreline erosion on anything but a small scale probably is more expensive than most landowners can afford, Joeckel said. Local geology, prevailing winds and the pre-lake shape of hills helped predispose the southeastern shoreline to erosion problems.

While different in nature, erosion damage to lakefront property is roughly as inevitable and hard to control as damage resulting from building in a floodplain, Joeckel said.

"We need more comprehensive long-term planning and cost-benefit analysis if we're going to put high demands on the physical and natural environments," he said.

Erosional features visible at the lake include sandy pocket beaches in arcs about 150 to 450 feet wide and beach ridges as wide as 30 to 60 feet. Others include knobs or pinnacles, caves and low platforms of bedrock leading back to the cliffs. A delta also has grown about two and a half miles into the western end of the lake.

The research is ongoing, but the team has shared its findings at scientific meetings and with lake management agencies.

Plan helps farmers consider niche crops

By Sandi Alswager, IANR News Service

Some Great Plains farmers and ranchers are using marketing research and developing business plans to target niche markets at the right time, place and price.

The North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability, headed by a UNL team, is helping groups of cooperating producers explore what alternative products might sell successfully in the Midwest, said John Allen, director of the university's Center for Applied Rural Innovation and a rural sociologist.

When it comes to alternative or niche crops or products, farmers sometimes jump in without doing their homework, Allen said. The initiative aims to provide marketing and business plan support.

For the last three years, Allen and Steve Taylor, head of UNL's Department of Food Science and Technology and director of the university's Food Processing Center, have headed the four-state grant-funded project to improve the profitability and competitiveness of small- and mid-sized farmers in the region.

"Thanks to the initiative, we are realizing viable (alternative) market opportunities exist for farmers and ranchers," Taylor said.

Among other things, the team provides market research that supports the producer groups, Allen said.

"We are teaching them a process of getting into business as well as how to be a business," he said.

As part of the grant, the team helped organize so-called producer clusters: small groups of farmers and ranchers interested in developing alternative, high-value products with groups in Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri. They work closely with the team, recommend research areas and have explored the potential for products such as produce, pasture poultry, specialty cheeses or specialty barley.

Through the initiative, Kim Keeling of Sutherland, Neb., found jalapeno and other peppers grew well in the Platte River Valley. When he saw an advertisement in his local paper calling for the cluster group participants, he thought he'd give it a try.

His Booty Farms' "character seasonings" - smoked peppers that are dried and ground into chipotle powder - have been fairly successful, he said.

Keeling is originally from Oklahoma, where hot peppers are more common. So far, he has sold fresh peppers at farmer's markets and wholesale all over the country.

The clusters are helpful because several people are putting their heads together to come up with new ideas, Keeling said. He added the initiative was most helpful in helping him develop his business plan and markets.

"You just have to set your mind to it. It's going to be very hard. Don't quit your day job, but something that's going to last will take time," he said.

Next year, in the initiative's fourth and final year, the team members will fine-tune the more successful ventures.

Ken Wurdeman, initiative coordinator, said they will work with Cooperative Extension educators in Great Plains' states to disseminate some of the resources and lessons learned from the cluster groups.

"We have done some excellent research on potential niche markets," Wurdeman said. "Working with different states has been interesting; different states have different interests."

In addition to Keeling's pepper products, one other successful venture has included Southeast Nebraska Alternative Crops, a cluster focusing on growing, processing and marketing grapes. Members hope to learn production techniques and build a winery.

"The whole idea was to use these producer clusters as an example and share results of efforts through presentations, workshops, media or the Internet," Taylor said.

Taylor said one of the big barriers is a lack of local processing facilities for specialty ag products.

"We haven't overcome processing impediments," he said. "We need community involvement."

For example, Allen said, many microbreweries import their grains from Europe.

"The problem isn't that we can't grow these grains here, but that there isn't a place to malt barley in Nebraska on a small scale," he said. "These are the problems we are looking to solve. We are going to find what can be done, do it and get rid of barriers."

In addition to UNL, other members are Iowa State University, University of Missouri, University of Wisconsin, the Center for Rural Affairs at Walthill, Neb., Practical Farmers of Iowa and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in Wisconsin.

The regional initiative is funded by a USDA grant. In Nebraska, the effort is conducted in cooperation with IANR's Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Research Division.

Draper Palu, a computer engineer at Facilities Management and Planning, tests a new nanostat design. The nanostats are room thermostats that work with a central computer at Facilities. Photo courtesy of Facilities Management and Planning.

Nanostats heat, cool and save energy

By Kirk Conger, Facilities Management

They hang on the wall, unnoticed, keeping you comfortable and saving energy. Each of UNL's electronic room thermostats, called nanostats, is actually a small computer that keeps the campus community comfortable while being economical.

The first version of the nanostat was installed on campus in 1994. Since then, about 2,900 have been installed in 38 campus buildings. Each year, Facilities Management and Planning adds nanostat controls to more UNL buildings to help the university save money on heating and cooling bills.

The original nanostat was designed by Steve Hughes, a Facilities Management and Planning employee. They are now manufactured in Aurora, Neb. The current version 7 nanostat has computer microprocessor and is capable of automatically controlling at least three processes. In most rooms, it monitors the room temperature and adjusts cooling, ventilating and heating devices to keep the room comfortable, but it is also capable of controlling lab and exhaust ventilation or a small HVAC unit.

Although it can operate on its own, each nanostat communicates with a central computer in the Facilities control room. The central computer can automatically put the nanostat into a low-energy mode during unoccupied periods, such as at night, over weekends and the holiday shutdown. After hours, the room temperature is allowed to vary within a 10-20-degree range around the normal setting, and ventilation is minimized. This saves 20-35 percent of the energy cost in UNL buildings. However, employees or students wanting to work late and be comfortable can press one of the nanostat buttons to return that room to normal temperature, while the rest of the rooms in the building continue in energy-saving mode.

Because Facilities can centrally control the temperature in most academic buildings, they recommend that occupants not change any thermostat settings manually for the holiday shutdown. (See page 1 story.) In buildings without nanostats, Facilities adjusts the central HVAC systems to save energy during the shutdown.

Help UNL save money over the shutdown

The UNL campus will be closed from Dec. 24 to Jan. 5 for the annual holiday shutdown. In recent years, cutting energy use in UNL's academic buildings over the shutdown has saved at least $25,000 per year.

Here's what to do as you leave your office or building for the holidays to help UNL save money:

• Lights: Turn off all lights not required for safety or security.
• Windows: Make sure all windows are closed and locked. Close the curtains or blinds.
• Lab equipment: Close all lab hood sashes. These should always be closed except when equipment is put into or removed from the hood. Turn off any other equipment that is not being used for experiments in progress.
• Office equipment: Turn off computers, monitors and all peripherals, and copy machines, coffee makers and other small appliances.

Thermostats should be left at their normal settings. Facilities Management and Planning will reduce building temperatures late on Dec. 23 and will return them to normal settings on Jan. 4. Between those times, temperatures in academic buildings may be cold, possibly 60 degrees or below in some areas. Not all buildings will be this cold because some do not have the controls necessary to reduce temperatures automatically.

If you think your office or lab space cannot be included in these cost-saving efforts, call your Building Maintenance Reporter and ask them to notify the Facilities Service Desk at 472-1550 by Dec. 19.

About this series This story is the second in a series spotlighting campuswide efforts to conserve energy and save money. Do your part to help UNL save money by cutting energy costs. Visit <www.unl.edu/unlpub/speci al/energy/> to learn several money-saving ideas.