November 1, 1996
Justice Pays Visit to UNL
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, right, speaks to local
media
during a visit to the UNL College of Law Monday. Kennedy was the keynote
speaker for the inaugural session of the Roman L. Hruska Institute for
the
Administration of Justice at the college. Kennedy's presentation focused
on jury trial reform. At left is Harvey Perlman, dean of the law college.
(Photo by Richard Wright)
Researcher Finds Sandhills' Water, Sand Closely Linked
Unless they've forgotten their canteens, water is about the last thing
people
think of when they look over a vast expanse of sand on the Great
Plains.
However, a massive groundwater aquifer lies beneath Nebraska's Sandhills.
It's intimately connected to all that sand that catches the casual
viewer's
eye, according to a UNL research hydrogeologist.
Darryll Pederson, geology professor with UNL's Conservation and Survey
Division,
presented "Interrelationship of High Plains Aquifer Thickness, Sand
Fields, Rivers and Groundwater" Monday (Oct. 28) at the annual
meeting
of the Geological Society of America, which is meeting this week in
Denver.
"You look at the Sandhills and see sand, but that's just the 'skin'
on top of an abundant water supply," Pederson said. The Sandhills
and
much of Nebraska rest above the High Plains (Ogallala) aquifer, a massive
groundwater reservoir stretching from Wyoming and South Dakota to western
Texas and eastern New Mexico. The largest saturated thickness (the
greatest
depth of water holding deposits underground) in the entire High Plains
aquifer
is beneath the Sandhills.
The key to that water volume, and to Pederson's work in this area, is
that
sand is highly permeable; water flows through it easily.
"Naturally, where water can seep down more easily you have a higher
potential for great aquifer thickness," Pederson said. "You
can't
have an aquifer without some degree of permeability."
The Sandhills also has abundant underground sand and gravel deposits,
which
hold a great deal of groundwater. The result is a perfect blend of
surface
recharge and adequate underground storage. The aquifer is estimated to be
more than 1,000 feet thick in parts of the Sandhills, Pederson said,
compared
with an average of 100 feet in areas with less sandy and less permeable
soils.
Aquifer formation is one of sand's many effects in the Sandhills,
Pederson
stressed.
Unless extremely large quantities of water are available, this
permeability
limits surface runoff that would erode permanent stream channels. Heavy
precipitation or massive snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains are the only
events that could provide such water volume, he said.
The Platte River, Pederson said, is a perfect example of a river system
that was supplied enough water to "downcut," or establish a
permanent
channel.
Increased flow in a river also increases the river's competence, or
ability
to carry large amounts of sediment downstream.
The Platte, which has shifted its course several times in the last 2.5
million
years, is also a perfect example of a system that managed to carry enough
sediment downstream to actually fill up its own valley and force itself
to change course.
That's all because of permeability and the river's competence - its
ability
to carry sediment.
"The ancient Platte had a high competence when snow melted and
flowed
from the Rockies in the spring, so the river could carry a lot of
sediment
downstream," Pederson said. "But when it hit the Sandhills, it
just dropped everything. Much of the water soaked into the highly
permeable
soil, and sediment of the exposed river bed dried out in the summer and
supplied sand to form dunes."
Over the years sediment deposited created a "sediment dam,"
which
effectively blocked any remaining flow until the water evaporated or
seeped
into the soil. The Platte's river bed - at times jokingly characterized
as one mile wide and only an inch deep - was then abandoned and a new
channel
formed with renewed downcutting.
Pederson said today's North Platte River displays many characteristics of
the ancient Platte and could be prone to filling up its own channel in
the
future.
But don't start kissing the river good-bye just yet, Pederson said. Such
an event would probably take hundreds or even thousands of years to
transpire.
There's little question that the sand in the Sandhills is here to stay,
he said. Because Nebraska sits just east of snow-capped mountains,
drainage
patterns of the North and South Platte rivers and the tendency of rivers
to drop sediments on existing deposits, the Sandhills are a perfect
example
of a self-maintaining sand sea, Pederson said.
"Everything is in balance. The Sandhills are in just the right place
to demonstrate these concepts," he said.
Poll: Rural Nebraskans Serious About Tax Relief
By Vicki Miller
IANR Science Writer
Rural Nebraskans want relief from their tax burden, and more than half of
them support freezing state and local spending levels for three years,
the
first Rural Nebraska Poll shows.
"Rural Nebraskans are quite serious about the tax issue," said
John Allen, a rural sociologist in UNL's agricultural economics
department
who conducted the poll. "We're seeing predominate majorities saying
. . . we want some control on taxes. So they are quite serious on that.
I think that comes through quite clearly."
Results are based on 2,754 responses from randomly selected rural
Nebraskans
who completed questionnaires in March and April. The survey, conducted
for
UNL's Center for Rural Community Revitalization and Development, asked
about
state and federal policies concerning taxes and budgets. The poll's
margin
of error is plus or minus 3 percent.
On state issues, almost two-thirds, 62 percent, of rural Nebraskans favor
limiting property tax levies for local units of governments; 18 percent
oppose this policy and 19 percent were undecided. About 56 percent
support
reducing property taxes by increasing income and/or sales taxes, while
one-third
do not favor this increase and 11 percent were undecided.
"I think people want relief and they would almost be willing, as I
interpret this, to make a fairly severe cut and then rebuild around it,
than to take small pieces. And maybe that's the message," Allen
said.
Fifty-one percent of respondents support the elimination of state
property
taxes as a revenue source; about 18 percent oppose the elimination and
about
15 percent were undecided.
More than half of the survey respondents, 57 percent, also supported
freezing
state and local spending for three years beginning in 1997. Just under a
quarter opposed that option, and 18 percent were undecided.
"People are saying here's the line. Let's freeze it, let's stop it,
let's eliminate it. Whatever we have to do. And then get our act together
and come up with some solutions," Allen said.
On the question of gambling, 48 percent opposed expansion, and 37 percent
favored more gambling opportunities. About 15 percent were undecided.
When asked about eliminating property taxes, farmers and ranchers are
"quite
different than the overall population," Allen said. "That
probably
is tied to the fact that they are making money off that land. I think
there's
a perception by farmers that they're being unfairly pointed to and asked
to pay more."
The survey's findings on national issues, including Social Security and
Medicare, defense spending, farm program payments and a national sales
tax,
show that "rural Nebraskans are more like the nation as a whole than
the stereotype has been in the past," the UNL sociologist
explained.
About 85 percent of respondents opposed increasing the federal income tax
paid by individuals, almost 9 percent supported this increase and about
6 percent were undecided. Sixty-five percent favored increasing the
corporate
tax rate, just under a quarter opposed an increase and 11 percent were
undecided.
"I think politicians should take them seriously," Allen said of
the poll results.
"When we asked people which federal programs would you support
reductions
in, they came up with foreign aid, food stamps, National Endowment for
the
Arts, Aid to Families with Dependent Children and farm program
payments,"
he said. "Given the fact that we probably percentage-wise have
higher
poverty rates in some rural areas, and yet some of the programs that they
were pointing to dealt with those impoverished families in their rural
communities,
that surprised me some. But at the same time, they were pointing a finger
at themselves and their neighbors, saying we should also cut the farm
program
payments . . . saying 'we will also take our hit.'"
The poll was sent to randomly selected rural residents living in towns
and
the country in Nebraska's 87 rural counties. Respondents' average age was
53. Three-quarters were married, 73 percent were male, 70 percent lived
in town, 60 percent lived in communities smaller than 5,000 people and 18
percent were farmers or ranchers. Respondents had lived in their current
community for an average of 32 years.
Respondents were not asked to identify their political affiliation
because
"we didn't want this to become political," Allen said. "It
will interesting to me as a sociologist to see how opinions have changed
from March and April to Nov. 5."
The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources researcher launched
the
poll to gather information about rural Nebraskans' views, needs and
well-being.
Allen will conduct the poll annually to track rural trends and changes.
First-year results provide a snapshot of rural opinion and baseline
information
for future comparison.
The Rural Nebraska Poll was conducted in cooperation with IANR's
Cooperation
Extension Division and the Agricultural Research Division.
Editor's note: This is the third of several articles reporting results
of the first-ever Rural Nebraska Poll. Stories about other facets of
this study will be provided as results become available.
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(402) 472-8518, Fax: (402) 472-7825