By Russ Pankonin
    The Imperial Republican
     It's a high-stakes game and the Upper Republican Natural Resource District board is not about to tip its hand now.
     That's why the board voted to go into executive session during their regular meeting Tuesday night, Aug. 7.
     Over the objections of board member Jeff Wallin, the board voted 10-1 to go into closed session to discuss strategy in negotiations with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over allocations.
     After about 40 minutes, the board resumed open session but there was no further discussion or action on allocations.
     Legal counsel Joel Burke did clarify for the record that the negotiating committee briefed the board on progress with further input from the board. Members on the negotiating committee include Chair Greg Pelster, Tom Terryberry, Terry Martin, Dean Large and Kerry Bernhardt.
     Wallin urged the discussion to take place in open session, noting he felt it was a public policy decision. However, Pelster feared an open discussion could jeopardize negotiations, and other board members agreed.
     In addition, a staff member of Kansas' Division of Water Resources was present at the meeting to monitor the board's action.
     Mark Billinger of Stockton, Kan., said he attends NRD meetings in the basin to keep the Kansas DWR informed on the issues relating to compact compliance.
    Allocations the issue
     During a special meeting with DNR in late July, DNR indicated they were seeking substantial reductions in the district's allocation for irrigators. For the past three years, that allocation has stood at 13.5 inches.
     The Lower Republican NRD has already proposed 11-inch district-wide allocation for five years while Middle Republican NRD is seeking 12 inches for the next five years.
     Terryberry said the first priority of the district would be to buy surface water or augment stream flows to reach compliance with the compact settlement with Kansas.
     He said reductions in allocations will have little short-term effect, compared to the options made possible by LB 701 passed this year.
     Manager Jasper Fanning said several area surface water districts have shown interest in leasing or selling their water. This would create nearly two times the amount of water the district would need for its share of compliance under average rainfall conditions, he said.
     A third district has also expressed interest in selling their water, Fanning added.
     Wallin said that based on DNR data, reducing allocations will help very little with compliance. "As a result, I don't see any reason to cut back on allocations. I think it's a misconception," he said.
     Terryberry said long-term effects, such as the lag effect, must still be addressed.
     He said one of the options that's been discussed by the committee is the removal of end guns, which would reduce the number of acres.
     Imperial farmer Max Hoffmeister said he preferred to keep his end gun and not irrigate a portion of the field.
     Pelster said the district has always tried to give farmers the latitude to use their allocated water how they saw fit, as long as it was within the rules and regulations.
     Fanning said some acreage reduction by all might be better overall than an allocation reduction which would affect parts of the district differently due to soil types or water availability.
     He too emphasized that lag effect issues will need to be addressed by the board at some point. Does the board do more now or wait until later? "That is the biggest decision for the board," he said.
    October timeline sought
     Pelster noted the district will have to come to some agreement with DNR and that responsibility rests with the negotiating committee.
     "Time is of the essence," he said, noting he didn't want the negotiations carrying on into the winter months.
     Pelster would like the negotiations completed soon so a special meeting could still be called later this month to set up a hearing on the allocation rules and regulations. With that schedule, the earliest that allocations could be adopted would be at the October meeting.
    Strunk Lake nearly full
     On a positive note, Fanning said Harry Strunk Reservoir will soon be full, despite having already released 26,000 acre-feet of water purchased by the NRDs.
     Once full, water will spill over the dam on its way into Harlan County Reservoir. The amount of water in Harlan helps determine whether compliance is measured over a water-short, two-year period or five-year period.