Drought has severly lowered the water levels of the lake leaving Martin Bay, located on the north end of Kingsley Dam on the east end of the lake dry, cracked and filled with tumbleweeds.

 
    Findings from three new studies will roll out in coming weeks and months on the value of Nebraska's water and environment. The reports will put price tags on hot-button questions such as:
What if Lake McConaughy could be drained only so far by irrigators, leaving more water in the lake for recreation?
What if the Cornhusker State grew a few more pheasants and a bit less corn?
What if Nebraska farmers irrigated less than the 8.1 million acres of cropland they now water?
"People grumble . . . (but) the good news is, we do have a lot of water, and we need to manage it for all of these uses," said Dayle Williamson of Lincoln, who led the former State Natural Resources Commission for 30 years until he retired in 2001.
The studies will soon make waves across Nebraska's political landscape.
 

    The Nebraska Policy Institute plans to reveal its findings Oct. 31 on the impact of irrigation in the state's economy.
Two weeks later, an agricultural economist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln plans to release a study encouraged by Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., into the potential economic justification of leaving more water in Lake McConaughy for recreation. The lake is the state's largest irrigation reservoir.
   

    Finally, a coalition of organizations led by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission recently hired an Oregon economist to complete a study by next June on how outdoor recreation contributes to Nebraska's economy and how it would change if water and land were used differently.
 

    Project coordinator Don Gabelhouse, fisheries division administrator for the Game and Parks Commission, wants the study to answer this question: To what extent do relationships existing between the West's economy and its mountains, seashores and forests also apply to Nebraska?
 

    He wonders if increased access to healthy prairies and reservoirs and streams with consistent water levels would attract more people to live in central and western Nebraska.
 

    Ernie Niemi of Eugene, Ore., will do the study for EcoNorthwest, an economic consulting firm. Niemi said Nebraskans have choices to make and opportunities to realize, although farmers and fishermen view the issue from different perspectives.
The economics of the issue are simple, said Niemi, who will be in Lincoln Friday for a meeting to launch the project.
"The economy is changing around us, and people who change with it have a greater opportunity to be prosperous than people who are unaware or in denial," he said.
 

    Prosperity is increasingly determined by the skills of the work force rather than a set of natural resources that can be exploited, Niemi said.
 

    Across most of the West, a community's ability to retain and attract workers and companies now drives its prosperity, Niemi said. If a region's natural environment is degraded, however, it has a greater difficulty retraining and attracting workers and companies.
 

    Industries such as agriculture remain important, he said, but play a smaller economic role because of a decline in their ability to generate new jobs and higher incomes.
Chad Smith of Lincoln, the Nebraska field director of American Rivers, said many Nebraskans recognize the value of hunting or camping at state parks. Bed-and-breakfast operations catering to hunters and weekend travelers are popping up across the state.
   

    "It's clear that recreation and tourism based on healthy natural resources are an important driver in this economy," Smith said. "This study will try to put some numbers on what healthy rivers and open spaces mean to the state."
The Nebraska Policy Institute study on the role irrigation plays in the state's economy will be the first comprehensive review of the subject in more than a decade, said Cheryl Stubbendieck, a Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation spokeswoman.
The study is expected to show that the importance of irrigation to Nebraska's economy has increased significantly since a similar study in 1991 calculated the impact at $1.3 billion for the 1985 crop year.
 

    Ray Supalla, a UNL ag economist, said the study requested by Osborne should be helpful to state policymakers. The study will look at the trade-off between using water for recreation or using it for irrigation and hydropower.
"The fundamental question is whether there's economic justification for leaving more water in Lake McConaughy," he said. "There also are implications for economic development in western Nebraska."
 

    Osborne's district includes Lake McConaughy near Ogallala and the region in south-central Nebraska where the reservoir's water is sent each summer to water corn and other crops.
The reservoir is a popular recreation area. Historic low lake levels caused by drought have led to tourism declines, wounding the local economy.
 

    The questions explored in these reports will be increasingly important as conflicts arise over Nebraska's water resources.
"That's when you get into these debates," said Roger Patterson of Omaha, former director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. Patterson led the State Water Policy Task Force's creation of a new water law.
Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom
 

    Irrigation and Recreation The role of water in Nebraska's economy will be considered from two perspectives in new studies.

• Nebraska Policy Institute on impact of irrigation: Both surface water and groundwater are vital to Nebraska agriculture and the state economy. Documentation of the importance of irrigation water is valuable as Nebraskans weigh the policy trade-offs of transferring water from agriculture to other uses and as Nebraskans are confronted with the potential loss of water for irrigation.

• Coalition led by Nebraska Game and Parks on outdoor recreation: To what extent do relationships between natural resources and the economy in other parts of the West also apply to Nebraska? Would increased access to healthy prairies and reservoirs and streams with consistent water levels attract more people to Nebraska?