Watershed Plan

In coordination with partners, the District is working to provide a long-term sustainable remedy for the Quivira NWR impairment complaint. 

On July 13, 2020, the District submitted an application to USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) under the Watershed Protection and Flood Control Act (PL 83-566) (Watershed Act) to evaluate a streamflow augmentation project to supplement water supplies to the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge). This project has received letters of support from the Kansas Congressional delegation, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Kansas Water Office, The Nature Conservancy, and Kansas Farm Bureau.

On July 25, 2020, the FWS and District entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) wherein the parties expressed support for a streamflow augmentation project. These parties have been working together, and with other local partners, to address water needs of the surrounding communities while also meeting the refuge’s wildlife conservation purposes.  

In 2020, Big Bend Groundwater Management District No. 5 was awarded funding from NRCS to prepare a Watershed Plan-Environmental Assessment (Watershed Plan-EA) for Rattlesnake Creek Watershed Improvement. The District selected and entered into contract with Olsson of Overland Park, KS to conduct the Watershed Plan-EA. The NRCS Watershed Program provides eligible local sponsors with cost share assistance to undertake a wide range of watershed-scale improvements, including projects to improve agricultural water supply and fish and wildlife habitat. A Watershed Plan-EA provides National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance for the Proposed Project and will be developed as the first component of the Proposed Project.

The proposed Watershed Improvement area is in Stafford County. Olsson has coordinated with the District and NRCS to finalize the watershed study boundary and the proposed plan measures to be evaluated in the Watershed Plan-EA and a related feasibility analysis of the augmentation wellfield. Tasks for the development of the Watershed Plan-EA and feasibility analysis will include engineering/design to accurately define, formulate, and evaluate alternatives proposed in the Watershed Plan-EA for technical feasibility, socioeconomics, benefits and impacts. Project measures to be proposed and evaluated in the Watershed Plan-EA will be considered with public participation that will occur at specified times during the plan development process. In 2023, through coordination with NRCS staff at the state and national levels, the Watershed Plan-EA was transitioned to a full Watershed Plan - Environmental Impact Statement (Plan-EIS). 

Olsson has led a massive coordination effort to put together the draft Plan-EIS. The draft Plan-EIS includes, but is not limited to, the following assessments:

• Economic impact assessment coordinated with NRCS and Abt Associates Inc
• Biological assessment coordinated with USFWS staff
• Technical feasibility coordinated with USFWS, KGS, KDA-DWR and Balleau GW

The Plan-EIS will be a more durable and comprehensive document that, when completed, will provide additional advantages to the District and the region in the coming phases of the proposed project. 

The draft Plan-EIS has undergone a thorough technical review by the National Water Management Center of the USDA-NRCS as well as an administrative review by NRCS staff in Washington D.C. 

Following these reviews, the draft Plan-EIS was published on the Federal Register on April 04, 2025 for a 45-day public comment period. During this period, NRCS and the District held a public meeting on May 8, 2025 at the Stafford County Annex (210 E Broadway, St John). The meeting was an open house format without a formal presentation. The purpose of this meeting was to share information about the Watershed Plan-EIS process and to gather feedback from the public on how to improve agricultural water supply and fish and wildlife habitat within the Rattlesnake Creek Watershed in Stafford County. 

The public comment period ended on June 02, 2025 with well over 100 comments received from state and federal agencies as well as special interest groups and individuals. The District's consultants in coordination with NRCS reviewed and addressed those comments in preparation of the final review of the document by NRCS.

The Plan-EIS describes the environmental effects of the proposed construction of an augmentation wellfield that will deliver water to Rattlesnake Creek upstream of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to provide long-term, sustainable agricultural water management within the Rattlesnake Creek subbasin of the District. The Plan-EIS was developed in consultation with local, State, and Tribal governments, Federal Agencies, as well as interested organizations and individuals. NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to local project sponsors under the authority of the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act, Public Law 83-566, in accordance with Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Public Law 91-190, as amended (42 USC 43221 et seq.). The sponsoring local organization of this project is the District.

The final Plan-EIS has been posted on the Federal Register and is now open for review. The review period will be available until February 23, 2026. (https://bit.ly/FEIS_Notice)