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LINCOLN – Supporters of the Niobrara River are contesting claims made by a local official about the status of federal funding and programs for managing the river and its environs as a congressionally designated scenic river.
The Friends of the Niobrara — a successor organization to one that stopped the Norden Dam project on the river — said in a recent press release that Mike Murphy, general manager of the Middle Niobrara Natural Resources District, was spreading inaccurate information about that status of support and programs by the National Park Service.
Murphy, when contacted by the Examiner, mostly contested the claims, saying that he had been taken out of context to some extent.
The exchange comes as a state legislative committee prepares to hold an interim study hearing Sept. 19 on whether the State of Nebraska should replace the Park Service as the lead manager of the Niobrara.
The federal government does allow such state management in rare instances, but 34 years ago, when Congress designated 76 miles of the river in north-central Nebraska as a federal national wild and scenic river, the National Park Service was put in charge of preserving its natural beauty.
That stretch of the Niobrara is one of Nebraska’s most popular tourist destinations, drawing upwards of 75,000 visitors a year for float trips and sight-seeing. The Friends group feels that replacing the Park Service with local management would diminish the visitor experience, hurt tourism, and could lead to the delisting of the Niobrara as a federal scenic river.
“Ultimately we’re concerned that the state doesn’t have the resources to handle the scenic river designation,” said Kim Stuhr, president of the Friends of the Niobrara, citing the state’s current budget shortfalls.
Murphy, a key supporter of shifting management locally, told the Examiner that one of the key purposes of the Sept. 19 interim study hearing by the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee is to discover what responsibilities the state and local entities would be taking on if it took over management of the river.
He said it’s a subject worth pursuing, given the federal cuts in spending on Park Service activities.
Murphy added that the current relationship between the Park Service and a local advisory council, the Niobrara Council (of which Murphy is a member), is not working.
“To me, this hearing is bringing out the good and bad and will shed light on what is going on,” he said.
The Park Service was designated to manage the Niobrara Scenic River when it was established in 1991.
Utilizing an annual budget of $1.2 million, it operates a visitors center in Valentine, monitors water quantity and quality, provides law enforcement staff, and facilitates several educational and cultural programs. In addition, it helps landowners plan proper bank stabilization projects and paid for a recent canoe landing at Smith Falls State Park.
The Park Service had also been providing $100,000 a year to the Niobrara Council for its activities, which included maintaining toilets along the river, trash removal, camps for youth and funding two employees at a Niobrara Council office in Valentine.
But due to a freeze on funding by the Trump administration, the last funds given to the Council was $80,000 in May 2024.
The Niobrara Council – which is intended to be an outlet for local landowners and organizations to provide input to the Park Service – responded by laying off one employee and having its executive director go part time.
The Council gets about $52,000 a year from the State of Nebraska to operate, and has continued to hold regular meetings to provide input. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, this summer, agreed to pick up the maintenance and trash pickup duties, but the loss of federal funding has been a major complaint of some on the Council.
To be sure, there’s been on-and-off tension between local landowners and the Park Service since the scenic river designation.
The Park Service’s mission is to keep the Niobrara as wild and scenic as possible, by discouraging cabin and campground development along the river that could spoil the view and character of the river, which two years ago became the first location in North America designated as an international “quiet trail.”
Landowners and canoe outfitters, meanwhile, seek to build cabins and canoe launches for the visitors, development that can conflict with scenic river goals.
The most recent clash involves a recent story in the Valentine Midland News, in which Murphy was quoted saying the Niobrara Council has been operating “without any funding” for the past two years and that the visitors center in Valentine is slated to close, and the Park Service superintendent eliminated, when a lease on the center ends at the end of 2026.
Murphy, in the article, also questioned what federal money was spent on, besides salaries and vehicles.
“Some explanation of what their $1.5 million to $2 million budget pays for and goes for, besides personnel, vehicles, etc., would be beneficial,” he was quoted as saying.
