Water

Some may not realize our state’s namesake, “Nebraska,” is derived from the Otoe word “Ñí Brásge” or Omaha-Ponca word “Ní Btháska,” meaning, “Flat Water.”

Awe yes, “Ñí Brásge” and “Ní Btháska,” neighbors near and far, would you please picture in the well of your hearts and minds’ eyes if you would, a human voice uttering these words generations before any homesteader traversed these plains. A time when buffalo grazed fence free and not a single well pumped water from any aquifer. 

The “Flat Water” our indigenous neighbors referenced was the great expanse of surface waterways: nearly 80,000 miles of rivers, streams and 430 square miles of lakes, that grace and sustain Nebraska’s landscape. Not included in those miles of waterways noted above is the entire Ogallala Aquifer, one of the most expansive in the world, covering about 175,000 square miles across parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.

Nebraska's share of the Ogallala is about 70 percent of the aquifer’s total water. It’s also imperative to point out, that not every Nebraska farmer or rancher has access to this groundwater. Ask Del Ficke about their dryland ranch, Ficke Cattle Company, where his father, the late Kenneth Ficke, began to many years ago, diligently measure and record how much water their herd drank. 

Since then, Del has developed one of the nation’s only registered trademarked breeds, the Graze Master composite. The Graze Master is under constant experimentation, taking the optimum breeds for their environment and combining them to graze and thrive efficiently and in tandem with the land with little help from “man.” They are also bred to consume far less water than their corn-fed counterparts. 

The Graze Master concept can be replicated anywhere starting with the “village cow” per se and adapting them specifically to the land and environment where they are raised. That’s one of Del’s quests, to share and implement the “Graze Master Way,” on ranches across the nation and world where they can be empowered to raise their own bulls, select the best of their herds, and literally take the “bull by the horns” and build the livestock suited precisely for them. 

Let’s also just say, when the irrigation wells turn on west of the Ficke’s homestead, their farm and house wells are severely impacted. Del doesn’t take waste of water lightly. Needless to say, my York County, Neb.  irrigated farm perspective was sharpened and humbled by Del’s no-nonsense informed knowledge about water utilization and its misuse by some who think wells will pump forever. 

Vance McCoy, Perkins County farmer and Lead Educator for Transitional Ag Consulting - Powered by Graze Master, has also had his eyes opened. 

“I remember my dad telling me, ‘Water is more valuable than oil,’” McCoy said standing atop one of his farm fields where he has implemented farm practices and tools that save water and build soil. “Water is a precious resource that we need to take care of. Every day you can read about the depletion and or contamination of our groundwater. I have partnered with some cool people who help me help farmers make a profit while saving resources for future generations.  In this picture (with this article), I am standing in a multi-generational field that is using multiple tools to keep it going. Thanks for taking care of it the best you knew how, Dad.”

Now it’s Vance’s turn and everyone who drinks turn to protect and renew our water resources. 

According to the Bureau of Reclamation: 

• Water covers about 71% of the earth's surface. 

• There are 326 million cubic miles of water on the planet. 

• 97% of the earth's water is found in the oceans (too salty for drinking, growing crops, and most industrial uses except cooling).

• 320 million cubic miles of water are in the oceans. 

• 3% of the earth's water is fresh. 

• 2.5% of the earth's fresh water is unavailable: locked up in glaciers, polar ice caps, atmosphere, and soil; highly polluted; or lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost. 

• 0.5% of the earth's water is available fresh water.

• If the world's water supply were only 100 liters (26 gallons), our usable water supply of fresh water would be only about 0.003 liter (one-half teaspoon). 

• In actuality, that amounts to an average of 8.4 million liters (2.2 million gallons) for each person on earth. 

• This supply is continually collected, purified, and distributed in the natural hydrologic (water) cycle.

The Nebraska State Historical Society states, “On June I, 1926, George A. Coulter completed one of the first four irrigation wells in Cheyenne County, among the earliest in western Nebraska. He and his son James dug the first 22 feet by hand. Charles Stanton - a Potter, Nebraska driller, completed the final 60 feet to reach the Ogallala aquifer. The well pumped about one thousand gallons per minute, irrigating one hundred acres of corn, alfalfa, and wheat.”

About a decade later, according to the Wessels Living History Farm, “In 1939, two brothers, Jon and Gus Thieszen, and their cousins, gathered on one of the brother’s farms to dig one of the first irrigation wells in York County, Nebraska. They dug it by hand.”

In 1957, Dr. Stan Jensen conducted the first “managed stress” test for Pioneer® Seed. “… It was most likely the first ‘managed stress’ test in the country, maybe in the world,” he said.

There were some skeptics of Stan’s research who thought breeding corn for drought resistance wasn’t top priority. But years later, here we are in a nation where (even in irrigated corn country) farm wells are running forever dry. Stan was right. He had the foresight to know water is life and he knew we need to always be looking ahead to ensure our farms and ranches are resilient and fruitful. Sadly, we have collectively not been looking ahead as much as we needed to.

According to the Upper Big Blue Natural Resources District, today there are more than 107,000 registered irrigation wells in the state, “Eighty percent of the state’s public drinking water and private water supplies come from groundwater sources. Nebraska has about nine million irrigated acres of cropland, or about three out of eight total crop acres, making it the top state in irrigated acres.”

And let’s consider the excerpt below from this article: openrivers.lib.umn.edu/article/why-is-water-sacred-to-native-americans/

“The Great Plains of North America, home to the Lakota, the Blackfeet and other tribes, (was considered) a dry, arid place. The U.S. government spends billions of dollars to control and retain water in this ‘Great American desert,’ as it was described in the early 19th century.

Geologist John Wesley Powell, an early director of the U.S. Geological Survey, pointed out in an important 1878 government study that the defining characteristic of the Great Plains and the West was its lack of water. He attempted to promote land ownership that was based on watersheds, instead of dividing land into the rectangular lots still in use today.”

“Powell also recommended that America adopt a new type of land development – one that worked with nature, so everyone had access to water. The U.S. government, however, ignored Powell’s ideas. Writing on this issue later, author Wallace Stegner, who was passionate about the West, commented, ‘What do you do about aridity … You may deny it for a while. Then you must either adapt to it or try to engineer it out of existence.’”

“The Lakota, the Blackfeet and the other tribes understood how to live with nature. They knew it was best to live within the restrictions of the limited water supply of the Great Plains.”

They did know and our Indian Country agriculturist neighbors - nearly 80,000 farmers, ranchers, and more across this nation - representing the 574 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Native entities, still know that water must be protected feverishly today. 

My homesteading ancestors and counterparts haven’t always known better though … 

Let’s think again about those origins of our state’s namesake, “Ñí Brásge” and “Ní Btháska.”

Those voices knew the precious “Flat Water” was and is the source of life. Now we know too. There’s no excuses now to not always tirelessly try and do far better. Let’s protect and renew our soil and water resources wisely. Give me a call/text at 402-363-8963. There’s hope and an abundant way of life forward when we all learn, together, to preserve the water for our beautiful “Ní Btháska” and the entire earth. 

Photo: Vance McCoy wears his style of agrarian “business suit” covered with the soil he touches nearly every day and the water that sustains anything that grows within it or upon it. Water he knows is more precious than oil. 

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