Air Boat Tour 2005 - August 29, 2005
Photo Gallery 3 - all photos © Ken Dewey, SNR, UNL.
One of
the stops, mid-day, included a tour of a sand and gravel pit located along
the Platte River.
The owners
of this business have worked closed with the Alliance and have a
model operation
which has
minimal environmental impact on the Platte River.
One of major problems along the
Platte corridor has been the invasion of noxious weeks. The
purple plant shown here (purple
loosestrife), is a huge user of water and clogs the channels of the river.
Extensive efforts have been undertaken
to remove this weed along with several others along the river corridor.
The morning and mid-day clouds
helped hold down the temperatures into the 70's, unlike the 100 + F
degree heat that blasted the
area the previous weekend. There was evidence of several large fish
kills due to the excessive heat
and high water temperatures the previous weekend.
The river had dropped a foot
in depth by late afternoon exposing the river bed. The sand is constantly
in
motion beneath the river and
evidence of its movement is left behind here after the water level dropped.
The river is also constantly
meandering and cutting into the shoreline. Here, near Fremont,
a small community of cottages
is attempting to slow that erosion with thousands of
old tires placed along the bank
of the river.
This is one of the largest air
boats to be found on the Platte and evidence of commerce
generated by tourists to the
area.
The air boat shown here belongs
to Bryson's airboat tours, 402-968-8534
Some of the air boats have put
cartoon like drawings to decorate the wind baffles in back of the boat.
Some
more photos of the tour along the river.
