The Planning Assistance Division of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources assists in or conducts state level planning work, provides assistance to other governmental units, provides statewide mapping and geographic information system analysis, provides a variety of technical assistance to the Director, coordinates Department's stream gaging efforts, and coordinates agency public information and webpage functions. The Division's duties and projects span a wide variety of topics and do not have a single discrete theme. Changing needs can also result in significant changes in many of the Division's projects and activities through time. Some of the current Division projects and duties include the following items.

Planning Assistance Division Activities

Technical Assistance to the Director
Planning Assistance Division staff provide technical assistance to the Director as directed including grants administration, contract administration, and assistance on Missouri River Activities.

Mapping/Geographic Information System Activities
These activities are generally cooperative efforts with other divisions or agencies and include the national hydrographic dataset, digital mapping of soils, floodprone area mapping, assistance in water rights mapping, and other mapping or geographic system analysis.

The Division led state efforts in compiling data for the national hydrographic dataset digital mapping project and is now responsible for stewardship of the dataset. The 1:24,000 National Hydrographic Dataset (NHD) presents water features at the same scale as other state digital mapping packages and provides the basis for enhancing the efficiency of a wide range of potential water analysis and administration activities. These include uses such as surface water quality assessment, bridge design, and water rights administration. Work on the National Hydrographic Dataset is being carried out on a cooperative basis with the U.S. Geological Survey and completion of the dataset occurred in 2007. The Nebraska GIS Steering Committee has prioritized this database and it is one of the select few databases that provide the underlying framework for coordinated GIS development and widespread data sharing and integration. The Division’s stewardship activities will include improvement of the dataset and efforts to help utilize it more effectively. Some of those uses involve in-agency efforts such as surface water modeling, water administration, and floodplain mapping activity.

State Level Planning Studies/ Technical Assistance/ Reviews
The Planning Assistance Division participates in planning oriented studies, conducts reviews of projects and programs, and drafts information and responds to a variety of requests as needed. The Division also coordinates state level planning efforts and writing of the Annual Report and Plan of Work for the Nebraska State Water Planning & Review Process. The Integrated Water Management Division is responsible for implementation of the DNR portion of individual integrated management plans. The basin level planning in those plans provides the organizational focus for future State Water Planning efforts.

Finally, Division staff provide reviews on a variety of natural resources projects and the economic and technical committees for the Nebraska Resources Development Fund. Division staff also work on agency database maintenance.

Stream Gaging
DNR Stream Gaging
The Department of Natural Resources operates 160 gages on rivers, streams, canals, reservoirs, and returns in Nebraska. This includes 61 continuous full year and 5 partial year stations on rivers and streams, 1 reservoir, 90 canal, and 3 return flow stations. These stations, along with an additional 53 reservoir and canal records from other agencies are published in the Department's Hydrographic Report and entered into the Data Bank. Although a Planning and Assistance Division staff member is responsible for program coordination and publication of the hydrographic report; operation of the stream gaging system is a responsibility of DNR's field offices.

Public Information
The Division is currently responsible for agency public information and website functions.

Annual Report and Plan of Work for the State Water Planning and Review Process
2011 Annual Report 2010 Annual Report 2009 Annual Report 2008 Annual Report 2007 Annual Report	2006 Annual Report 2005 Annual Report 2004 Annual Report 2003 Annual Report 2002 Annual Report

Water Use Reports
2000 USGS Water Use Report (Total Surface Water Withdrawals)
2000 USGS Water Use Report (Total Water Withdrawals)
1995 USGS Water Use Report

Carbon Sequestration Report
Carbon Sequestration Report (Text Version-Short)
Carbon Sequestration Report (Print Version-Long)
Quantifying the change in greenhouse gas emmissions due to natural resource conservation practice application in NE. (Print Version-Long)

Nitrate and Small Community Water Supply Report