Nebraska lawmakers asked to restore funding for Chief Standing Bear museum, lake projects

Yahoo

04-03-2025

A portrait of Chief Standing Bear was displayed on the first floor of the Nebraska Capitol on Monday. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN – State lawmakers were told Monday that restoring funding for a Standing Bear museum and improvements at two large lakes would enhance tourism and economic development and honor 'an extraordinary Nebraskan.'
'Who walks 500 miles in the dead of winter to honor a pledge of a dying son?' author Joe Starita asked members of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee. 'Our finest fiction writers could not make up this story.'
Starita, whose book about Chief Standing Bear, 'I Am a Man,' led to the filming of a Hollywood movie and issuance of a U.S. Postal Service stamp, was among several people urging legislators to restore $14 million in state funding for a museum and cultural center honoring Standing Bear. The funding was cut as part of an effort to close the state's multi-million dollar budget deficit.
Others testified to restore funds to build an expanded marina on Lewis & Clark Lake in northeast Nebraska and to reverse a cut in funds to improve roads and infrastructure on western Nebraska's popular Lake McConaughy.
The Appropriations Committee was told Monday that there were 'technical and mechanical' problems with a proposed $7.5 million-a-year transfer from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to state funds that finance water sustainability and conservation projects.
Karl Elmshaeuser, the Trust's executive director, said the transfers are not accompanied by amendments to the state statutes that govern financial transfers from the Trust, as required.
Omaha State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said the transfers likely also violate the Nebraska Constitution, which set up the Trust.
The purpose of the Trust, representatives of conservation groups testified, is to finance local and regional environmental, wildlife habitat and recycling projects that weren't getting funds in the past. It isn't intended, they said, to replace state funds for state programs.
The $7.5 million in transfers would earmark about a third of the $20 million-a-year the Trust gets from the Nebraska Lottery to award in competitive grants.
Advocates for adding 350 new slips and a visitors center at the Wiegand Marina on Lewis & Clark Lake said the $40 million project has already sparked construction of new private campgrounds and is key to attracting visitors and new residents.
Testifiers said South Dakota — on the north side of the lake — is getting the bulk of tourism dollars spent by the 2 million visitors each year to the reservoir on the Missouri River.
'The marina project is key to keeping those dollars in our state,' said Stacy Miller, the Knox County Economic Development director.
Similar statements were offered about restoring $34 million that had been earmarked for a new marina at Lake McConaughy, though testifiers argued the money should now be used to improve roads to the popular lake since the ever-varying water levels of the lake make it difficult to build a huge marina.
'This money will be wisely spent and will have a great return on investment,' said Corey Crandall, chairman of the Keith County Commission, noting the huge influx of tourists from Colorado's Front Range to the white sand beaches of the massive lake.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, in his proposed budget, and the Appropriations Committee, in its preliminary budget proposal, both eliminated funding for the improvements at the two lakes to close the state's budget gap. Both projects had been part of the Legislature's recent Statewide Tourism and Recreational Water Access and Resource Sustainability group's targeted investments.
Following Monday's hearing, State Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood, who chairs the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, said the $165 million in additional tax revenue forecasted for the state last week still leaves the budget with a hole to fill of about $98 million. That, he said, makes it unlikely that proposed budget cuts will be restored.
'We still need to find more revenue or fewer expenses,' Clements said.
About $15 million was cut as part of the budget trimming from a planned cultural center and museum dedicated to Standing Bear, the Ponca chief who famously won a court ruling in 1879 that established Native Americans as 'persons' under U.S. law.
In his testimony, Standing Bear said that if his hand was cut, he would bleed the same as the judge.
'The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a Man,' Standing Bear said.
Under Legislative Bill 491, a bill proposed by State Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara, $7 million a year, over two years, would be restored to build a 22,000 square-foot facility on Ponca land south of Niobrara.
The facility would include a museum, event space, conference rooms, a theater and a recording studio to capture Ponca drumming songs.
Members of the Ponca Tribe, along with Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, said planning work had already begun in conjunction with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission on the facility, with an expected completion date of 2027.
gaiashkibos, also a member of the Ponca Tribe, said more tourists would be expected to come to Nebraska to seek more information on Standing Bear once the movie comes out.
The Appropriations Committee also heard conflicting opinions on its recommendation to give $52,000 toward operation of the Niobrara Scenic River Council.
That 16-member board created 28 years ago and based in Valentine acts as a liaison between Nebraska landowners, organizations and the National Park Service. The Park Service manages the 76-mile-long stretch of the Niobrara River that was designated as a national scenic river, which has been a huge draw for float and canoe trips.
Kalli Kieborz, executive director of the Niobrara Council, told senators that the Council would be forced to close its doors because funding from the Park Service, which once totaled about $100,000-a-year, ended in October. She asked that the state help keep the Council and its projects going, which include maintaining toilets along the river, funding weed control efforts and providing educational programs for local students.
But Kimberly Stuhr opposed state funding for the Council, citing a recent audit alleging that that Kieborz was seen ice fishing and at school functions rather than at work and that bonuses were improperly awarded to Council staff.
'The reality is (the Council) isn't working, and hasn't worked for several years,' Stuhr said, adding that the Council has failed to take corrective actions from the state audit.
Others testified Monday in support of allowing the Nebraska Game and Parks Committee to use $100,000 of its cash funds for needed maintenance on the Cowboy Trail, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
The Appropriations Committee is taking testimony on its preliminary budget. The committee, after its public hearing, took no action on the matters heard Monday.
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