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When Wilderness Park was first
acquired, approximately 750 to 800
acres were covered with trees. The
remaining 600 acres consisted of mu
wooded areas and abandoned fields.
Over time, the trees of Wilderness
Park have expanded into those areas
and created a natural biotic community
within an urban setting. Park use was
to be minimal.
If the proposed plan is approved,
however, use of the park may increase
and put pressure on die park’s ability to
accommodate this use.
The plan to expand this area of
Lincoln will not only bring industrial
developments into the flood plains, but
a high school and a golf course.
Building a high school could, in turn,
bring in more families wanting to build
around the area.
An increased population win nave
it’s effects. Urbanization of the area
around the park may force some ani
mal and insect species to stay con
tained within die park, causing crowd
ing. Eventually, the animals and birds
will either be forced to eat park foliage
or they will die off.
Nocturnal activity within the park
may also be disturbed because of the
increase of light from baseball fields,
traffic in the area and lights coming
from the industrial park.
The animals are not the only ones
who will suffer from area growth. An
increase in population will also mean
an increase in the amount of water that
will run into Salt Creek.
Although flood control within that
area of Lincoln will be under control,
the extra water may cause problems for
Waverly and Ashland. Both cities have
had problems with flood control in the
past which has forced some residents
to use water pumps to manually pump
out the sewage around their homes.
Because of these types of concerns
about the well-being of the park and its
surrounding areas, developers have not
received their permits to build.
Instead, stakeholders, or individu
ais representing groups or people wno
have a specific interest, concern or role
in determining the future of
Wilderness Park, and developers have
been meeting once a month.
The Wilderness Park Mediation
Committee is the first committee in
Lincoln to use mediation as a way to
determine the outcome of a situation.
“A series of meetings between
stakeholders and developers began in
the fall of1998,” said Becky Anderson,
an employee with Lincoln Mediation
Services. “They are joined by five
facilitators who are neutral and these
people communicate ideas and infor
mation about the park in order to come
to a common understanding of what
should be done within that area.”
The group is supposed to come to a
conclusion by August, Anderson said.
They will then relay their decision
to Kip Hulvershom, professor of com
Page 8 ■ Daily Nebraskan Summer
munity and regional planning at the
University of Nebraska-Lineoln.
Hulverson is in charge of putting
together a cohesiVfe plan to be present
ed to the City Council and Mayor in
December, 1999. The final decision of
what will happen to the park will come
from the City Board, Anderson said.
Developers have applied for a per
mit from the Army Corps of Engineers
to begin building, but it has been put on
hold until a final decision is made.
Army Corps is a federal agency
that is primarily responsible for flood
control. Traditionally they do not take
into concern what problems may occur
downstream if construction takes
place.
The debate over Wilderness Park,
however, has made the Army Corps
take a more comprehensive approach
when deciding whether to approve this
specific permit.
A decision to begin building m a
different area of the park could, howev
er, be made before Hulvershom’s pro
posal is considered, or even complete.
On Monday, June 28, the city
council will hold a public testimony
concerning the building of the Horizon
Business Center on 14™ and Pine Lake
Road. This is the same area where the
proposed high school will be built
A memo from Mary Roseberry
Brown, a member of the Friends of
Wilderness Park, sent to all concerned
parties stated that 55 of the 60 acres of
the proposed Horizon Center are in
flood plain.
According to the memo, the site
that they are planning on using consists
of the flat bottom of an 815.5 acre sub
basin of Salt Creek. -
“Currently, in a heavy, fast down
pour, this entire area becomes a pond
Edition ■ • Thursday, June 24,1999
of about three feet of water-deei
enough so that small cars are washe<
off 14th street,” wrote Roseberry
Brown.
Building on this site will caus<
more water to drain into Salt Creek
instead of allowing the land to absoit
it It may also cause eventual erosion
destroying the eastern banks of the
creek and the eastern edge o:
Matt Haney/DN
i Wilderness Park.
[ The hearing will be held at
1:30p.m. at the City Council^Building,
555 S 10th St. People are encouraged to
s' voice their concerns during this time.
“This is an a very sensitive, extra
i ordinary area and very extraordinary
, r measures should be taken,” wrote
Roseberry-Brown. “We as a city
F should go die extra mile.”
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