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Mostly clear. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Prairie Lake Campgrounds now features camper pads with electrical hook-ups and fire rings.
Lyle Heinrichs (center) cuts the ribbon to open Prairie Lake Campgrounds Friday.
The camping area at Prairie Lake opened Friday after a ribbon cutting ceremony with members of the Little Blue Natural Resources District.
Prairie Lake Campgrounds now features camper pads with electrical hook-ups and fire rings.
JUNIATA — Campers looking for a place to park their recreational vehicle and enjoy the great outdoors now have a new Adams County destination to consider.
On Friday morning, the Little Blue Natural Resources District celebrated the grand opening of 20 concrete RV pads with electrical hook-ups at Prairie Lake Recreation Area south of Juniata.
Lyle Heinrichs of rural Shickley, who will retire at the end of this year after 28 years’ service on the NRD board of directors, cut a ribbon at the site as several fellow directors, district staff members and a handful of other visitors applauded.
Lyle Heinrichs (center) cuts the ribbon to open Prairie Lake Campgrounds Friday.
Electricity and water now are turned on at the recreation area, which is south of Prairie Lake Road three miles south and a half-mile east of Juniata.
The new campground, as well as LBNRD campgrounds at Liberty Cove Recreation Area near Lawrence, Lone Star Recreation Area south of Milligan and Buckley Creek Recreation Area near Reynolds, all opened for the season on Friday.
(The Little Blue NRD also partners with the village of Ayr for the operation of Crystal Lake Recreation Area, which provides electrical hook-ups for campers.)
The camping area has a concrete restroom building nearby but doesn’t have showers or a dump station.
Scott Nelson, LBNRD general manager, said the fee for campers using the electrical hook-ups is $20 per night, payable at honor boxes that have been installed. The spots are available on a no-reservation, first-come, first-served basis.
A young couple living nearby will mow the grass, clean the restrooms and keep an eye on the facilities, Nelson said.
The camping area at Prairie Lake opened Friday after a ribbon cutting ceremony with members of the Little Blue Natural Resources District.
In addition, the NRD is seeking to engage a campground host, who would receive free electricity in exchange for camping in the rec area throughout the season and keeping watch over the park. Anyone interested may contact the NRD office at 402-364-2145.
The LBRND, based in Davenport, encompasses most of Adams County plus all of Thayer County and parts of Webster, Clay, Nuckolls, Fillmore and Jefferson counties. The district may be best known for its groundwater management and soil conservation activities but also has flood control and public recreation on its list of several statutory responsibilities.
The Prairie Lake Recreation Area, which opened in 1980, wraps around a 65-acre body of water formed five years earlier when a flood control dam was constructed on Thirty-Two Mile Creek. In all, the NRD owns 160 acres of property.
While the recreation area has been used for decades by some area residents for fishing, walking dogs and other day activities, the LBNRD struggled for a time with vandalism incidents on the property and the board even considered selling off the land surrounding the dam and lake.
In 2016, however, the board decided to go in the other direction and invest in facilities there to serve more people and generate more traffic through the rec area.
Improvements made that year included running electricity into the rec area, installing a well for drinking water, and building the picnic shelter and concrete restrooms.
In all, the NRD has invested more than $200,000 in recreation improvements at Prairie Lake over the past several years, Nelson said. That includes $80,000 spent in the past year to develop the 20 RV pads, which have 30-50 amp electrical capacity. Each has its own fire ring and tree to someday provide shade.
“The goal was to create a family-friendly park,” Nelson said.
He said the district appreciated working with Consolidated Concrete of Hastings, which built the roads and pads for the campground; Ideal Electric of Hastings, which installed the electrical services; and Southern Nebraska Public Power District, which installed a needed transformer.
Nelson, who went to work for the Little Blue district in March 2021, said money in the budget at the time of his arrival was earmarked for a study of the lake, but that he had suggested directing that money toward a campground project instead — utilizing a location once envisioned for flying planes by the Skylarks remote-control aircraft group.
“There was no camping out here to speak of,” Nelson said.
The Skylarks still can fly planes at the rec area if group members wish, but in a different location, he said.
Directors from the Hastings area believed the surrounding communities could use more camping spots in general, especially around softball tournaments and other events that attract many travelers, so there should be good demand for the Prairie Lake pads from visitors as well as locals wanting a weekend get-away, Nelson said.
“They felt like it would definitely get used by non-locals,” he said. “Every weekend I feel like we’ll have people out here.”
The lake is stocked with bluegill, catfish and bass and is popular for kayaking and canoeing, Nelson said.
Additional lake and park improvements, including a dock, may follow in the future, he said — but that will depend on feedback from users and the community.
“Really, public use and feedback dictates our investments,” Nelson said.
For more information about Prairie Lake or other LBNRD recreation areas, visit www.littlebluenrd.org.
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