1999 Conservation Award for Keith-Arthur Counties
Harms Inc.
Brule, Nebraska
The Harms Family came to Brule,
Nebraska in 1909. The youngest son of the
Harms family, Evert, farmed north of
Brule. Evert entered into a rental
agreement with his son Milan to farm
the land and to share rangeland from
1955 until Evert’s death in 1960.
The farm was incorporated and
named Harms Inc. Milan
then became a full time partner with
his mother Margaret, until purchasing
Harms Inc. in the late 1970’s.
Both Margaret and Milan passed
away in 1997. Harms Inc. is
now owned by Jo Anne Harms and
their five children: Patty, Jean, Amy,
Brad, and Faye.
Late in the 1950’s a heavy spring
snow fell, creating a rapid snow
melt and flooding. The Harms home
in town was surrounded by flood
waters.
Around this time, the “Brule
Watershed” was organized by area
farmers and Brule citizens.
In 1961, the first small dam was
constructed north of Brule in Harms
rangeland by Beal Enterprises. The
main watershed dam was constructed
in 1969 north of the farm, and
waterways were built on the Harms
land east of Brule to
provide drainage to the South Platte
River.
Beal Enterprises drilled an irrigation
well and Harms Inc.
furnished pipe as a water source
needed for the dam construction. Ten
million gallons of water was used to
“presettle” the ground on which the
dam was being built.
The Brule Watershed Dam
construction project was designed and
supervised by the USDA Soil
Conservation Service (Natural
Resources Conservation Service).
Over the years, more flooding
problems have occurred in the town of
Brule. In 1994, the Twin Platte
Natural Resources District and the
Natural Resources Conservation
Service Engineers cooperated with
Milan to find a cost effective way to
correct the flooding problems. Two
small dams were constructed on
Harms rangeland, and highly erodible
land was terraced and seeded to
native grasses to help control water
run-off.
A total of 389 acres of highly
erodible land was enrolled by Harms into the Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP) in 1996. Native
grasses were planted in the spring and
fall of 1996. Fences were
constructed to exclude livestock.
A two day rain event in September,
1996 caused a considerable amount of
flood water to drain from north and
west of Brule. The county road east of
Harms farm was nearly washed
out. Flood water drained into the large
dam north of Harms, but was contained
in the reservoir. The over-flow drains
of the smaller dams drained for two
and a half days. The flood water was
contained in the road ditch waterway,
and prevented flooding at the Brule
Cemetery.
In the fall of 1998, the Union Pacific
Railroad, the Twin Platte NRD, and the
Natural Resources Conservation
Service cooperated on a project to
remove silt from beneath the railroad
bridge east of Brule. The bridge is part
of the outfall channel, which was
constructed to allow water to flow to
the South Platte River.
The County and the Nebraska
Department of Roads continue to
remove any excess silt in their
structures in conjunction with the Brule
Watershed and the outfall channel.
In 1997, Milan and his mother
Margaret donated land adjoining the
Brule Cemetery to the Cemetery
Association to allow for future
expansion. Improvements on the
donated land of trees and waterways
around the perimeter provide additional
protection for the cemetery. Funds
given in memory of Milan and
Margaret allowed for two rows of
evergreen trees and installation of a
fence. The Twin Platte Natural
Resources District cost-shared on the
trees. All work was supervised by the
Brule Lions Club.
Brad and April Harms and Stan and
Ken Rhoades have leased all of Jo
Anne’s cropland. Brad and April use
minimum tillage in their corn and
wheat crop rotation. The Harms
rangeland is in a rotational-use
program to allow for proper grazing. Jo Anne still has a cow herd that is
cared for by Brad and April.
The Harms family cooperates with
the Natural Resources Conservation
Service to maintain the dams in the
rangeland and CRP land. The Twin
Platte Natural Resources District
provides the maintenance for the
Watershed Dam north of Harms
farm.
Jo Anne resides on the family farm
and is active in the management of the
operation. All of the Harms children are
involved in agriculture. They all enjoy
riding horses for work and for pleasure.
Jo Anne and her family gratefully
accept this award with much
appreciation on behalf of the Harms
family, both living and deceased.