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Nebraska’s congressional delegation is trying to save mobile homes at Swanson Reservoir near Trenton, on land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the lake.
Swanson Reservoir is a 5,000-acre lake popular with fishermen and boaters near Trenton in southwest Nebraska.
LINCOLN — A bill to allow lakeside cabin areas to remain at two southwest Nebraska reservoirs is being threatened by last-minute opposition from departing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and a small group of other legislators.
U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., the chief sponsor of the bill on behalf of cabin owners along Swanson and Red Willow Reservoirs, pressed Manchin on Wednesday to reconsider his opposition to her bill, which was part of a larger measure concerning federal lands.
Fischer said her portion of the bill has widespread support in the Senate and passed the House unanimously on a voice vote.
She said her proposal is being unfairly held up “as political leverage for unrelated matters.”
“This really is outrageous,” the Nebraska senator said. “My legislation cannot wait.”
That, she said, is because if her bill isn’t passed, owners of cabins at two sites along the reservoirs will be required to vacate the land in February.
A request for response from Manchin’s office was not immediately returned on Friday.
But the Examiner learned that Manchin has since dropped his opposition, though Fischer’s efforts to pass a stand-alone bill on the cabin developments are being resisted by a different group of lawmakers.
With the U.S. Senate recessing for the year on Friday, it is unclear if Fischer’s bill can be passed in time to avoid disrupting the cabin developments.
Manchin, a former governor of West Virginia, declined to seek re-election this year after serving in the Senate since 2010.
The cabin controversy, which the Examiner first reported, pertains to the management of the two reservoirs by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau’s plan to remove the cabins to make way for improvements to campgrounds facilities.
There are 110 cabins on Swanson Reservoir near Trenton and 71 cabins at Red Willow north of McCook, and concession businesses at both lakes. All are located on land now managed by the Bureau.
Cabin owners and county officials in the area objected to the removal order, which was initially scheduled to go into effect in November 2025. They maintained that some families had enjoyed cabins on the lake for decades, and that the two cabin areas were important economic contributors to rural Hitchcock and Red Willow Counties.
Under bills introduced in the Senate by Fischer and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and in the House by U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., management of the two cabin developments would be transferred to Hitchcock and Frontier counties. They would manage the two areas and benefit from lease payments from cabin owners and fees paid by concessionaires.
Fischer said that she has received letters from more than 1,000 local residents supporting the transfer of the property, and that the two cabin sites — among the largest communities in the two counties — should be allowed to remain.
Hitchcock County Board member Paul Nichols has said that local residents support the land transfer, which will allow communities “in place and operating for decades” to remain.
Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com.
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LINCOLN — Republican Gov. Jim Pillen plans to toss his party’s right flank some red meat next year before addressing the harder politics of cl…
Nebraska’s congressional delegation is trying to save mobile homes at Swanson Reservoir near Trenton, on land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the lake.
Swanson Reservoir is a 5,000-acre lake popular with fishermen and boaters near Trenton in southwest Nebraska.
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