The Gering–Fort Laramie Irrigation District: Responding to Catastrophic Failure and Uniting to Support Aging Infrastructure
Debris fills the GFLID’s tunnel number 2 after the collapse.
T
he Gering–Fort Laramie Irrigation District (GFLID) is one of the major districts on the North Platte Project, located in Nebraska and Wyoming. After suffering a major infrastructure failure, the irrigation district had to make huge changes and updates to support the water users. In this interview, Rick Preston discusses the infrastructure failure and all the repairs the district carried out to get the irrigation district back in service and running better than before. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
14 | IRRIGATION LEADER | November/December 2021
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the GFLID. Rick Preston: The GFLID is one of four government districts under the North Platte Project. In 1902, President Roosevelt commissioned five different projects, including the North Platte Project. The four government districts under the project are Pathfinder Irrigation District in Nebraska, Goshen Irrigation District (GID) in Wyoming, Northport Irrigation District in Nebraska, and the GFLID in Nebraska. Construction started on Pathfinder Dam in 1903, and work on the dams and the irrigation systems was completed in 1924. The Fort Laramie Canal lies on the south side of the North Platte River, starting at Guernsey, Wyoming, and traveling southeast for about 130 miles. About 52,000 acres irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE GFLID.
Rick Preston: I was born and raised in the Central Valley of California. As a young man, I worked in the agricultural construction field, building irrigation districts. In 1992, H.R. 429 was signed, taking about 800,000 acre-feet of water away from some of the Central Valley projects. I decided it was time to move to the plains area, and I went to
work for the GFLID. I’ve been working with the GFLID as general manager for 30 years.
