By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The cities of Hays and Russell have been told a Final Master Order for the R9 Ranch water project will be completed by Friday, March 1.

If not, the cities will “turn up the heat,” and 40th District State Sen, Rick Billinger, R-Goodlandm plans to intervene, according to Hays Mayor Henry Schwaller.

The cities submitted applications to the state in June 2015 for development of the R9 Ranch in Edwards County as a long-term water supply for Hays and Russell.

In May 2018, the Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Water Resources released a draft master order approving an application to convert water use on the city-owned property from agricultural to municipal.

Following a public hearing in Greensburg in June, DWR Chief Engineer David Barfield began preparing the Final Master Order.

Hays Mayor Henry Schwaller updated the situation during a news conference Tuesday morning at the Hays Welcome Center after announcing last week the cities planned to increase pressure on the state to produce the order.

“We’ve had the input. The DWR has not released the document and there’s been considerable delay. We don’t know why,” he said.

Schwaller, along with Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty and Russell City Manager Jon Quinday, were in Topeka on Monday to visit with state officials about the plan status.

The trio met at the statehouse with newly elected Gov. Laura Kelly and Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers.

“We had a very productive meeting with the governor,” Schwaller said, “quick and engaging. We shared our concerns, where we are in the process and the purpose of it.”

Both Kelly and Rogers are familiar with the project and Kansas water law, having served previously in the Kansas Legislature.

The group also met with Sen. Billinger and the new secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Brad Loveless, the former conservation director of Westar Energy in eastern Kansas.

According to Schwaller, the last communication with DWR said the Final Master Order would be ready in two weeks. That information came Friday, Feb. 15.

“Sen. Billinger told us if we don’t have the Final Master Order by next Friday, he will personally go over and meet with the chief engineer of the Division of Water Resources,” he said.

Schwaller said Loveless, an avid hunter and fisherman, was not aware of the agreement with KDWPT to turn the 7,000 acre ranch into a walk-in hunting area as it’s returned to native grass.

“Because he’s new to the job, he didn’t know about this. He’s very excited. Loveless has actually seen the ranch when a friend took him there,” he said.

Dougherty also attended Tuesday’s news conference, along with Hays Water Resources Dir. Jeff Crispin, Project Manager John Braun, Assistant City Manager Jacob Wood and Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Melissa Dixon.

“We’re going to keep the pressure on,” Schwaller added. “Commissioners are reaching out to other elected officials. We’re calling them. I’ll be sending letters.”

Hays employs a lobbyist for the R9 project, Sean Miller of Capitol Strategies LLC, who has been instructed to meet with the new Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Beam, Schwaller said. DWR, which issues the master orders, reports to the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

The cities of Hays and Russell are co-owners of the R9 Ranch. It was purchased in 1994 as a possible long-term solution to water needs for the towns.  Hays owns 82 percent of the ranch; Russell owns 18 percent.

There was an “outcry” in Edwards County at first about “outsiders coming in to buy water that was theirs,” Schwaller said. He believes most of that has died down.

“We’ve also agreed to a substantial amount of reduction in the water we would take from the ranch.”

When operating as a ranch/farm, nearly all of the R9’s 7,800 acre-feet of water rights were being used in irrigation. Hays and Russell have voluntarily agreed to pump only 4,800 acre-feet per year — a 30 percent reduction — which is what modeling by project engineer Black and Veatch has determined is a sustainable yield that is naturally replenished.

“By not pumping the full water right for irrigation to farm, we’ve already done all our neighbors a huge benefit. Water will still be running in the aquifer. We’re not going to take our full water right,” explained Schwaller.

The wellfield is being reconfigured to optimally locate each water well and reduce the total number of wells. There are also now monitoring wells on the property.

“There are a couple of owners in the area that are concerned this might affect their water rights. It will not. They can still pump their full water rights that they’ve been doing.

“What we’ve been doing will sustain the entire aquifer in the area. The Groundwater Management District (GMD) No. 5  has not been concerned. We have endorsement from the Kansas Livestock Association. The  Kansas Farm Bureau has been neutral in the matter.”

Schwaller noted some recent objections have been raised by an outside group with a Utah engineer, but dismisses the research as having “no basis in Kansas water law. The outside concerns are out of left field and not scientific.”

The water would be moved from the Arkansas River Basin to the Smoky Hill River Basin in the Hays wellfield at Schoenchen. That would trigger the Kansas Water Transfer Act for the first time because the proposal is to move 2,000 acre-feet of water or more per year a distance of 35 miles or more from water basin to another.

The R9 Ranch is south of Kinsley and 78 miles from Hays. Ellis, Victoria and La Crosse have expressed interest in purchasing some of the water for municipal use.

By state law, once the Final Master Order is issued, the Water Transfer Act will be triggered. The act still requires approval within 18 months from a three-person panel consisting of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary or the KDHE Director of the Division of Environment, the head of the Kansas Water Office, and the chief engineer of the KDA/DWR.

Schwaller describes the relationship between Hays and Russell and DWR Chief Engineer Barfield as “very good and productive.”

“We’ve gotten along well. … I think he just wants to do the best job and we appreciate that. We also appreciate that sometimes there’s a difference between getting something done and flourishes. We don’t need flourishes.  This is just a very simple document. He can sign it any time.”

The change applications from agricultural use to municipal use were filed in June 2015. The cities began the regulatory process in February 2014.

Schwaller said the cities would not make any concessions about the amount of water to be pumped.

“If we don’t have a Final Master Order in two weeks, there are other steps we can take, but we don’t want to go down that path. They would be very harsh and affect everyone in that basin.

“It’s important for the counties of Ellis, Russell and Rush that we have this water,” Schwaller stressed. “We are a $2 billion annual economy and an important part of northwest Kansas. If we do not have this water, we cannot continue to move forward.

“We’ve waited long enough and we’re ready to move.”

Hays voters approved a half-cent sales tax in 1998 dedicated to financing the $80 million project.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

FHSU student Yuchen Wang-Boswell wanted to go home to visit her family during the summer of 2017, but President Donald Trump was in his first year in office, and the new administration was coming down hard on immigration with his newly instated travel ban.

Wang-Boswell was in the country legally on a student visa, but with nationalist sentiments running high, Fort Hays State University’s international student office advised Wang to stay in the States.

Wang-Boswell went three years between visits with her parents. She has since married an American and is embroiled in what she admits will likely be a prolonged and expensive process of applying for permanent residency in the United States.

She said she did not think Americans understood the complexity of the U.S. visa and immigration system or what it means to students or immigrants like herself.

Wang, who will graduate in May, said she thinks the perceived change in attitude toward foreigners in the United States has resulted in fewer students deciding to study in the United States.

Carol Solko-Olliff, FHSU director of international student services, said although FHSU has not seen a significant decrease in international student enrollment, nationwide universities are reporting a dip in international student enrollment. Some are attributing the decrease to election of President Trump.

Nationally, international student enrollment in the U.S. dropped by 6.6 percent during the 2017-18 school year, and universities and colleges reported further declines as of the fall of 2018.

The university can help international students prepare their VISA applications, but it has no control over whether those visas are granted. Solko-Olliff said the university has also seen an increase in the number of student visas that have been declined since Trump took office.

Both Wang-Boswell and Kingsley Udenze of Nigeria, were approved for their visas on their first attempts. However, Udenze said of the 20 people ahead of him the day he interviewed for his visa at the U.S. consulate, all 20 were denied. One friend applied five times for a student visa before he was accepted.

Only a fraction of the FHSU’s on-campus student body is international students — 4.5 percent. Most of the university’s international students come from China, but the college has 32 countries represented on campus.

The school’s cross-border program has an enrollment of about 3,500 students in China. The university also has international students who take courses online. Solko-Olliff said she predicted the number of international students taking online courses will increase.

“Some of the immigration rhetoric is for the border and people who are coming across who aren’t documented, and so sometimes I think our international students who are documented get blurred into that conversation,” Solko-Olliff said.

Wang-Boswell said although she encountered many friendly people in Hays, she had also experienced stereotypes.

“The other thing I personally feel people think about foreigners is ‘You are an immigrant. You don’t have value.’ They underestimate your value and abilities. They think you are poor and uneducated that is why you escaped your original country to come to the states,” she said.

The international students Hays Post spoke to said choosing to study at FHSU was highly influenced by the quality of the programs at the university.

Udenze, who is pursing a a degree in cyber security, said his program of study is not offered in Nigeria, yet he sees it as an emerging industry in his country. He said he appreciated FHSU’s efforts to make him feel at home on campus.

Affordability, cost of living and safety were other factors that led the students to choose to study at FHSU.

Despite a dip in international student attendance in the U.S., the number of FHSU domestic students wishing to study abroad has remained strong, Solk0-Olliff said. Just as the United States has become more selective in issuing visas for international students, U.S. students wishing to study internationally are seeing more stringent requirements for their visas, Solk0-Olliff said.

She said she thinks this has arisen from a heightened concern globally over terror threats. Students, as well as visiting faculty and researchers, are monitoring closely by the government. Information on the students and faculty are entered into a federal database.

Solko-Olliff said she thought it is unfortunate international students are having more difficulty coming to the United States to study because of the benefits they receive from the experience and what they offer to their fellow FHSU students and the Hays community.

“I think our campus is open and embraces international students. Obviously in a community, they bring cultural diversity to our campus and to our classrooms,” she said. “We are very rural, and it is very important for our domestic students to have that interaction with people from other backgrounds and countries and cultures. That is part of that liberal arts education.”

International students also engage residents in the Hays community through speaking engagements and visits to schools and community groups.

“I think they are ambassadors for their countries so we can learn more about misconceptions that Americans have, for instance about China or South Korea, about different countries. Then it helps our students to learn America is not that bad of a place.

“I think that exchange and interaction people have is so important to dispelling misconceptions, which is why it is disheartening students are having a difficult time coming to the U.S. to learn more about America but also educationally. When they go back to their countries and they are in government or leadership, they can rely back on their experience in the U.S., which hopefully was positive, and hopefully make change in their countries.”

Not only is the visa process time-consuming and complex, but it also can be expensive. Students also have to consider travel and living expenses once they are in the United States to study.

“They come to the U.S. They are coming for either two years or four years depending if they are undergraduate or graduate. They have two suitcases, so they can’t bring everything with them. They bring what they can and then they are going to buy the other things they need. Aside from the vast cultural diversity they bring to campuses, they bring a large economic impact to communities and, quite honestly, to the state of Kansas because they have to buy things when they come here.”

A round-trip ticket home to Nigeria costs about $3,000. As a result, Udenze hasn’t been home since he started his program at FHSU. He missed his sister’s wedding, the birth of her baby, and his brother’s wedding.

Wang-Boswell had not intended to stay in U.S. when she applied to study aboard. She intended to return to China, but after three years of dating, her husband, a classmate, he popped the question.

Wang-Boswell is set to graduate from FHSU in May. She said people assumed after she married, she automatically became a U.S. citizen. This is not the case. There are many steps she has to take. First, she has to apply to change her status from a student to a permanent resident, an application that could be denied.

The application packets is several inches thick and she and her husband, Korby, have hired an immigration attorney to help with the application process. She said she and her husband both have graduate degrees, but they still find the application difficult to understand. She said she feels lucky she and her husband have the means to pay the application fees and for an attorney.

“Think about those people who have limited resources and limited education or who do not have money, and they have to leave their original country and move to the States for their own safety. How are they going to get it done?” she said.

Her decision to remain in the United States with her husband has been a difficult one for her family in China. She is her parents’ only child. She also will be facing more time away from her parents as she can’t leave the country during the residency application process.

“I think my mom is pretty chill and flexible about it,” she said. “I remember one year after I studied here, she said, ‘I think you are happier and you are doing what you want to do,’ which is awesome. But my dad was closed-minded. At the beginning, it was hard for him to understand. He was, ‘Why? What is the point? You are far away from home. We can’t take care of you. You can’t see us regularly.’ I think eventually they understood, and now are happy for me, and they think I am happy, and I am valued.”