NEBRASKA CITY- Nebraska Senator Julie Slama announced this week that the newest special committee "S.T.A.R W.A.R.S," or Statewide Tourism And Recreational Water Access and Resource Sustainability, has been created to improve some of the states recreational opportunities. 

Senator Slama says that the budget of this specific project is heavily dependent on the project selected. Slama says that improving preexisting recreation, like the camping and trails at Indian Cave State Park, is something that could be "hundreds of thousands of dollars, versus a Southeast Nebraska version of Lake McConaughy that could go well up into the millions of dollars."

Right now, the "S.T.A.R W.A.R.S" committee is in the early stages of identifying the potential recreational opportunities within Southeast Nebraska, but the importance of community input is something that Senator Slama emphasizes.

Slama has reached out to the Nebraska District One community via Facebook to gauge what projects they wanted to see done in the upcoming future.

"The committee is just starting from scratch this summer," Slama said. "So, they're getting public input as to what they'd like to see. I'm reaching out to my district to see what they'd like to see."

Senator Slama says that the committee was given "quite a lot of flexibility" when it comes to determining the timeline for the project selection period, but Slama predicts that there will be a decision by the end of 2022 at the latest.

The "S.T.A.R W.A.R.S" committee does not have a contact link yet for the public to submit recreation ideas, but Senator Slama says that you can send them to her [email protected], or by calling her office at 402-471-2733.