Great Bend ? Kansas Wildlife and Parks officials have been given the go-ahead to negotiate the purchase of a 7,000-acre ranch in Edwards County to help stabilize groundwater levels in the area.

The Kansas Water Authority voted this week to recommend the state purchase the Circle K Ranch, which is owned by the cities of Hays and Russell.

Officials said the ranch had 57 irrigation wells, many within a few miles of the Arkansas River. Buying the property would allow the state to retire water rights there, officials said, in an attempt to help the Arkansas River flow again between Kinsley and Great Bend.

Hays bought the ranch in 1995 for $4.2 million to supplement the city’s water supply. Though an appraiser valued the land earlier this year at $3.2 million, Hays officials have said they wanted to be paid more than the appraised value for the ranch.

Hays City Manager Randy Gustafson has said in the past that the city wouldn’t sell the property until the state helped the city solve its water problems.

The state can’t buy the land without the approval of the state Legislature and the governor.

The Wildlife and Parks Department could be reimbursed up to 75 percent of the cost of the ranch as public hunting land through the federal excise tax on firearms.