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(Proposed Program) as a vehicle to address threatened and endangered species using the <br />central Platte River area. The EA Document is a component of the Proposed Program <br />as well as the Settlement. <br />I. SETTLEMENT DOCUMENTS AND RELATIONSHIP WTTH OTHER <br />DOCUiYIENTS IN THE RECORD <br />The Offer of Settlement proposes settlement according to the terms of <br />documents already in the record of this proceeding. This Offer of Settlement does not <br />attempt to repeat all of the commitments in those agreements, but affirms them by <br />reference. <br />A. Cooperative Agreement. The Cooperative Agreement is that agreement <br />among DOI and the States of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming signed in July 1997 <br />for the purposes of: putting forward a proposed basin-wide Platte River Recovery <br />Implementation Program Alternative (Proposed Program); undertaking the study and <br />planning activities necessary to finalize a Platte River Recovery Implementation <br />Program (Program) following review pursuant to the National Environmental Policy <br />Act and the ESA; implem%-nting certain activities which would be beneficial to <br />endangered species pending finalization of the Program; and establishing a governance <br />structure for carrying out activities under the Cooperative Agreement and subsequent <br />Program. The anticipated duration of the Cooperative Agreement is approximately <br />three years. The Cooperative Agreement was filed with FERC in July 1997 as Appendix A to DOI's Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Biological Opinion (BO) on the <br />3