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a) Increase availability of habitats for these species (Land Plan "other species of concern") along the central Platte River. Indicators are species occurrence, Land Plan Table 1 and 2 characteristics). IV.B. Proposed Management Actions The purpose of management actions is to achieve management objectives. There are two different "strategies" (a logical package of management actions) proposed to achieve management objectives. One strategy attempts to rehabilitate the Platte River towards a braided channel morphology as the underpinnings of restoring habitat for key management species (commonly referred to as "Clear/LeveUPulse"). The other strategy attempts to achieve similar management objectives by mechanical creation and maintenance of habitat for target species, which may or may not depend on the Platte River (although all actions will occur within the Platte River associated habitats). This strategy has commonly been referred to as the "clear/level/mechanical maintenance" or "clear/leveUplow", although a better term may simply be "mechanical creation and maintenance" such that the clear/level portion is not hard-wired into the strategy. The Governance Committee has also committed to implementing management actions that are part of this strategy, and other groups outside of the Program will also be implementing management actions that could be considered part of this approach. It is the intent of the Governance Committee to implement and test the management actions of these two strategies in parallel using the "stair-step" approach described in Figure 11. This parallel implementation is also consistent with the preferred means of implementing adaptive management experiments (i.e., active adaptive management). The Governance Committee and others recognize the difficulties and potentially confounding responses from implementing both of these strategies simultaneously and the needed time to recognize changes on the various scales. Careful thought and planning in the management implementation and measurements for monitoring and research will be needed to eliminate these problems as much as possible and/or account for them in monitoring and research. IV.B.1. Flow-Sediment-Mechanical Approach The Governance Committee agrees to pursue and test the concept of "clear-level-pulse" (Flow- Sediment-Mechanical Approach), with additional details related to the specific hypotheses to be tested and field tests to be developed. The following describes the objectives of the flow- sediment-mechanical pulse approach: Create and maintain where possible a wide braided channel with a high width/depth ratio. The main channel width would be sized for sustainability, based on available bankfull flows (as augmented by the Program), and considering habitat and landscape characteristics. The desired braided plan form may require consolidation of the flow and river channels to maximize stream power and aided by removal of wooded banks and islands and addition of sediment. 2. Offset the existing sediment imbalance by increasing sediment inputs to the habitat area from one or more of the following sources: September 1, 2006 Adaptive Management Plan 21