Chapter 3: Description of Alternatives

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Common Features and Objectives for All Action Alternatives ? Making improvements in river stage to improve subirrigation of wet meadows adjacent to the river Non-complex Habitat ? Controlling vegetation to maintain open sandy areas for tern and plover nesting ? Controlling predators to reduce predation of nests ? Reducing human disturbance ? Maintaining existing hydrology in wet lands Restoration activities would be scheduled and managed to avoid impacts to nesting and roosting target bird species. River Flow Restoration and Management River Flow Restoration A significant objective of the Program is to improve target species habitat by improving the timing and magnitude of riverflows in the Central Platte Habitat Area. The primary objective is to increase occurrence of the Service's flow recommendations for species flows and annual peak flows. Another Adaptive Management flow objective is to increase the occurrence of short duration near-bankfull flows in the Habitat Area. Both objectives are discussed below. Service Instream Flow Recommendations As described in chapter 2, the flows in the Central Platte Habitat Area have been significantly altered from historic conditions resulting in loss of habitat for target species. In 1994, the Service developed instream flow recommendations for restoring and maintaining river habitat for a myriad of species in the Central Platte Habitat Area including the whooping crane, interior least tern, and piping plover (Bowman, 1994 and Bowman and Carlson, 1994). In these documents, the Service recommended and prioritized minimum flows for specific time periods of the year under wet conditions, dry conditions, and normal conditions. The flow recommendations are broadly categorized into "species flows," "annual pulse flows," and "peak flows." As described in the Water Plan Reference Materials, (Governance Committee Program Document: Attachment 5: Water Plan, Section 11: Water Plan Reference Material), all of these categories are relevant to the Service's evaluation of the adequacy of proposed actions. Although only the first two of these categaries are being used as benchmarks for measuring Program flow improvements, Service evaluations of the Program's adequacy must consider all flow recommendations, including peak flows. % "Species flows" are flow levels at Grand Island, Nebraska that are needed to provide good physical aquatic habitat conditions for the whooping crane, interior least tern, and the piping plover during times these species use the river, and to promote favorable aquatic conditions throughout the year (e.g., maintain healthy populations of fish for terns to eat).