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Chapter 3- Description of the Alternatives <br />meadow <br /> For whooping cranes: In general, not less than 0.5-mile distant or appropriately screened <br />Distance from from potential disturbances. <br />disturbance For interior least tern/piping plover: In general, not less than 0.25-mile distant or <br /> appropriately protected from human disturbances. <br />Unobstructed view Adequate visibility upstream, downstream, and across the channel. <br />Flight hazards Overhead lines should be avoided, if possible. <br />Security Sufficient control while target species are present to avoid human disturbance. <br />Wet Meadow Habitat Characteristics <br />Location Within 2 miles of the above-described channel area. <br />Size Approximately 640 contiguous acres or more. <br />Distance from In general, not less than 0.5-mile distant or appropriately screened from potential <br />disturbance disturbance. <br /> Native prairie grasses and herbaceous vegetation, lacking or mostly lacking sizable trees <br />Vegetation composition and shrubs, occurring in a mosaic of wetland (hydrophytic) and upland (nonhydrophytic) <br /> plants. <br /> Swales subirrigated by groundwater seasonally near the soil surface and by precipitation <br />Hydrology and surface water, with the root zone saturated for at least 5 to 12.5 percent of the growing <br /> season. <br /> The topography is generally level or low undulating surface, dissected by swales and <br />Topography and soils depressions. Mosaic of wetland soils with low salinity in swales and nonwetland soils <br /> occurring in uplands. <br />Food sources Capable of supporting aquatic, semiaquatic, and terrestrial fauna and flora characteristic of <br /> wet meadows; especially aquatic invertebrates, beetles, insect larvae, and amphibians. <br />Buffer Characteristics <br /> That portion of a complex used to isolate channel areas and wet meadows from potential <br /> disturbances. In general, it is up to 0.5 mile wide. <br />NON-COMPLEX HABITAT <br />Non-complex habitat is land that, while not approximating the characteristics summarized in table 3-1, <br />may provide demonstrable benefits to the target species. <br />These habitats include the ponds and surrounding sand and gravel areas that result from gravel mining <br />along the Central Platte River (sandpits) that are, or could be, managed as nesting areas for terns and <br />plovers, and wet meadows or wetlands that while not meeting the targeted criteria for a habitat complex, <br />may provide foraging or roosting habitat for cranes. Characteristics are summarized in table 3-2.