Joint Request for a Formal Consultation

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5,; NT OF ly? United States Department of the Interior 9 BURE.AU OF RECLAMATION Grcac Pluns Region P.O. Box 36900 4RCH 3?9 Billings, Moncana 59107-6900 iN ttFrLr rcErea ro- GP-4200 DEC 2 7 ENV-7.00 ? Mr. Mitch King Acting Regional Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mountain-Prairie Region PO Box 25486 Denver, CO 80025 Subject: Update to Joint Request to Initiate Formal Consultation for the Proposed Platte River Recovery Implementation Program and Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Water-Related Activities Dear Mr. King: In the enclosed memorandum dated July 6, 2004, Reclamation and the Service requested initiation of formal consultation under section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the subject actions. This letter updates our initia] request to initiate formal consultation and provides information not available in 2004 that is relevant to the consultation. We are requesting initiation of formal consultation on the following Federal action(s): The participation of the Department of the Interior, through Reclamation and the Service, in funding and implementing the Proposed Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (Program) to improve and maintain habitat for the whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover, and pallid sturgeon (the target species). The first increment of the Program spans a period of 13 years and is to begin on October l, 2006, following completion of a final biological opinion (BO), a record of decision, and a signed Program Agreement between Interior and the states of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming (States). 2. The continued operation of existing and certain new Federal water-related activitiesl during the first increment, including Reclamation and Service projects in the Platte River basin (Basin). 1 The term "water-related activities" means activities and aspects of activities that (1) occur in the Basin upstream of the Loup River confluence; and (2) may affect Platte River flow quantity or timing, includinc, but not limited to water diversion, storage, and use aclivities and land-use accivities. Changes in temperature and sediment transport will be considered impacts of a"water-related activity" to the extent that such changes are caused by activities affecting flow quantit}' or timing. Impacts of "water-related activities" do not include those components of land use activities or discharges of pollutants that do not affect flow quantity or timincy. "Existing water-related activities" include surface water or hydrologically-connected groundwater activities implemented on or before July 1, 1997. "New water-related activities" include surface water or