Nebraska: Platte Project Success

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NEBRASKA: Central Platte River Restoration Project a Success ?Lv 4 1A. • ?.` ?e ? ? " ? ? ?A.0 r ? 3? ! , 3.,iF e7. ? ? Wildlife biologists are hailing a recently protected and restored stretch of the Platte River as an unprecedented success for three endangered species. In 2006, a 200-acre tract of land adjacent to Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon was purchased and restored to its natural condition. The acquisition and subsequent restoration brought together a diverse group of public and private partners whose goal was to improve habitat for at-risk wildlife. The restoration project included tree removal, river recontouring and the construction of several nesting islands. These piping plover chicks were observed this summer on a nesting island at the John J. Dinan Memorial Bird Conservation Area near Gibbon. Download this photograph "Protection of this tract was a priority because of its critical importance to roosting sandhill and whooping cranes," said Bill Taddicken of Rowe Sanctuary. "Having the first successful nesting of least terns and piping plovers in nearly a decade within the channel of the Central Platte River adds considerably to the success of this project." In the fall of 2006, just weeks after the restoration was completed, three federally endangered whooping cranes roosted on the site. Whooping cranes, whose numbers total less than 400 in the wild, are one of the nation's most imperiled birds. Nebraska's Natural Legacy Plan identified the central Platte River as a biologically unique landscape and whooping cranes as a priority species in need of conservation. The central Platte is designated as critical habitat for whooping cranes and Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming recently finalized an agreement to jointly restore habitat on the central Platte to benefit several endangered species. In the summer of 2007, biologists discovered 10 nests of the federally endangered least tern and two nests of the federally threatened piping plover using nesting islands that were recreated as part of the habitat project. This was the first documented use of river channel on the central Platte by these species in more than a decade. "After the initial success of the nesting islands, we decided to construct several more on the site this fall," said Kenny Dinan, coordinator of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife program in Nebraska. "We are optimistic that we'll see