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Such a Program, they believe, will be the most efficient, effective, and equitable way to <br />create improvements in the habitat for the target species. In doing so, such a Program <br />will allow. hundreds of water proj ects and activities in the Platte River Basin to cont:inue <br />current operations and meet the requirements of the ESA for these species. <br />What happens if a basin-wide, cooperative Program is not implemented? <br />All Platte River Basin water projects or activities that are operated by, funded by, or <br />authorized by the Federal Government (which includes a large number of priivate <br />projects), must operate in compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA). They <br />must avoid causing impacts that are threaten the continued existence of the listed species <br />or adversely modify designated critical habitat. Where operations of projects have <br />historically caused such effects, offsetting measures must be implemented ta restore <br />habitat. <br />Without a basinwide, cooperative Program to accomplish habitat restoration„ each water <br />project or activity will be responsible for its own offsetting measures. For rraany reasons, <br />the costs to individual projects in money and water resources are likely to be much <br />greater if a cooperative Program is not implemented. Details are found in the FEIS and <br />attachments. <br />Does the FEIS identify the preferred alternative for the Program? <br />Yes. The Department of the Interior has identified the Governance Commitl:ee <br />Alternative as its preferred alternative, based upon the analysis in the Draft and Final EIS <br />and the public comment on the Draft EIS, <br />How much will the Governance Committee Alternative cost? <br />The projected costs of the Program First Increment are addressed in the Governance <br />Committee's Platte River Recovery Implementation Program document, Attachment l, <br />Finance Document (December, 2005), which can be found on the Program website; <br />http://www.platteriver.org. (The following is taken from that document). <br />"The following table depicts the Cash Contributions and Cash Equivalent Contributions <br />that will be provided by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Signatory States <br />during the First Increment of the Program: <br />4