FEIS on Platte River Recovery Program

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How does the Preferred Alternative affect farmers and water users? Farmers and other water users in the basin could choose to temporarily lease water to the Program. Farmers and other land owners in the Central Platte Habitat Area could offer to sell or lease land to the Program, or sell easements, for habitat restoration. This and other effects of Program water management could produce a reduction in farmed acres of 6,000 to 17,000 acres total in the three Basin States (out of roughly 11 million irrigated acres), depending upon assumptions. This would produce up to a$4-SM reduction in annual gross crop revenues in the Basin. How does the Preferred Alternative affect recreation? The FEIS analysis projects reductions in recreation use of the North Platte Reservoirs in Wyoming and at Lake McConaughy in Nebraska due to somewhat lower water levels. On average, annual visitation and fishing at the Wyoming North Platte Reservoirs are likely to be reduced 1 to 2 percent and 6 percent at Lake McConaughy in Nebraska. The Preferred Alternative increases the probability that lake levels in Seminoe and Pathfinder Reservoirs could reach critical levels for the fishery during a period of extreme drought. How does the Preferred Alternative affect local economies? Overall, in all of the Platte River Basin economic regions, the positive and negative economic impacts of the Preferred Alternative are less than one tenth of one percent of the existing level of activity (sales, income, taxes, and employment.) It is expected that individuals will choose to lease or sell water or land to the Program only if it is economically advantageous to do so. Thus, at an individual level, water or land owners could benefit financially from the Program. In addition, many elements of the Program bring money into the local economies through expenditures for construction and land management. The primary negative effect of the Program on local economies is through reductions in crop production (mostly due to voluntary water leasing) and hence a reduction in expenditures for local agricultural services and supplies. Reduced recreation visits also negatively affect the local expenditures. Taken together, all aspects of the Preferred Alternative result in very small increases or very small decreases in local economic activity, depending upon the location in the Platte Basin. Does the Preferred Alternative affect public health and safety? Some individuals have expressed concern that the Program would increase the populations of mosquitoes and non-migratory, resident waterfowl in the Central Platte area, possibly leading to increases in mosquito-borne disease and problems of water contamination from waterfowl dropping and other nuisance problems. The FEIS analysis of proposed land and water elements in the Central Platte area indicates that, 7