7943

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7943
• Author: Getches, D. H.
• Title: As Wildlife Goes, So Goes The West, ‎(for the annual meeting of The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies)‎.
• USFW Year: 1985.
• USFW - Doc Type: July 17, 1985.
• Copyright Material: NO

FISH AND "'!ILI)LIF[ SERVICE IIND THE BuREAU OF RECLAMATIor,1 TO FORt'" A

rDLO~ADO qI\f.R ENDANGERED FISH COORDINATING COMMITTEE. OUR GOAL IS TO

FIND WAYS TO RECOVER THE ENDANGERED FISH SPECIES CONSISTENT WITH FUTURE

WATER DE\ELOPMENT. HATER DE\fLOPMENT INTERESTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS

ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE PROCESS. TOGETHER \~ ARE MAKING CONSIDERABLE

PROGRESS. HE HA \f IDENTIFIED A \4\RIETY OF POSSIBLE APPROACHES THAT M,AY

PRODUCE .ll, RETTER Rf:CO\ERY PLAN THAN .lI.NYONE E \ER IMAGINED, AND STILL

PROTECT TH~ \'1ATER RIGI-ITS OF PEOPLE IN THE VAST COLORADO RI \ER \'IATERSHED

h'H I CH DR.llI NS TH IS \'IESTERN PORT ION OF CoLOP ADO. THE PART! ES TO THE

PROC~SS COULD HA \f TAKEN THEIR BATTLE TO CONGRESS IN THE RECENT

J::NDANGERED SPECIES ACT REAUTHORIZATION DEBATES. THE ~ACT THAT THEY DID

NOT IS A SHO\'J OF CONFIDENCE FOR THE COORDINATING COf'1MITTEE PROCESS.

",IE HA \E HOPES, TOO, !=OR A SIMILAR pOOCESS THAT HAS BEEN SET

IN MOTION TO HELP RESOL \E THE CONFLICT BETWEEN \'iHOOPING CRANE HABITAT

IN THE SOUTH PLATTE RI \.fR IN NEBRASKA AND WATER DE\ELOPMENT UPSTREN.1

IN NEBRASK~, HYQ!\HNG AND COLORADO. A COORDINATING Ca"'MITTEE HAS Br::E~'

ESTABLISHED FOR THAT PURPOSE WITH THE FISH AND HILDLIFE SERVICE, THE

BUREAU OF RECLAf''1ATION AND THE THREE STATES FOR THAT PURPOSJ::. A PLATTE

RI\ER WHOOPING CRANE HABITAT TRUST WAS CREATED v~EN THE GREYROCKS DAM

WAS CONSTRUCTED UPSTREAM ON THE NORTH PLATTE RI \ER IN WYav1ING A FE~J

YEARS AGO. THE TRUST IS FUNDED WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS SUPPLI~D BY

THOSE BUILDING THE DAM, AND IT HAS MADE HEROIC AND INNO\A'\TI \E EFFORTS

TO PROTECT AND REESTABLISH HABITAT FOR WHOOPING CRANES AND OTHER

MIGRATORY BIRDS THAT DEPEND ON THE SourH PlATTE HABITAT AS IT PASSED

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