PRRIP Purposes and Overview Draft (2)

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iii. In Program Year, 1 the Governance Committee will begin implementing the capital investment and maintenance measures that are described in Attachment 5, Section 2 and are designed to increase the channel capacity of the North Platte River upstream of Highway 83 to 3,000 cubic feet per second. The maintenance measures described in that attachment will continue as the Governance Committee deems appropriate until and during implementation of the plan described in E.2.d.ii. or until alternative means of providing similar benefits to the target avian species and their associated habitats have been developed. 3. Depletions Plans to Mitigate the Impacts of New Water Related Activities The three states and the federal government have each prepared a depletions plan, all of which are consistent with the Program purpose described in I.A.4. These plans are intended to mitigate the impacts of new water related activities on the occurrence of target flows and on the effectiveness of the Program in reducing shortages to target flows, whether or not the new water related activities are subject to Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA or are intended to mitigate the impacts of other new water related activities. Each plan identifies the existing water related activities covered by the Program, and specifies the means by which new water related activities, both those subject to and those not subject to Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA, will be addressed under that plan. These plans are set forth in "Depletions Plan, Platte River, Wyoming" (Wyoming's Depletions Plan)" (Attachment 5, Section 7); "Nebraska's New Depletions Plan" (Nebraska's Depletions Plan) (Attachment 5, Section 8); "Colorado's Plan for Future Depletions" (Colorado's Depletions Plan) (Attachments 5, Section 9); and the "Federal Depletions Plan for the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program" (Federal Depletions Plan) (Attachment 5, Section 10). The states and the federal government are responsible for the implementation of their respective depletions plans. Amendments to depletions plans must be reported to and approved by the Governance Committee. Any proposed amendment is to be approved by the Governance Committee only if the Governance Committee determines that the depletions plan, if so amended, would mitigate the following impacts of any new water related activities: (1) decreases in the occurrence of flows that contribute to target flows; and (2) decreases in target flow shortage reductions achieved or to be achieved by an approved Program water project. Also, if an amendment is proposed to a depletions plan that would result in greater adverse impacts on FWS recommended flows for the central Platte River or on lower Platte River flows than those associated with the original depletions plan, FWS reserves the right to reject the proposed amendment through its membership on the Governance Committee. Each state and the federal government must also inform the Governance Committee of the specific new depletion mitigation measures it intends to SepteagaeF-November 129 2005 Program Document 18