Recommendation of Criteria for Habitat Conservation

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8/9/99 RECOMMENDATION OF CRITERIA FOR PROGRAM HABITAT CONSERVATION The following is the recommendation of the Habitat Criteria Subcommittee (Subcommittee) of the Land Committee of the Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research (CA). This Subcommittee's goal was to put together a habitat criteria proposal which would be presented to and reviewed by the Governance Committee pursuant to Milestone L2-1 of the CA. The Land Committee adopted this document August 9, 1999. The Subcommittee focused on developing a guidance document that would serve as a general outline to address which habitat to protect for whooping cranes, interior least terns and the piping plover between Lexington and Chapman during the term of the Program which will follow the CA. The Subcommittee also has some initial recommendations on management practices that are acceptable and what practices are not acceptable on lands enrolled in the Program. It is important to note that these practices are only applicable to lands in the Program and not the entire river bottom. The CA does not allow the use of eminent domain to acquire land for the Program. The Subcommittee advocates:' • a conservation lease/easement program that provides adequate incentives for property owners to enter suitable land into the Program with adequate protection of the property owners and states' interests if the CA would fail. • a program to purchase suitable lands based on the willing seller concept and that the tax burden will not be shifted. The Subcommittee recommends that there should be categories established to identify and select priority lands for inclusion in the Program. Category I would be the highest priority land, Category II of next importance and Category III would be the lowest priority. These categories of habitat are defined and evaluated as to how they would be managed in this document. The idea is to first protect the habitat that has the most value to the endangered species. A final point of emphasis is a scoring system proposed by the Subcommittee that would encourage the conservation of the most valuable habitat while still recognizing the goal of 10,000 acres in the first increment. A"weighted" scoring system was discussed by the group that would be based on the following point system. Category I land would be given a value of 1.25 points per acre (ppa); Category II, 1.00 ppa; and Category III, 0.75 ppa. Each parcel of land to be included would need to be individually scored. The scoring would help set the habitat value of the land. Habitat conservation efforts should recognize the need for a reasonable habitat mix to provide for the needs of whooping cranes, interior least terns and the piping plover. The first increment should prioritize bridge segments that have little or no habitat currently protected by other groups. It has been noted that there is increased biological value if both sides of the river can be protected. Efforts will be made when acquiring habitat to identify and evaluate potential adverse impacts to third parties and to advoid those impacts and mitigate unavoidable adverse impacts to third parties. The Subcommittee will need to consider other factors when scoring/valuing a property. These will include, but not be limited to, restoration costs, proximity to other program or potential program lands and the distribution and location on the Platte River. ' A minority opinion is that the options should be in the order of preference with lease/easement first and purchase second.