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? <br />i <br />a point near North Platte, Nebraska, flows eastward through a rather broad, shallow valley. <br />Where the Loup River joins the Platte, the elevation is approximately 1420 feet (mean sea level). The Platte River system provides important habitat for fish and wildlife resources of national and <br />international significance. In regard to endangered species, the Platte River is probably best <br />known as a migration stopover area for the whooping cranes. The Platte River also provides - <br />wintering habitat for populations of bald eagles. Significant populations of interior least tern and <br />piping plover nest annually on the unvegetated sandbars in the river. Over 80 percent of the <br />world's sandhill. crane population stages annually on the Platte and North Platte Rivers to <br />prepare for the continuation of their migration. The Platte River and rainwater basin supports <br />most: of the mid-continent population of greater white-fronted geese and provides important <br />wintering habitat for mallards. <br />The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) has listed the whooping crane, the interior least tern, <br />and the bald eagle as endangered, and the northern great plains population of the piping plover <br />as threatened. Recovery plans have been developed which give goals and objectives for these <br />species and- their-habitats that must be achieved for down listing and in some cases delisting. <br />Recognizing the importance of the Platte River system to whooping cranes, the DOI designated <br />about 53 miles of the river system as critical habitat in 1978 (43 Fed. Reg. 20938-20942). <br />Theze is significant change in the land resources from the mouth of the Platte River to <br />headwaters of the tributaries. The land resources available for habitat differ throughout the basin <br />based on the diverse topography and geology along with the wide variation in climatic <br />conditions. The land resource area this Program will focus on is referred to as the Big Bend <br />area and is located along the mainstem of the Platte River between Lexington and Chapman, <br />Nebraska (see Figure 1). The land resources in this area used as habitat by the threatened and <br />endangered species includes the river channel, grasslands, wet meadows, and cultivated lands <br />located adjacent to the river channel. <br />4