Specific Comments on Platte River Draft EIS

• File Number: 8461.100
• Description: Adaptive Management Workgroup
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 9/17/2004
• Author: CWCB
• Title: Specific Comments on Platte River Draft EIS
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Board Memo

100%
90%
80°/n
70%
Fiqure 6. Platte River Sto
o 60%
?
(D
p 50%
CL
0
u- 40°l0
30%
20%
1 d°la
0%
1978 1982 1986
2.3 Is the critical habitat designation for whc
The definition of critical habitat was published
1978:
r% vs. Population 1978-2002
200
180
160
140
o
120
?
100 -T
a
80 a
60
40
20
the USFWS in the Federal Register on January 4,
"Critical habitat" means any air, land, or wat r area (exclusive of those existing marunade
structures or settlements which are not necesary to the survival and recovery of a listed
species) and constituent elements thereof, the loss of which would appreciably decrease the
likelihood of the survival and recovery of listed species or a distinct segment of its
population. The constituent elements of criical habitat include, but are not limited to:
physical structures and topography, biota, c imate, human activity, and the quality and
chemical content of land, water, and air. Criical habitat may represent any portion of the
present habitat of a listed species and may inc ude additional areas for reasonable population
expansion."
The key determinant in the definition is ". .. the lo s of which would appreciably decrease the likelihood
of the survival and recovery of a listed species or distinct segment of its population."
USFWS initially proposed designation of the A
critical habitat for whooping crane (Federal Re
following statements regarding the Platte River V
"This area of the Platte River Valley and wet
stopping site on the migration route of the whi
A-I14
; River Valley and wet prairie to the south@ as
r, Tuesday, December 16, 1975) and made the
in the area to the south:
irie to the south forms the most important
nR crane. Historical data show that this