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<br />This biological opinion is provided in response to your [Date] request to initiate formal <br />consulta.tion pursuant to section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as <br />amended (ESA). Your Biological Assessment describes the potential effects of the <br />[Project Name] on federally listed species and designated critical habitat. <br />The Federal Action reviewed in this biological opinion is the [provide the Project Name, Location, and a Short Description]. <br />1. Background <br />On June 16, 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a programmatic biological opinion (PBO) for the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program <br />(PRRIP) and water-related activities' affecting flow volume and timing in the central and <br />lower reaches of the Platte River in Nebraska. The action area for the PBO included the <br />Platte River basin upstream of the confluence with the Loup River in Nebraska, and the <br />mainstem of the Platte River downstream of the Loup River confluence. The Federal Action addressed by the PBO included the following: <br /> <br />1) funding and implementation of the PRRIP for 13 years, the anticipated first <br />stage of the PRRIP; and <br />2) continued operation of existing and certain new water-related activities2 <br />including, but not limited to, Reclamation and Service projects that aze (or may <br />become) dependent on the PRRIP for ESA compliance durin.g the first 13-year <br />sEage of the PRRIP for their effects on the target species3, whooping crane critical <br />habitat, and other federally listed species4 that rely on central and lower Platte <br />River habitats. <br />? The term "water-related activities" means activities and aspects of activities which (1) occur in the Platte <br />River basin upstream of the confluence of the Loup River with the Platte River; and (2) may affect Platte <br />River flow quantity or timing, including, but not limited to, water diversion, storage and use activities, and <br />land use activities. Changes in temperature and sediment transport will be considered impacts of a"water <br />related activity" to the extent that such changes are caused by activities affecting flow quantity or timing. . <br />Impacts of "water related activities" do not include those components of land use activities or discharges of <br />pollutants that do not affect flow quantity or [iming. <br />"Existing water related activities" include surface water or hydrologically connected groundwater <br />activities implemented on or before July l, 1997. "New water-related activities" include new surface water <br />or hydrologically connected groundwater activities including both new projects and expansion of existing <br />projects, both those subject to and not subject to section 7(a)(2) of the ESA, which may affect the quantity. <br />or timing of water reaching the associated habitats and which are implemented after. July 1, 1997. <br />3 The "target species" are the endangered whooping crane (Grus americana), the interior least tern <br />(Sternula antillarum), the pallid sturgeon (Scaphirynchus albus), and the threatened northern Great Plains <br />population of the piping plover (Charadrius melodus). <br />4 Other listed species present in the central and lower Platte River include the threatened bald eagle <br />(Haliaeetus leucocephalus), western prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera praeclara) American burying . <br />beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) and Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis).