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. <br />PLATTE RIVER RECOVERY AGREEMENT <br />? <br />--------------- <br />This RECOVERY AGREEMENT is entered into this day of , 2006, by and <br />between the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") and name of Water User ("Water <br />User"). <br />WHEREAS, in 2006, the Secretary of the Interior and the Governors of Colorado, Nebraska and <br />Wyoming signed a Cooperative Agreement to implement the Platte River Recovery <br />Implementation Program ("Program"); and <br />WHEREAS, the Program implements certain aspects of the Service's recovery plans for four <br />species (interior least tern, whooping crane, piping plover and pallid sturgeon) (collectively the <br />"target species") listed as threatened or endangered pursuant to the Endangered Species Act <br />("ESA"). The Program is intended to provide defined benefits for the target species and their <br />associated habitats while providing for water development in the Platte River Basin to proceed in <br />compliance with state law, interstate compacts and decrees, and the ESA; and <br />WHEREAS, on June 16, 2006, the Service issued a programmatic biological opinion (PBO) <br />concluding that implementation of the Program, along with existing and a specified amount of <br />new depletions, is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the target species or <br />adversely modify their designated critical habitat in Nebraska. The Service also concluded that <br />implementation is not likely to jeopardize the.threatened western prairie-fringed orchid or the <br />bald eagle in the central and lower Platte River; and <br />WHEREAS, Water User is the choose one:_ owner/operator/contractor of name of water project <br />or projects (Water Project), which causes or will cause depletions to the Platte River system <br />within Colorado; and <br />WHEREAS, Water User's Water Project is covered by the PBO to the extent described within <br />the scope of that document; and . <br />WHEREAS, Water User desires certainty that its depletions can occur consistent with Section 7 <br />and Section 9 of the ESA. <br />NOW THEREFORE, Water User and the Service agree as follows: t <br />1. The PBO concluded that implementation of the Program will avoid the likelihood <br />of jeopardy and adverse modification under Section 7 of the ESA for depletion impacts caused <br />by projects consistent with Colorado's water plan under the Program. Water User's Water <br />Project is provided regulatory certainty under the ESA to the extent described in the PBO. Thus, <br />? Individual Recovery Agreement may be changed to fit specific circumstances. <br />1