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ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNT 2003 WATER YEAR ANNUAL OPERATING PLAN INTRODUCTION An Environmental Account (EA) of water in Lake McConaughy in Nebraska was established on October 1, 1999, as per Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID) and Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) (collectively, Districts) Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licenses, for Project 1417 and Project 1835, respectively. The EA is managed by an EA Manager appointed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), and was established to primarily benefit four federally listed threatened or endangered "targeY" species (i.e., whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover, and pallid sturgeon). The EA Manager is required to develop an Annual Operating Plan (AOP) for releases from the EA in coordination with an EA Committee (EAC) by the end of October of each year. Guidelines and operating rules for the EA are described in the FERC licenses and Appendix A, Water Component; TAB lA, An Environmental Account for Storage Reservoirs on the Platte River System in Nebraska, of the Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitats Along the Central Platte River, Nebraska. The EA AOP for the 2003 water year consists of three main parts as follows: 1) Background; 2) Summary of Water Year 2002; and 3) Water Xear 2003 Projections and EA Release Priorities. Attachments to this document include: Reservoir Operating Rules During the Non-Irrigation Season for Predicted Year Types (Appendix A); Reference List of Documents Relevant to EA Operations (Appendix B); Graph of Historic Mean Daily Flows at Grand Island (Appendix C); and Schematic Diagram of the Platte River and Diversion Systems Between Lewellen/Julesburg and Overton (Appendix D). BACKGROUND On July 1, 1997, a Cooperative Agreement (CA) was signed by the states of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado and the Secretary of the Department of the Interior to develop a basin- wide Platte River Recovery Implementation Pxogram (Program) to improve and maintain habitats associated with four federally listed, target species in the Platte River basin. A long-term objective of the proposed Program is to provide sufficient water to and through the central Platte River to benefit the target species and their associated habitats. Operations of the EA will be integrated into the proposed Program when it is implemented sometime in 2004. The proposed Program will be implemented on an incremental basis and administered using an adaptive management approach. During the first increment of 13 years, various water and land- related activities will be conducted. Effects of Program activities on the associated habitats and responses of the target species to those effects will be monitored and evaluated during the first increment. A first increment goal is to improve the occurrence of Platte River flows in the associated habitats (relative to the present occurrence of target flows; referred to as "reducing shortages to target flows") by an average of 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet (afl per year as Water Year 2003 EA AOP 1 January 30, 2003