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measured at Grand Island, Nebraska, through reregulation and water conservationisupply projects. The EA in Nebraska is currently in place and two projects in Colorado and Wyoming are being developed to supply over half of the water during the first increment of the proposed Program. Service-recommended target flows will serve as the reference point for determining periods of excess and shortage in the operation of Program reregulation and water conservation/supply projects during the first increment, or until such time as new information becomes available which indicates modification is warranted. Recommended target flows are described in detail in the Service's "Instream Flow Recommendations for the Central Platte River" (May 23, 1994) and "Pulse Flow Requirements for the Central Platte River" (August 3, 1994) and summarized in Table 3(pages 10-12). Additional information regarding the instream flow recommendations and pulse flow requirements, as they relate to the Program, can be found in "USFWS Instream Flow Recommendations: Proposed Definitions and Usage for the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program" (June 26, 2002, Draft). This EA AOP outlines the Service's general intentions for operation of the EA in the 2003 water year. Changing hydrologic conditions and other considerations may require a change in the guidelines described in this AOP. SL1MMARY OF WATER YEAR 2002 The Districts are required to predict Storable Natural Inflows (SNI) and Water Year-Type (very wet, wet, transitional, dry, very dry) by October 15 of each year. The S1VI for October through March is used for calculating "Type-of-Year" whereas the Sr1I for October through April is used in assigning contributions to the EA. These predictions establish certain reservoir operating rules during the non-irrigation season (see Appendix A). The EA Manager is to be notified by the Districts of any modification to the predictions that would result in a change in the Year-Type. To assist the EA manager in developing the EA AOP, the Districts have also provided projections for flows at Overton and Grand Island, based on their predicted operations. The Districts' predictions for S1VI and Type-of-Year for the 2002 water year and the actual amounts were as follows: Item Prediction Actual SNI, October through March 435,000 af 427,480 af SNI, October through April 500,000 af 465,570 af Type-of-Year Dry Based on anticipated below average carryover storage in Lake McConaughy and water supply on the North Platte, the Districts' 2002 Water Year Operation Plan called for maximizing storage while meeting their minimum operational flow requirements. During the non-irrigation season, inflows into Lake McConaughy were 77 percent of normal and 93 percent of projected inflows. Lake McConaughy storage contents peaked at about 1,157,000 af, 91,000 af lower than anticipated. Water Year 2003 EA AOP 2 January 30, 2003