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ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNT 2001 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 "target" 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 2001 water year consists of three main parts as follows: 1) Background; 2) Summary of Water Year 2000; and 3) Water Year 2001 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 A basin-wide cooperative effort is currently underway to develop a Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (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 identified target species and their associated habitats. The proposed Program will be implemented on an incremental basis. During the first increment of 10 to 13 years, various water and land-related activities will be conducted. 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 measured at Grand Island, Nebraska, through reregulation and water conservation/supply projects. The EA in Nebraska is currently in place and two projects in Colorado and Wyoming are being developed to provide approximately half of this water during the first increment of the proposed Program. Service-recommended target flows will serve as the reference point for determining periods of Water Year 2001 EA AOP 1 January 3, 2001