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Whitmore indicated she will be developing a time line/schedule for future EA AOP development. This will be done in an effort to help clarify some of the timing and procedural situations that came up during the first year of EA establishment. She'll provide a draft to the EAC when done. EA Accountin Hayden provided a draft spreadsheet to be used to account for EA contents on a monthly basis and indicated that NEDWR would welcome input on modifications. He asked two EA-related questions; 1) Because contributions to the EA will not be credited until the end of the month, can EA water, not yet credited, be used during the month?; and 2) If the EA goes to zero during a month, how will its share of seepage loss be accounted for? The group surmised that the first question may require additional discussion. For the second question, when the EA hits zero, its share of seepage losses ends. Committee members should provide comments on the draft spreadsheet to Hayden. Review of Comments and Draft EA 2000 Annual Operating Plan Tebbel dispersed a copy of Paul Currier's recommendations for EA releases. Whitmore gave a summary of EA AOP comments that were received prior to the meeting. She will provide copies of the comments to EAC members. Tullis asked if effects from EA releases will be monitored. Monitoring of EA release effects, will eventually be covered under the monitoring and research component of the Program. Also, past and current information is to become part of the baseline used to compare changes that result from Program activities. The group agreed that, until the Program is implemented, any information obtained on effects from EA releases will be incidental. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) flow recommendations were discussed. The group agreed that, although FWS flow recommendations are not accepted by all, the Cooperative Agreement recognized that the FWS will use them until new information indicates that they should be changed and arguing their merits during the AOP discussion was unproductive. Several attendees recommended that EA water not be used to create or augment pulse flows in 2000 because high water conditions and pulses in recent years have resulted in minimal in- channel vegetation establishment. It was also mentioned that trying to achieve mathematical averages (augmentation of 5 and 10 year running averages for exceedances during pulse flow periods) will not provide additional benefits because sediment is already actively sculpting the channel as a result of high flows. Whitmore explained that during the period of record, including the last 5 years, there have been consistent shortages to recommended pulse flows and that the FWS will continue to prioritize looking for opportunities to augment pulses to reach 5 and 10 year ruruling averages. She explained that the longer duration pulse flows promote certain river processes and provide benefits that shorter duration pulses or the recent occurrence of higher flows do not. It was suggested that a description of how EA water will be protected be included in the EA AOP. The group agreed that the state of Nebraska is responsible for protecting EA water to the central Platte and it is not an issue that needs to be addressed in the EA AOP. 2