USFWS Presentation to Governance Committee

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Presentation for the Platte Governance Committee Apri127, 2000 Sterling, Colorado The no-action alternative is a comparative analysis tool used in the EIS process that assumes there will be no cooperative Platte River Recovery program and that all Federal actions or activities that may affect Federally listed species or designated critical habitat would require individual consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. These consultations would not only cover all direct and indirect effects resulting to the species from the Federal action but would take into account effects caused by all interdependent and interrelated actions. An indirect effect is something that occurs later in time but is caused by the Federal action. For example, commercial development around a Federal highway interchange is indirectly caused by the highway interchange. Examples of interrelated and interdependent actions include those Federal programs that provide technical and planning assistance and but for the Federal assistance activity the Platte River flows or habitat would not be affected. The "may effect" determination would include depletion of Platte River flows, change in timing of Platte River flows, and or impacts to Platte River associated wet meadows or other habitats. Obvious Federal actions requiring consultation are those catried out by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers. The no action/no program alternative would also assume reinitiation of consultations on the Kingsley Projects in Nebraska, the Forest Service Permits on the front range of Colorado, the Fish and Wildlife Service's Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge, and all other projects that received interim Biological Opinions since 1994 and rely on a program to finalize those opinions. I will now discuss USDA actions that would be included in the no action alternative. This is especially important since NRCS just settled a lawsuit in South Dakota that was filed after changing their wetlands delineations process used in the Swampbuster program without Section 7 consultation on the affects of that change on the Federally listed endangered Topeka Shiner. The result of that settlement is that NRCS must now consult on that process change and all minimal effects agreements. But before I list other NRCS programs be aware that if there were no program, before actually entering into fortnal consultation, the Service would informally consult with all Federal Agencies canying out activities in the Platte Basin to ascertain the scope of consultation and to determine if any or all of their actions "may effect" listed species or designated critical habitat. The NRCS activities and the kind of actions that may effect listed endangered or threatened species in the Platte Basin include but may not be limited to: Conservation Technical Assistance o Technical assistance provided to a landowner in the form of engineering design and support which assists that landowner to build a water control structure.