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, <br />7. Areas of pallid sturgeon use indicates areas where pallid sturgeon spawning is <br />likely to occur and spawning areas can be further defined based on where <br />larvae are collected. <br />Tern and plover <br />1. The target species utilize the river under a variety of flows and the FWS <br />species target flows are not related to the fitness of the species. <br />2. Optimum reproductive habitat for terns and plovers is described in Table 1 of <br />the Land Plan and the amount of this habitat in the central Platte River, <br />including nesting substrate and forage, is limiting the breeding population of <br />terns and plovers in the central Platte River. <br />3. Reproductive habitat in the central Platte River, including nesting substrate <br />and forage, is not limiting breeding populations of terns and plovers. <br />4. Natural processes rarely provide islands suitable for successful nesting by <br />least terns and piping plovers above the confluence with the Loup River. <br />5. The maintenance of least tern and piping plover populations in the central <br />Platte Valley requires that the river and sandpits continue to function together <br />to provide habitat. <br />6. The existing flows in the central Platte River are impacting water temperature <br />resulting in negative impacts on prey base (forage fish) for terns and prey base <br />(insects) for plovers. <br />7. Non-riverine habitat provides prey for terns (forage fish) and piping plovers <br />(insects). <br />8. Existing data adequately describe whooping crane migration habitat in the <br />central Platte River. <br />9. Program habitat management activities will increase the abundance and <br />quality of in-channel roosting and wet meadow feeding habitat for whooping <br />cranes and in-channel nesting and foraging habitat for terns and plovers in the <br />central Platte. <br />Whooping crane <br />1. Whooping crane distribution and habitat selection is a function of river flow, <br />land use, land cover, and Program land management. <br />2. Wet meadow hydrology is influenced by river stage and the influence varies <br />with distance form the river. <br />3. The physical, biological and chemical composition of wet meadows is <br />strongly influenced by its hydrology. <br />4. Habitat selection by whooping cranes migrating through the central Platte <br />valley is determined in part by the quality, quantity, and distribution of wet <br />meadows and other semi-aquatic habitats. <br />5. Creation of palustrine wetlands will result in more shallow water wetlands <br />available for whooping crane roosting and increased numbers of these shallow <br />water wetlands will result in more whooping cranes roosting in the central <br />Platte valley.