Project-Specific Agreement- for the Heyborne Recharge and Wildlife Project

Home Browse Search

MEMORANDTJM OF AGREEMENT FUR IMPLEMENTATION AND OPERATION �F THE COLORADO PORTION Ofi TF� PLATTE RIVER RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN This Mcmorantlum of Agrcemeat (MoA) is entered this � dSy Of N�:en.4x , 2pp6, betwecn the State of Cotorada, Depsutmeni of Natura] Resources {"DNR"}, and the 5auch Platte Waur-Rciaud Activities Program, Inc. ("SPWRAP'•). a nan-profit corporadon of the Swte of Colorado, (coIlectively tuieinafter, the "Parties"): WI�REAS, thc U.S. Department of Interiar ("DoP') has listed as Threatened or Enda►ngered the intedorleast tern, whooping crane, piping ptaver and patlid sturgeon (cotiecNvely hereinafur "Tazget Species"), and has designated ceruin areas of the Platte River in centrat Nebraska as critiaal habitat, all purswent to the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), 16 U.S.C. 1 S31 et seq.; and, 'WHEREAS, on July 1, 1997> Doi and the States of Calorado, Nebraska and Wyoming entered into a"Cooperative Agmement for Platte River Reseurch and Other Effttrts Relating to Endangectd Species Hubitats Along the Central Platte River, Nabraska," tttat envisioned the development of a Basinwide, cooperative, recovery implementation program for the Target Species using the Central and Lower Alatte River in Nebraska; and WT�REAS, Do1 and the three states have deveivpcd the Platte River Recovery ImplementaUoa Program 3s �ned by the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program Cooperative Agseement dated 4>..kr Z`+�200� and incorporated herein by reference (collectively refeired to as PRRIP); and, WHEREAS, the State of Colarado intends w anderiake various obligations pursuant to PRRIP, inclusling but not limitad to re-timing of flows in the lower South PJatte River withia Colorado as well as providing money for program operations and studies in the Cenual and Lower reaches of the Platte River (collectively heminafter, the "Colorado Program•,j, and WHEREAS, one of the primary benefits of the PRRIP to Colorada is that Colorado's panicipation in the PRRIP avoids the imposition of castly, v:uying, and individualiud "Reasonab]e and Prudent Attcmatives" ("RPAs") pursuant to the ESA on a piecemeal bnsis as each water-related activity requiring a fedoral pernut or authorizaUon undergoes a Section 7 Consultadon; and, WHEREAS, the ability to assure E5A comp3issnce for exisdng and new water uses, at an affordable cost and within a reasonable amount of time, is neccssary far the economic growth, as well as the public welfare oC the populatioa in the Platte River Basin in Colorudo; and, SPWRAP�ANR MoA ll-14-06