Endangered and Threatened Species of the Platte River

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:7 PREFACE The Platte River of central Nebraska has undergone great transformations during the last 2 centuries. The installation of water - control infrastructures and influences of climatic change have altered the river's biophysical characteristics, and cultural perceptions of the river as a resource have undergone dramatic changes. As a nation, we have viewed the river as a pioneer trail, as a commodity, and finally as an ecosystem. American Indians and early European settlers saw the river as part of a primary transportation route that eventually became the Oregon Trail, one of several connective threads that bound an expanding nation together. When agricultural development transformed the Nebraska landscape, the river was viewed as a conduit for the economically and legally defined commodity of water. More recently, the perception of the Platte River has emerged into an ecosystem, not only supplying water for human use but also providing important habitat for many plant and animal species that are parts of our natural heritage. The Platte River ecosystem is enormously complex from a resource perspective. The physical, chemical, and biological aspects of the river are complicated because the river flows west to east through a transition zone from nearly and to more humid conditions that typify the Great Plains in the midsection of the North American continent. The river is part of a vast system of dams, diversions, and canals that distribute water across the landscape and that are connected to the groundwater system of the region. The river crosses the Central Flyway, a primary north -south corridor for migratory birds, and the river's riparian zones provide valuable habitat for these and a variety of other birds. The shallow waters of the river interact with a complex series of islands and bars to create unique habitats for birds and fish. Although many public policies govern the Platte River resources, ranging from legally defined water rights to nationally specified goals for restoration under the Clean Water Act, some of the most pressing issues for river managers on the Platte emerge from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under the provisions of the ESA, federal officials have listed three birds —the whooping crane, the piping plover, and the interior least tern —as requiring special protection. They have also listed one fish, the pallid sturgeon. Management of the river is inextricably bound to mandated efforts to restore the populations of those species to viable, self - sustaining sizes. Such efforts inevitably focus on manipulating the water flow in the river, potentially affecting the management and use of that water for other purposes. The problem of reconciling the management of water for species and for other beneficial uses is typical of many rivers, and the Platte is not an unusual case in this respect. Similar debates occur regarding the Rio Grande, Snake, Klamath, Trinity, Truckee, Sacramento, Missouri, and Colorado Rivers. Reconciliation of apparently competing uses lies in administrative decisions and political and legal processes, but science also plays an important role. The best decisions for public policy are likely to be the best informed, and considerable research is now available to explain biophysical processes associated with the Platte River and its listed species. Decision makers for the Platte River, particularly those participating in a cooperative agreement among state and federal agencies responsible for the river, rely on scientific data, information, and interpretations related to the species, their habitat, and the behavior of the river. They asked the National Research Council to determine whether current central and lower Platte habitat conditions affect the likelihood of the listed species' survival and recovery and to assess the validity of the science supporting the designation of critical habitat, descriptions of habitat - suitability guidelines, and • management of river processes. xiii