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r: <br />Endangered and Threatened Species of the Platte River <br />Wyoming <br />Casper South Dakota <br />Pathfinder Res. <br />N <br />Scottsbluff <br />6 e, <br />a /d�eRh -ej, Lake <br />Cheyenne McConaughy Omaha <br />Grand <br />North Columbus • <br />Platte Islas Chapman <br />S•p Coza Lincoln 'ver 1�Denman <br />FortMorgan Lexington Kearney <br />Nebraska <br />Denver <br />Chatfield Res. = Kansas <br />a <br />�C <br />w O <br />Colorado <br />Figure S -1 General location and features of Platte River Basin, including its position across <br />100th meridian. Source: Adapted from DOI 2003. <br />system of large dams with storage reservoirs and diversion works with canals provides such <br />ibenefits as water supply, flood control, electrical power generation, and recreation; it also has <br />substantially altered the river's hydrology and geomorphology. Additional hydrological <br />alterations occur with additions to groundwater through seepage from canals and irrigation and <br />subtractions from wells. The geomorphic and hydrological alterations have caused changes in <br />wildlife habitat and may affect species that depend on particular types of habitat. For example, <br />altered stream flow has resulted in the expansion of woodlands and narrowing of river channels, <br />but the endangered and threatened birds that breed or stop over in the central Platte River appear <br />to prefer sparsely vegetated, open, sandy areas near shallow water. <br />Protection of federally listed species has been in tension with water management in the <br />Platte River Basin for more than 25 years. Dam construction, new diversions, and federal <br />relicensing of power projects have all been complicated by conflicts with the perceived needs of <br />endangered and threatened species. The conflicts were sharpened by the ongoing litigation <br />among the basin states over division of the waters of the North Platte River, which is not <br />governed by an interstate compact. In 1997, in an effort to find a nonadversarial means of <br />resolving listed- species disputes in the Platte River Basin, the basin states and the federal <br />government entered into a cooperative agreement that established a Governance Committee <br />representing state, federal, environmental, and water -user interests. The committee was charged <br />with developing and implementing a recovery program for the listed species of the basin. <br />Progress toward a recovery program proved slower than the parties had hoped. Meanwhile, <br />implementation of the ESA in the Platte River Basin was increasingly controversial as the U.S. <br />Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued a series of "jeopardy opinions ", finding that any new <br />depletions of the Platte River would have to be compensated by mitigation measures, and a <br />lawsuit forced the designation of "critical habitat" for the northern Great Plains population of the <br />K <br />