Endangered and Threatened Species of the Platte River

• Description: Related to the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program ‎(PRRIP)‎
• State: CO
• State: NE
• State: WY
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 4/1/2004
• Author: National Research Council of the National Academies
• Title: Endangered and Threatened Species of the Platte River - Prepublication Copy
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Introduction
. open sandy islands, bars, and beaches on inland rivers for breeding sites (Figure 1 -5). By the
1980s, the range for the interior least tern in the central Platte River had shrunk to include only a
portion of the Platte River Valley between Kearney and Grand Island, and the bird was a rare
migrant and an infrequent nester. The estimated total number of birds in the lower Platte River
area is now lower than 500 (Kirsch and Sidle, 1999). The pallid sturgeon was federally listed in
1990 under the ESA as endangered on the lower Platte River (Figure 1 -6). The fish favors
warm, turbid waters with annually variable flows and firm sandy channel bottoms with dunes
and pockets, where it feeds on small fish and aquatic insects. Its population has declined
throughout its range over recent decades; 500 observations per year in the 1960s declined to
about seven per year in the 1980s (Fed. Regist. 55 (173):36641 [1990]).
•
Figure 1 -5 Interior least tern. Source: USFWS 2004b.
Figure 1 -6 Pallid sturgeon. Source: Photograph by Jason Olnes, University of Nebraska, May
40 2, 2001.
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