Endangered and Threatened Species of the Platte River

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Endangered and Threatened Species of the Platte River Demography Site. The committee met a third time, in executive session, in Boulder, Colorado, to complete its report. Subcommittees visited DOI researchers at their installations in Denver and Grand Island. The committee reviewed documents describing the methods and procedures used by DOI investigators in reaching their determinations. BOX 1 -1 Statement of Task A multidisciplinary committee will be established to evaluate habitat needs of four federally listed species: the whooping crane, Northern Great Plains breeding population of the piping plover, interior least tern of the central Platte River, and pallid sturgeon of the lower Platte River (below the mouth of the Elkhorn river). The committee will review the government's assessments of how current Platte River operations and resulting hydrogeomorphologic and ecological habitat conditions affect the likelihood of survival of and /or limit the recovery of these species, and whether other Platte River habitats do or can provide the same values that are essential to the survival and /or recovery of these species. The committee will consider the scientific foundations for the current federal designations of central Platte habitat as "critical habitat" for the whooping crane and Northern Great Plains breeding population of the piping plover. The study will also examine the scientific aspects of (1) the processes and methods used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in developing its central Platte River instream flow recommendations, taking the needs of the listed species into account (i.e., annual pulse flows, and peak flows); (2) characteristics described in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service habitat suitability guidelines for the central Platte River; and (3) the Department of Interior's conclusions about the interrelationships among sediment movement, hydrologic flow, vegetation, and channel morphology in the central Platte River. This plan of action is based on ten specific questions that were offered to the National Research Council by the Governance committee to be addressed by the proposed study. BOX 1 -2 Governance Committee's 10 Review Questions The Governance Committee offers these questions to focus the NAS in their scientific review. Not all members of the GC agree with all of the questions. However, we are unanimous that the NAS not review the Program, but stay focused on the science related to the questions. During the implementation of the review, individual GC members expect that they will have the opportunity to provide the NAS with their views on the specific issues and areas of concern to be reviewed. In reviewing the government's assessments, the committee should consider how the following 10 questions apply to them. 1. Do current central Platte habitat conditions affect the likelihood of survival of the whooping crane? Do they limit its recovery? 22