PRRIP Draft Environmental Impact Statement Summary

• Description: Summary of Platte River Recovery Implementation Program ‎(PRRIP)‎ Draft Environmental Impact Statement ‎(EIS)‎ Assessing Alternatives for Implementation of a Basinwide, Cooperative, Endangered Species Recovery Program
• State: CO
• State: NE
• State: WY
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 12/1/2003
• Author: Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Title: Summary of Platte River Recovery Implementation Program ‎(PRRIP)‎ Draft Environmental Impact Statement ‎(EIS)‎
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: EIS

Platte River Draft Environmental Impact Statement
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES
The DEIS describes projected environmental consequences for resources affected by the Program for the
target species and their habitat in the Platte River system. The impacts of the Governance Committee,
Water Leasing, Wet Meadow, and Water Emphasis Alternatives are compared to the Present Condition.
The following tables present comparative information about the alternatives. Table E -1 displays a
summary of the elements contained in each of the action alternatives. Table E -2 presents a quantitative
summary of the principal effects of the action alternatives.
All impacts shown represent changes from the Present Condition. For the hydrologic analysis, most
impacts are shown as the annual change from the Present Condition, averaged over the 48 -year period of
hydrologic record (1947 -94) used as the benchmark for effects on reservoir storage, riverflows, irrigation
deliveries, and other hydrologic measurements.
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
The DEIS has received broad interest from water and power users, environmental and conservation
groups, Federal and State agencies, and private citizens throughout the Basin. Information has been
disseminated through public meetings and the website. In addition, presentations have been made to
various interested organizations at various stages of the Program.
The scoping period began with the publication of the Notice of Intent in the Federal Register. The Notice
of Intent to Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement was published in the Federal
Register on February 10, 1998, and included the schedules for 11 scoping meetings held between
February and April 1998. These meetings were held to receive public input on the scope of the DEIS.
In addition, over 200 meetings of the Governance Committee and its subcommittees were held between
October 1997 and August 2003. These meetings were also open to the public, with time set aside for
public comment. (For full list of meetings held, go to <www.platteriver.org >.)
As a result of the analysis of the oral and written scoping comments, potential impacts on several
resources were determined to be issues of public concern. The EIS team analyzed, in detail, impacts on
these resources and others, as follows:
Water
River Hydraulics and Sediment Transport
Water Quality
Central Platte River Terrestrial Vegetation Communities and Land Use Types