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Platte River Draft Environmental Impact Statement <br />PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM <br />The signatories to the Cooperative Agreement believe that the best approach for addressing the ESA <br />issues in the Central and Lower Platte region is a Basinwide, cooperative effort to improve and maintain <br />these habitats for the target species (the proposed Program). A Basinwide, cooperative approach is <br />essential so that the responsibility for providing offsetting measures is shared among the concerned <br />entities and to effectively accomplish many of the offsetting measures, such as ensuring delivery of water <br />to the habitat and coordinated management of water projects. The coordinated approach will be more <br />effective than the current project -by- project approach. It also is conducive to an incremental, adaptive <br />management approach whereby remedial measures are undertaken, monitored, and evaluated so that the <br />combined effect of these measures are understood and determinations of future remedial measures can be <br />scientifically determined. However, in order for a coordinated, Basinwide program to be adopted, the <br />basic provisions of a program must be ones which all parties can agree to implement. <br />The purposes of the cooperative effort are to: <br />Improve land and water habitat for the target species to assist in their conservation <br />and recovery. <br />Ensure that the effects of future water development activities are offset so that they are not <br />likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the species. <br />Provide greater regulatory certainty for water users by providing ESA compliance for existing <br />and new water development projects. <br />Help prevent the need to list more species. <br />Accomplish these objectives in a Basinwide, comprehensive, and collaborative fashion that <br />will help ensure that Program actions are coordinated and effective. <br />If a Basinwide, cooperative Program cannot be implemented, Federal agencies and the projects they <br />operate, or for which they provide funds or authorizations (which include many state and private water <br />projects), must still comply with the ESA. The alternative to a Basinwide approach to ESA compliance <br />would be for each water project to undergo separate ESA review and develop separate measures to offset <br />loss of habitat for the target species without relying upon the Program. This is likely to be significantly <br />more costly for water users and less effective for offsetting impacts to the species habitat. <br />