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r� <br />• Reduce shortages to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' (FWS) <br />target flows by 130,000 to 150,000 acre -feet per year (ac- ft/yr). <br />• <br />Protector restore 10,000 acres of habitat in the Central Platte River <br />area within the critical habitat, which extends from near Lexington <br />to Chapman, Nebraska. <br />The FWS developed recommendations for flows in the critical habitat <br />that it believes are needed at different times of the year for endangered <br />species and other wildlife. The FWS instream flow recommendations <br />are target flows. The recommendations vary season by season and year <br />by year depending on whether wet, dry, or average conditions exist. <br />Target flow shortages refer to shortages at Grand Island with respect to <br />FWS target flows developed for wet, dry, and average year <br />classifications. <br />Recommended pulse, or flushing, flows have also been developed for <br />species in the critical habitat. These pulse flows are not addressed in <br />the Cooperative Agreement or the scope of work for the Water <br />Conservation/Supply Reconnaissance Study. <br />Under the first objective of the Recovery Program three actions are <br />intended to reduce target flow shortages by approximately 70,000 ac- <br />ft/yr. These three actions consist of the Tamarack Project in Colorado, <br />the Pathfinder Modification Project in Wyoming, and an <br />Environmental Account in Lake McConaughy in Nebraska. The study <br />team was contracted to complete a Water Conservation/Supply <br />Reconnaissance Study to identify and evaluate several water supply <br />and conservation alternatives to provide an additional 60,0000 ac -ft /yr <br />to 80,000 ac -ft/yr of average reductions to target flows shortages in the <br />critical habitat. <br />Over the three -year Cooperative Agreement period an evaluation of <br />the impacts of the Recovery Program is being conducted as required <br />by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Interior <br />Department's Bureau of Reclamation and FWS are preparing an <br />Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which looks at the effects of <br />the proposed Recovery Program and other alternatives identified by <br />the study team. The goal of the EIS is to evaluate the Recovery <br />Program and other alternatives and provide a recommendation of the <br />"preferred alternative" to the Secretary of the Interior. <br />2 -2 <br />