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activities for these species along the Platte River, including monitoring and research <br />activities and other long -term planning efforts. There is a need to know "how much is <br />enough" to recover these species on the central and lower Platte River (i.e., when is the <br />Platte River no longer considered by the FWS to be a limiting factor in the recovery of <br />these species). <br />Establishing species recovery objectives for the target species is also not being done <br />under the official FWS recovery planning process. This report is not intended to <br />duplicate information and recovery actions in the recovery plans. However, the <br />Recovery Teams may choose to use the information from this report they deem <br />appropriate in revising any of the Recovery Plans or for other recovery purposes. The <br />Recovery Plans for the whooping crane and pallid sturgeon are currently being updated. <br />Therefore, the purpose of this report is to identify recovery objectives for the least tern, <br />piping plover, and whooping crane in the central Platte River and for the pallid sturgeon <br />in the lower Platte River by which progress toward recovery of these species can be <br />measured. Achieving recovery objectives alone, however, does not determine species <br />recovery. "Recovery" only occurs when the reasons for listing the species (e.g., threats) <br />have been removed. This report should not be viewed as a "final" product. It should be <br />subject to change as new scientific information becomes available under "adaptive <br />management" principles. <br />This report follows the Scope of Work and Consulting Agreement dated June 23, 2000. <br />The subcontractor completed a draft report on October 22, 2001. The draft report was <br />distributed to workshop participants and the 8 species experts that were unable to attend <br />a workshop for their technical review and comment. The draft report was also <br />distributed to the Cooperative Agreement's Governance Committee for its review and <br />comment. All comments received were considered in preparing this report. <br />1 M : 1 1 1 1 1 <br />Since the FWS needs to know more specifically the recovery objectives for the target <br />species in the central and lower Platte River, the subcontractor worked closely with the <br />FWS and species experts in preparing this report. The FWS identified individuals who <br />possess broad knowledge and expertise about the four target species, and the <br />subcontractor conducted workshops to gather expert opinions and data regarding <br />species objectives. The subcontractor used this information in collaboration with the <br />FWS in preparing this report. Not all the recommendations made in this report were <br />necessarily agreed to by all of the workshop participants. Most minority opinions that <br />were expressed were disputed by the species experts identified by the FWS. Therefore, <br />the information and recommendations in this report tend to rely on the opinions and <br />data presented by those species experts. <br />Pa <br />