Species Recovery Objectives for Four Target Species in the Central and Lower Platte River

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C. PALLID STURGEON C.1. Existing Recovery Plan Goals and Objectives The Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Plan 69 is currently undergoing an update. Additional data collected since the original plan was drafted will be added and some areas of the plan are to be refined. The Recovery Plan includes both short-term and long -term recovery objectives. The short-term goal is to prevent extinction by removing adults from the wild and establishing captive broodstock populations. The long -term recovery objective is to downlist or delist the species by 2040 through protection and habitat restoration activities, provided that the following criteria are met: 1.) naturally reproducing, self - sustaining populations exist within each recovery area, and that 2.) a minimum of 10 percent of the sturgeon population within each recovery area is comprised of mature females. More quantifiable measures of recovery are desirable, however limited demographic and life history data for the pallid sturgeon precludes proposing more specific criteria at this time. The Recovery Plan designates six Recovery Priority Management Areas (RPMA) within the historical range of the pallid sturgeon. Recovery Priority Management Areas were based on the most recent records of occurrence and the probability that these areas still provide suitable habitat for restoration and recovery. While these priority areas consisted mainly of mainstem segments within the large rivers, the Recovery Team indicated that implementation of recovery actions should be encouraged near the mouths of several major tributaries. One of the RPMA's encompasses the lower Missouri River. Specifically identified as an area of special concern within this RPMA is the area around the confluence with the Platte River. Confluences with tributaries were emphasized in selecting some Recovery Priority Management Areas because of their known importance as feeding and nursery areas for large river fish. However, the Recovery Plan was not specific about the upstream extent to which recovery actions should be implemented on these tributaries. There is a need to refine the recovery document to integrate the major tributaries, where appropriate, into the overall species recovery planning process. In order to effectively accomplish this goal, it will be necessary to collect additional data to determine the importance of tributaries to the species and the extent to which actions taken on the tributaries will contribute to the recovery of the pallid sturgeon. C.2. Lower Platte River Objectives Biologists are continually limited by the paucity of data available to answer two fundamental questions: 1.) What is the importance of the Platte River to pallid sturgeon? and 2.) How will recovery actions on the Platte River contribute to pallid sturgeon recovery? Without sufficient data to address these questions, defensible 69 Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Plan, November 7, 1993. 28