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

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In addition, a follow -up workshop to further discuss the whooping crane was held at the same location on February 15, 2001. The results of that workshop were a significant contribution to the whooping crane section of this report. Not all the recommendations made in this report were necessarily agreed to by all of the workshop participants. Most minority opinions that were expressed were disputed by the species experts identified by the FWS. Therefore, the information and recommendations in this report tends to rely on the opinions and data presented by those species experts. This report follows the Scope of Work and Consulting Agreement dated June 23, 2000. The subcontractor completed a draft report on October 22, 2001. The draft report was distributed to workshop participants and the 8 species experts that were unable to attend a workshop for their technical review and comment. A copy of the draft was also distributed to the CA's Governance Committee. All comments received were considered in preparing this report. Interior Least Tern and Piping Plover The Recovery Plan for the Northern Great Plains population of piping plovers states a goal of 465 piping plover pairs for all of Nebraska and 140 pairs (280 adults) maintained for 15 years for the Platte River. The Recovery Plan for the interior least tern states a goal of 1520 adults for all of Nebraska and 750 adult breeding birds maintained for 10 years for the Platte River. It is recommended that the FWS continue to recognize these as valid population recovery goals unless they are changed through the FWS recovery planning process. Both recovery plans were written without much knowledge or consideration of least tern and piping plover activity on the North Platte River (including Lake McConaughy) and the South Platte River in Nebraska. Therefore, the goals for the Platte River in the existing recovery plans exclude North and South Platte River birds. However, birds on the North Platte River (including Lake McConaughy) and the South Platte River should not be ignored for their potential contribution to the overall species recovery goals. The purpose of this report is to identify species recovery objectives for the "central" Platte River because it is this area where intensive management and monitoring will be directed under the Platte River Cooperative Agreement and eventual Recovery Program. ' Identifying objectives for the central Platte River is not intended to ignore the importance of the Lower Platte River, North Platte River or South Platte River for their contribution to least tern and piping plover recovery. It is recognized that terns and plovers in the ' Platte River system interact with each other, and birds on the central Platte River should not be considered a separate population. The central Platte River for this report is defined as from Lexington to Columbus, Nebraska, because Columbus is where major ' tributaries, principally the Loup River, enter the Platte River and where the Platte River changes character. 11