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Population ratios are difficult to establish and monitor because the detection of bird <br />stopovers varies with effort and the efficiency of detecting stopovers is really not known. <br />Recognizing this problem, this report recommends that population ratios be tested as <br />indices of whooping crane use of the Platte River and to estimate the potential changes in <br />use. Separate ratios would be calculated for fall and spring populations. There is also a <br />need to use an index of whooping crane use on the river as an additional measure of <br />habitat attractiveness. Habitat suitability models should be used as additional tools to <br />evaluate habitat and habitat changes for whooping cranes. <br />In addition, several research and monitoring needs are recommended: <br />1. Continue current monitoring of whooping crane use and associated habitat. <br />2. Continue to refine the habitat roost model and techniques for evaluating habitat <br />quality for whooping cranes as a management tool. <br />3. Continue to monitor sandhill crane use as one measure of habitat suitability and <br />management progress. <br />4. Whooping crane behavior, habitat use, and time - budget data should be studied <br />regarding use of the central Platte River. <br />Pallid Sturgeon <br />The Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Plan is currently undergoing an update. The existing <br />Recovery Plan includes both short-term and long -term recovery objectives. The <br />short-term goal is to prevent extinction by removing adults from the wild and establishing <br />captive broodstock populations. The long -term recovery objective is to downlist or delist <br />the species by 2040 through protection and habitat restoration activities, provided that <br />certain criteria are met. The Recovery Plan designates six Recovery Priority Management <br />Areas (RPMA) within the historical range of the pallid sturgeon. One of the RPMA's is <br />the Missouri River at the mouth of the Platte River. Confluences with tributaries were <br />emphasized in selecting some Recovery Priority Management Areas because of their <br />known importance as feeding and nursery areas for large river fish. <br />Historical and recent records document the existence of pallid sturgeon in the lower <br />Platte River (defined in this report as from the mouth of the Loup River to the confluence <br />with the Missouri River). Hatchery- propagated pallid sturgeon have recently been <br />released in the lower Platte River. Tracking data suggests that some sturgeon released <br />into the Platte River moved out into the Missouri River and subsequently returned to the <br />Platte River. Some sturgeon also over - wintered in the lower Platte River. This indicates <br />the likelihood that habitat in the lower Platte River is suitable for sub -adult pallid <br />sturgeon. In addition, larval sturgeon species have been collected in the lower Platte <br />River indicating that suitable spawning conditions and habitat for sturgeon exist. The <br />lower Platte River is a free - flowing stretch without barriers that would impede migration <br />or movement of adult, juvenile or larval sturgeon. The available data indicate that the <br />lower Platte River is used by pallid sturgeon. The extent of use and the relative <br />Vi <br />