Threats to Wildlife and the Platte River

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p. 18 WILDLIFE 1980, there has been an increase in the number of sightings on and along the Platte (USFWS 1988a) (see figure 2b), and up until 1988 all occurred at sites that were either specifically managed for migratory birds or at sites that had very wide, open channels (USFWS 1987b, p 7). Whether the river continues to be important to Whooping Cranes is a major source of dis- agreement between conservationists and developers. Studies of habitat suitability and the number of recent sightings suggest that the river remains important to them (USFWS 1988b, written comm.). Furthermore, maintaining and improving habitat in the river channel for cranes is essential because the shift to the Rainwater Basin is dangerous for Whooping Cranes due to the risk of cholera. Whooping cranes have been reported at several rainwater basins where large waterfowl die -offs from avian cholera have been recorded... (U)se of the Rainwater Basin Area as an alternative to the Platte Valley may represent a direct threat to whooping cranes... ( W)hooping cranes have been chased from wetlands experiencing avian cholera outbreaks and on one of these occasions the birds settled on the Platte... In all likelihood, the disease problem will persist in the Rainwater Basin Area, underscoring the need to maintain adequate habitat along the Platte River which provides the species with sites that minimize exposure to avian cholera. (USFWS 1981, p 77). The tenuous status of the Platte and the plight of the Whooping Crane is well documented. A report by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission concluded that, With significant loss of whooping crane habitat on and along the Platte River, and over 85 percent loss of the wetland habitat in the rainwater basin area... there is a serious threat of losing essential stopover habitat from an area approximately 4,750 square miles in size; an area located near the middle of the whooping crane migration corridor with a long history of use... The need to maintain the habitat that remains and to develop additional habitat on the Platte becomes more evident when considering the quantity of habitat already lost and the deterioration and loss of other stopover habitat in south - central Nebraska. (NGPC 1985a, p 17). Any indications that Whooping Cranes are beginning to assess Platte River habitat as unsuitable may forbode the large -scale abandonment of the river by Sandhill Cranes and other wildlife.