PRRIP Draft Environmental Impact Statement

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Platte River Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Wyoming (see map of the Basin [figure 1 -1] or subbasin maps [figures 2 -5, 2 -6, and 2 -7] in chapter 2.) Some effects may occur in the Missouri River close to the mouth of the Platte River. The study area also includes irrigated lands in the Basin, where water may be leased or sold to the Program, thus affecting land use and farming operations. These lands generally would lie within a few miles of the North Platte River from Seminoe Reservoir in Wyoming, downstream to Lake McConaughy in Nebraska; from Greeley, Colorado, downstream on the South Platte to the confluence in Nebraska; and from the confluence downstream to Grand Island, Nebraska, on the Central Platte River. For economic impacts, the affected environment includes the counties in which these irrigated lands occur, and in which the regional impacts of changes in agricultural and related economic operations may result. While elements of the action alternatives are located throughout the entire Basin, the intent of these actions is to improve habitat conditions in two habitat areas —the Central Platte River between Lexington, Nebraska, and Chapman, Nebraska (shown as the "Central Platte Habitat Area" in figure 2 -1 in chapter 2) (for the whooping crane, piping plover, and interior least tern) and that reach in the Lower Platte River from the Elkhorn to the confluence with the Missouri River (for the pallid sturgeon). Potentially significant impacts are examined wherever they occur. NEED FOR ACTIONa The Basin, which has been extensively developed for irrigation and municipal uses, contains 15 major dams and reservoirs and provides water for about 3.5 million people. Existing facilities on the river provide hydroelectric power, irrigation water, flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife habitat. Substantial portions of the economies of these States — Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming —are based on water supplied by the river. The Central and Lower Platte River, in Nebraska, provide important habitat for the piping plover, whooping crane, interior least tern, and pallid sturgeon (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Service], 1978, 1988, 1990, 1993, and 1994). Reasons cited by the Service for listing of each species are summarized in figure 1 -2. Parts of the area have been designated as critical habitat for the whooping crane and for the Northern Great Plains population of the piping plover, as shown in figure 2 -1 in chapter 2. The target species habitat in Nebraska has been significantly altered by water impoundments and diversions for many uses and by other changes that have come with extensive settlement and development throughout the Basin. Since the late 1970s, the Service has issued "jeopardy biological 'The Notice of Intent to prepare a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for a Program for four threatened and endangered species in the Central Platte River region, which contains the original statement of purpose and need, can be found at <www.platteriver.or _g>. December 2003