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Platte River Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement <br />]BACKGROUND <br />THE TARGET SPECIES <br />The target species for the Program are described briefly below. Photographs of the species and more <br />detailed descriptions are found at the beginning of chapter 2, "History of Habitat Use and Habitat Trends <br />for the Target Species." <br />Whooping Crane <br />The whooping crane is found only in North America and is this continent's tallest bird. It is the rarest <br />crane and one of the rarest bird species in the world. Historically, its range extended from the Arctic <br />coast south to central Mexico and from the Rocky Mountain region in Utah eastward to the Atlantic coast. <br />Whooping cranes, which migrate from Texas to Canada, use the Central Platte River area in Nebraska as <br />a stopover for roosting and foraging. The species was listed as endangered in 1967. <br />Interior Least Tern <br />The least tern is one of the smallest tern species in North America. The interior population of the least <br />tern breeds along the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Red, and Rio Grande river systems, mostly on bare <br />sandbars. The species was listed as endangered in 1985. <br />Piping Plover (Northern Great Plains Population) <br />The piping plover is a small shorebird related to the more common killdeer. Three North American <br />breeding populations of piping plovers are recognized. The greatest number of piping plovers breed in <br />the Northern Great Plains. This breeding population occurs on the Missouri River and its tributaries in <br />North and South Dakota and Nebraska. The piping plover nests on sandbars in these rivers, including the <br />Platte River in Nebraska. The species was listed as threatened in 1985. <br />December 2003 <br />O <br />