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• <br />E. establishment of a governance structure that will ensure appropriate state <br />government and stakeholder involvement in the completion of NEPA' compliance tasks, <br />in the implementation of research and other projects beneficial to the target species and <br />their associated habitats, and in the development of a Program. <br />II. RELATIONSHIP OF THE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT AND ANY <br />PROGRAM TO NEBRASKA V. WYOMIN t, AND OTHER MATTERS <br />A. The signatories to this Cooperative- Agreement are also parties to Nebraska v. <br />Wyoming, No. 108 Original, expected to go to trial during the term of the Cooperative <br />Agreement. Because certain matters in that proceeding may overlap with issues <br />addressed by the Cooperative Agreement and to be addressed by any Program, each <br />signatory reserves the right to reconsider its participation in the Cooperative Agreement <br />and in any proposed Program based upon the outcome of Nebraska v. Wyoming, <br />whether by settlement or decision. Such reconsideration shall, without restriction, <br />include the right to require modification of the respective obligations and undertakings <br />proposed to be assumed by each of the signatories in the Program to equitably account <br />for the outcome of Nebraska v. Wy in , and in the absence of an acceptable <br />modification, the right to withdraw from the Cooperative Agreement or from any <br />• proposed Program. <br />B. In the event of such withdrawal, or if any signatory withdraws from this <br />Cooperative Agreement for another reason, or if the Cooperative Agreement terminates <br />and a Program is not adopted, FWS believes such a situation warrants remitiation of <br />consultation and will reinitiate all ESA section 7(a)(2) consultations, referenced in <br />Paragraph VIII below, which relied upon the Cooperative Agreement and the proposed <br />Program as a component of their reasonable and prudent alternatives, and which are <br />subject to reinitiation pursuant to SO C.F.R. § 402.16. <br />C. Because it is the intent and the commitment of the signatories to this <br />Cooperative Agreement to work cooperatively and in good faith to resolve resource <br />issues relating to threatened and endangered species habitats along the Central Platte <br />River in Nebraska, the signatories make the following additional commitments for so <br />long as all signatories remain signatories of this Cooperative Agreement. <br />1. The signatories agree that the pending trial in Nebraska v. Wyoming <br />does not present the appropriate forum for establishing the specific water flow <br />requirements for threatened and endangered species or their habitat in Nebraska. <br />Those requirements are more appropriately defined and addressed in this <br />Cooperative Agreement and a Program, both of which the signatories enter into <br />• or may enter into voluntarily. <br />3 <br />