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DRAFT <br />Integrated Monitoring and Research Plan <br />I. INTRODUCTION <br />The Integrated Monitoring and Research Plan (IMRP) is designed to determine the biological <br />response of the target species and their habitats to the actions throughout the entire study area, on <br />Program lands and in specific management project areas, during the First Increment (13 years) of <br />the Program. The monitoring and research measures for the First Increment of the Program are <br />composed of compliance monitoring and biological response monitoring and research (Figure 1). <br />Compliance monitoring is discussed in . (Issue: At one time compliance monitoring <br />was part of the IMRP and there has been discussion about putting the compliance <br />monitoring back into the IMRP. Is this appropriate, if not where should it be placed? The <br />TC believes that it should NOT be in the IMRP.) This document focuses on the biological <br />response monitoring and research for the Program. Information derived using the IMRP along <br />with information from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), State agencies, and others <br />regarding the species biology, status, and recovery in the region, will be used to evaluate the <br />Program's First Increment and overall species recovery assuming comparable methods and <br />metrics are used in all areas. The Governance Committee will also use this information in the <br />adaptive management of Program lands, Program activities, and the overall Program when <br />developing Second Increment milestones. <br />The Programs long -term goal "is to improve and maintain the associated habitats" (Platte River <br />Recovery Implementation Program, II.) To move towards this goal, the Program has established <br />long -term and First Increment objectives. First Increment objectives for the Program include 1) <br />"improving the occurrence of Platte River flows in the central Platte associated habitats relative <br />to the present occurrence of species and annual pulse target flows ... by an average of 130,000 to <br />150,000 acre -feet per year as measured at Grand Island, through re- regulation and water <br />conservation/supply projects..." and 2) "protecting, restoring where appropriate, and maintaining <br />at least 10,000 acres of habitat in the Central Platte River area between Lexington and Chapman, <br />Nebraska" (Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, III. A. 3. b. (1) and (2)). The means <br />by which these overall Program objectives will be obtained are considered "treatments" applied <br />to the associated habitats resulting in some response by target species and /or their habitat. These <br />treatments will be land and water activities applied in accordance with the Program's Water and <br />Land Action Plans and will be implemented over the First Increment, as a combination of <br />individual actions. These individual actions should be developed and designed such that they <br />maximize the opportunity to determine the response of the target species and their habitats <br />through monitoring and research. This is consistent with the principles of adaptive management <br />(Walters 1997, Walters 1986, Holling 1978). <br />I.A. Monitoring and Research Levels <br />The general study area for monitoring and research for the three bird species consists of an area <br />3.5 -miles either side of the Platte River centerline beginning at the junction of U.S. Highway 283 <br />and Interstate 80 near Lexington, Nebraska, and extending eastward to Chapman, Nebraska. <br />