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H.A. Tracking, Accounting, and Peer Review <br />Two other Program activities, tracking and accounting of water projects and peer review, are <br />related to monitoring and research. Participants in the Program will track and account for <br />Program water using existing accounting procedures within each state. This tracking and <br />accounting process is described in more detail in the Water Action Plan. While this is not <br />biological response monitoring, the information may be of use in the analysis of biological data. <br />Similarly, peer review is neither monitoring nor research, but it is an important component of <br />both. Peer review of monitoring and research protocols, the results of monitoring and research, <br />and adaptive management will allow for greater scientific validity and will facilitate acceptance <br />of Program management decisions by scientists, politicians, and the general public. Peer review <br />will be conducted following the Scientific Peer Review Guidelines approved by the Governance <br />Committee (see attachment within Biological Monitoring and Research portion of Program <br />binder). The Program's Executive Director will administer peer review through a Peer Review <br />Work Plan and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will review the work plan and <br />recommend changes to peer review schedules. <br />The Governance Committee will receive scientific and technical advice from the TAC in <br />accordance with their charter (see Structures Document). Advice from the TAC will cover <br />biological response monitoring and research activities, adaptive management and peer review. <br />II. BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE MONITORING AND RESEARCH <br />The Program's biological response monitoring and research is designed to: 1) provide data to <br />evaluate the effectiveness of the Program to meet goals and objectives for the habitat of target <br />species, 2) provide data to evaluate the relative importance of Program habitat protection and <br />restoration measures to the target species, 3) provide data to support adaptive management <br />decisions regarding activities during the First Increment of the Program, and 4) provide <br />scientifically defensible data to facilitate development of milestones for future Program <br />increments. Analysis of information from all three levels of monitoring and research (i.e., system <br />level, Program level, and project level) will be used to make adaptive management decisions <br />during the First Increment, and near the end of the First Increment this information will be used <br />to evaluate the Program and develop Second Increment milestones. <br />II.A. Program Activities <br />The Program has two First Increment objectives, one for land and one for water (Platte River <br />Recovery Implementation Program, III. A. 3. b. (1) and (2)). The land objective is to protect <br />and/or restore, and maintain 10,000 acres of habitat through implementation of the Land Action <br />Plan (LAP). Habitat protection and management will occur throughout the First Increment and <br />will involve a series of land actions designed to benefit the three target bird species. The First <br />Increment water objective is to reduce shortages to FWS target flows by an average of 130,000 to <br />150,000 acre -feet per year as measured at Grand Island. The Program identifies three initial state <br />water projects as a source for an average annual reduction of shortages to target flows by 80,000 <br />acre -feet. The Water Action Plan developed during the Cooperative Agreement identifies <br />3 <br />