Laserfiche WebLink
3.0 Definition of Baseline Condition <br />The Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust, Inc. developed a GIS database that <br />includes vegetation and land cover types within the Habitat Study Area. The database was <br />developed from aerial photographs taken in September of 1982 and includes 25 surface cover <br />types, including eight riverine types, four agricultural types, ten development type and three <br />other types.' The BOR has completed a new digital land cover/land use database for the Habitat <br />Protection Area that updates the 1982 database with data based on aerial photographs taken in <br />August 1998. The new database includes 39 land cover /use types and generally provides <br />additional detail than the 1982 database. Table 3.1 -1 provides a summary of the land cover types <br />included in the 1998 GIS database for the Central Platte area that are relevant for this analysis. <br />Information on land cover types from the 1998 GIS database was used to estimate likely land <br />uses in the Habitat Protection Area under the baseline condition. For each land cover type, <br />potential land uses were estimated with information from the 1998 land cover database and <br />information from interviews conducted with local agricultural extension agents. In general, the <br />major existing land uses within the Habitat Protection Area appear to include crop production, <br />grazing, sand and gravel operations, and dispersed development. <br />3.2 Future Land Use Conditions <br />Factors that may affect future land use include changes in farm policies and the potential <br />increase in demand for second homes and recreation sites along the Platte River. These factors <br />and others were considered when defining the baseline condition. It was concluded that land <br />uses within the Habitat Protection Area would remain relatively constant over the study period. <br />This conclusion is based on information on land use trends in the nine - county study area. <br />3.2.1 Development Trends <br />The Bureau of Reclamation analyzed the GIS database for changes in commercial and residential <br />development between 1982 and 1998 as represented by each of the land cover databases. A <br />summary is provided in Table 3.1 -2. This table summarizes the amount of acreage in <br />commercial and residential development within each bridge segment. For this analysis, the data <br />was taken --from the floodplain area only, which is the likely location of Program lands. <br />Table 3.1 -2 shows the amount of acreage in commercial development, residential development <br />with multiple dwellings and residential development with one dwelling each of the twelve bridge <br />segments. The development acreage is summarized for 1982 in the first five rows, for 1998 in <br />the next five rows, and the bottom part of Table 3.1 -2 summarizes the difference in development <br />areas between 1998 and 1998. Overall, commercial development acreage within the floodplain <br />has decreased. Residential development with multiple dwellings has increased while residential <br />development with one dwelling has. <br />URS Greiner Woodward Clyde Federal Services, Documentation of Existing Conditions in the Central Platte Valley. <br />Draft Report, prepared for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colorado, <br />June 2, 1999 <br />Currier, Paul J., Gary R. Lingle, and John G. VanDerwalker, Migratory Bird Habitat on the Platte and North Platte <br />Rivers in Nebraska, The Platte River Whooping Crane Critical Habitat Maintenance Trust. Grand lslan4 Nebraska, <br />1985. <br />Hwd.40210R012.doc 3 -2 Third Party Impact Study <br />Final Report <br />