Spring 2001 Whooping Crane Migrational Survey Protocol Implementation Report

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R2 -1 A technical committee appointed by the Governance Committee will develop protocols for and initiate habitat and species monitoring and research R3 -1 the FWS and TC will identify data needed to ascertain biological response and the time frame required to evaluate those data (R3 -1 milestone as revised at the August 2, 2000 TC /GC workshop) R5 -1 The Nebraska Districts will implement any research and monitoring measures required by new FERC license articles for FERC Projects Nos. 1417 and 1835. R1 -2 and R1 -3 A technical committee will continue monitoring to document, relative to the habitat and species conditions that existed as of the effective date of the Cooperative Agreement, habitat and species responses to activities undertaken pursuant to the Cooperative Agreement. R3 -2 and R3 -3 The Nebraska Districts will continue to implement any research and monitoring measures required by FERC license articles for FERC Projects Nos. 1417 and 1835. II. PURPOSE The purpose of this monitoring protocol is to describe the conceptual design, study methods, and procedures that will be used to gather information on whooping crane stopovers in the central Platte River valley, Nebraska. This protocol describes the procedures to be used for these specific objectives: 1) Detect whooping crane stopovers in the study area — systematic aerial surveys of the study area will be conducted and the data will be used to comparatively evaluate changes in the frequency and the distribution of stopovers within the study area over time. Opportunistic locates will also be used to detect whooping crane stopovers in the study area. 2) Identify the locations of use and crane group movements in the study area — crane group movements will be documented in order to identify use sites, and to describe the patterns of movement of each crane group. 3) Document crane group activities at use sites — observers will document each activity displayed by the crane groups. Observed activities may help identify factors that influence how cranes use sites and aid in the interpretation of crane behavior. 4) Document the physical and/or biological characteristics of use sites — habitat parameters will be described and measured for the purpose of comparative habitat analyses (e.g., as in determining habitat suitability or preference analyses). 5) Landscape Data Collection — Basic landscape source data of whooping crane use sites in the study area will be collected through this protocol. This information will be used in future use /availability analyses using aerial photography and GIS information. February 23, 2001 Draft — WC Monitoring Protocol 2