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Food Availability <br />Various inventories have been performed at wetlands and bottomland grasslands along the <br />Platte River valley for potential whooping crane food items (Ballinger 1980, Cochnar and <br />Jenson 1981, Ratcliffe 1981, USFWS 1981, 1994, Currier et al. 1985, Davis and Vohs 1993). <br />According to these studies potential food items in these areas include plant tubers, small fish, <br />snakes, frogs, frog egg masses, crayfish, grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects. For tilled <br />agricultural lands, crop type and crop patterns can be determined from the land cover /land <br />use GIS database'Refererice; of datbase. Further, trends in waste corn, based on the <br />periodic investigations by the USGS Northern Prairie Science Center, can be found in the <br />Platte River Ecology Study ( USFWS 1981; and Krapu and Brandt 2001). The Program does <br />not anticipate the need to conduct further monitoring and research into food availability for <br />whooping cranes through the Integrated Monitoring and Research Plan. <br />Conclusion <br />Will discuss what data are available for before /after analysis, what data will best be used in <br />trend analysis, etc. <br />Draft Baseline Report — Whooping Crane Section 13 <br />