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Statement of John W. Keys, III <br />Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation <br />U.S. Department of the Interior <br />on <br />Endangered Species Act: The Platte River Cooperative Agreement <br />and Critical Habitats <br />Committee on Resources <br />United States House of Representatives <br />Field Hearing at Grand Island, NE <br />February 16, 2002 <br />Mr. Chairman, my name is John Keys. I am Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, <br />Department of the Interior. I am happy to be here to provide you with information concerning the <br />participation of the Department of the Interior in development of the Platte River Recovery <br />Implementation Program. I am accompanied by Ralph Morgenweck, Regional Director for the <br />Mountain Prairie Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Maryanne Bach, Regional <br />Director for the Great Plains Region of the Bureau of Reclamation. My written testimony deals <br />with the cooperative agreement and with the proposed critical habitat for the piping plover, as <br />requested in the Committee letter. My oral testimony will address the cooperative agreement <br />aspects of the statement. Mr. Morgenweck will answer any questions on critical habitat issues. <br />Both Reclamation and the Service have been extensively involved in the implementation of the <br />Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered <br />Species Habitats Along the Central Platte River, Nebraska (Cooperative Agreement). Mr. <br />Morgenweck and I are the Department's official representatives to the Platte River Governance <br />Committee. Ms. Bach is my alternate to the Committee and Bob McCue serves as alternate for <br />Mr. Morgenweck. Staff from both agencies have been involved in all of the meetings and in the <br />work of the Governance Committee and its subcommittees (which I will describe later in more <br />detail). In addition, Reclamation and the Service are co -leads in preparing a Programmatic <br />Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) and the Service is responsible for preparing a Biological <br />Opinion on the proposed recovery program. <br />The Cooperative Agreement is an effort to collaboratively develop a basinwide program for the <br />