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The proposed program would take a phased, adaptive management approach. <br />Assuming the cooperating partners agree to the terms of the program, the first phase is <br />expected to be 13 years in length. It would have three primary components; the Water <br />Action Plan (WAP), the Depletion Plans, and a Habitat Plan, each of which is described <br />in more detail below. Water goals for the program relate to "target flows ", which have <br />been identified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( USFWS). For information <br />purposes, an attachment to this testimony compares the "species" and "annual pulse" <br />components of the USFWS target flows to water rights granted by Nebraska for instream <br />flow purposes. <br />Water Action Plan (WAP) <br />The target flows for the endangered species in the Central Platte reflect the flow <br />levels the USFWS believes are needed to provide adequate habitat for those species. <br />Actual daily flows historically have fallen short of those target flows, in the aggregate, by <br />an average of approximately 417,000 acre feet (af) per year. There is substantial <br />disagreement about whether the identified target flows are biologically or hydrologically <br />necessary or even beneficial to the habitat and/or recovery of the species. While the <br />USFWS believes they are, they have also stated they are willing to review and possibly <br />revise the target flows as better science becomes available. <br />In the meantime, incremental improvements in flows would be sought. The goal <br />during the first increment of the proposed program would be to reduce shortages to the <br />current target flows at Grand Island by an average of 130,000 to 150,000 of per year. <br />Three projects already being implemented or planned by the three States will produce an <br />estimated 80,000 of per year. The first project is an "environmental account" (EA) in <br />Lake McConaughy, where 10% of the storable inflows between October and April are <br />stored, managed and released with the objective of reducing shortages to target flows. <br />There is a cap of 100,000 of that can be stored annually and a 200,000 of total storage <br />cap. Since its creation in 1999, the EA has been used to improve flows in the central <br />Platte throughout much of the summers of both 2000 and 2001. <br />The second project is an enlargement of Pathfinder Reservoir in Wyoming. Water <br />from that project will be managed with a similar objective; it is still in the planning stage, <br />but if implemented would provide 34,000 of in storage capacity for the program. <br />The third project is the Tamarack Project in Colorado. The Tamarack Project, which <br />is expected to yield an average of about 10,000 of in the habitat area, would take water <br />out of the river during times of excess flows (most often during the winter months) and <br />temporarily store it in shallow alluvial aquifers where it would naturally return to the <br />river at times when flow shortages are more likely. Tamarack is under construction and <br />currently is partially operational. <br />The additional 50,000 to 70,000 of necessary to realize the 130,000 to 150,000 of goal <br />for the first increment will be obtained through other projects. Those projects will be <br />selected throughout the basin, must be acceptable to the states, and will be implemented <br />throughout the first increment of the program. They are most likely to be storage and <br />retiming and/or conservation oriented. <br />A Reconnaissance Level Water Action Plan which lists the projects now proposed <br />was completed in September, 2000, and will be revised as necessary. Inclusion of <br />projects in the WAP simply means that they will be advanced to the feasibility level of <br />-2- <br />