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new agricultural or municipal growth, and suffer the entire brunt of acquiring habitat. <br />There are many other costs to Nebraska that might appear as a result of this program that <br />simply don't show up on the ledger of the Cooperative Agreement. These would be the <br />hidden costs that result from changes in legislation or land use within the state. <br />Though I sound strident and my concerns are deeply felt, I believe that most of <br />these issues can be worked out. There are flexibilities that Nebraskans are willing to <br />accept, if they can be worked out in an equitable and truly cooperative manner. <br />NWU continues to participate in the CA process because it believes that this is the <br />best way to resolve endangered species issues in the Central Platte and NWU will <br />continue to support the process until the Fish and Wildlife Service takes positions that are <br />detrimental to the people of Nebraska and are unlikely to benefit the species. <br />This brings me to my next point and that is the exact purpose of a Cooperative <br />Agreement or any endangered species program. I always have believed the purpose was <br />to help the species. But it appears that in the Central Platte the purpose is to gain power <br />through control of water and land. <br />The evidence is everywhere. Every spring 500,000 sandhill cranes use the river. <br />Their numbers have increased since the 1960's and yet 150 whooping cranes which <br />migrate a few weeks later (and most importantly there are NEVER more than a handful <br />that land on the Platte, some years none) don't seem to have enough habitat. How can <br />that be when the Service uses sandhill habitat as a surrogate for the whoopers? <br />While only a very small percentage of the whooping cranes stop on the Platte <br />River, is the only river for which the Service has developed target flows. It doesn't <br />in <br />