Platte River Channel Becomes a Focus for Platte River Cooperative Program Studies2001

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OA/26/01 18:25 FAX 303 445 6331 PLATTE RIVER EIS OFFICE Z 004 #7 The Department of the Interior, as part of its efforts to develop a cooperative, basinwide, proposed recovery program for the whooping crane, piping plover, and least tern, has delivered to the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorad a technical report describing the actors that have caused the Platte River channel to narrow an� habitat for these threatened ndangered species to be lost. ML However, up to 80 -90 percent of this ha t in th ntr been lost, primarily from-the effects of upstream water diversions dams ch have ed the amount :of both water and fine sand moving through the cen +atte. her, the ort indicates that the narrowing of r� the river channel is likely to con , as th er co m eS its adjustment to the substantial ' reduction in peak flows and d nt load rojects that ultimately, the river channel from Lexi to Gran ill narro rage width of approximately 800 feet. This would r ad di f about rcent from the current channel width. Sport also outl' approaches that could be undertaken to prevent further habitat loss. The revi report as part of their independent assessment of the issues. 2 y continues, "It's critical to the success of the cooperative recovery program that any continuing loss of river habitat be considered and addressed.. It would be hard to build a successful habitat restoration effort if habitat was still being lost throughout the critical reach of the river." The types of potential remedies discussed in the report are similar to habitat improvement activities that have been used for several years on the central Platte. With the