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

• Description: various documents including, emails, RFP, Press Release, etc.
• State: CO
• State: NE
• State: WY
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 2/2/2001
• Author: CWCB Staff
• Title: Staff files for Platte River Endangered Species Partnership ‎(aka Platte River Recovery Implementation Program or PRRIP)‎
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Meeting

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As part of an effort by the Department of the Interior and the states of Wyoming, Nebraska and
Colorado to develop a cooperative, basinwide, proposed program for the whooping crane, piping
plover, least tern and pallid sturgeon, the Department has delivered to the states a report
describing the factors the Department believes have caused the Platte River channel to narrow
and the habitat for the first three of those threatened and endangered species to be reduced. The
report was developed by two senior scientists at the Department's Bureau of Reclamation.
According to the Department, the report, entitled, "The Platte River Channel: History and
Restoration" highlights the effect that water projects throughout the Platte River Basin have had
upon the Central Platte River and the habitat it provides for the bird species. Early surveys and
photographs show that, historically, the Central Platte was wide, shallow, and much less
vegetated than it is today, all river characteristics deemed by the Department to be important to
the species. The Department has concluded in the report that up to 80 -90 percent of this habitat
in the Central Platte has been lost, at least in part because of the effects of upstream water
diversions and dams which have reduced the amount of both water and fine sand moving through
the central Platte. Further, the report indicates that the narrowing of the river channel is likely to
continue, as the river completes its adjustment to the reduction in peak flows and sediment load.
The report projects that ultimately, the river channel from Lexington to Grand Island will narrow
to an average width of approximately 800 feet. If that were to occur, it would represent an
additional loss of about 25 percent from the current channel width.
Ralph Morgenweck, Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service said, "We've known for
many years that we have been losing important habitat in the river and that the reduced sediment
supply to the Central Platte was an important issue, but until recently the loss of sediment had not
been studied sufficiently to formulate possible solutions. Although we in the Department also
considered sediment an issue when the Cooperative Agreement was signed in 1997, the focus of
the Program outlined at that time was on providing increased river flows and 10,000 acres of
habitat, not on the channel's stability."
The report also outlines approaches the Department believes could be undertaken to prevent
further habitat loss.
Morganweck also noted that the conclusions of the report do not have universal acceptance. In
fact, they have not been accepted or endorsed by any of the three states, who are currently in the
process of selecting an independent contractor to review the report and to conduct an
independent assessment of what, if any, channel related issues need to be addressed in the
Program. That work will not be completed for several months.
Morgenweck continued, "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