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successful habitat restoration effort if habitat was still being lost throughout the critical reach of <br />the river." Some of the potential remedies discussed in the report are similar to habitat <br />improvement activities that have been used for several years on the central Platte. With <br />theassistance of landowners along the river, organizations such as the Whooping Crane Trust, <br />Audubon Society, and Fish and Wildlife Service have been clearing river islands of trees and <br />vegetation to restore roosting and nesting habitat for the target species, while also improving <br />waterfowl hunting. <br />One of the options being considered by the Department and suggested to the states is to augment <br />these efforts with leveling of these islands back into the river channels. "I want to emphasize," <br />said Morgenweck, "that the material that would be moved back into the river is river sand; it is <br />not silt, clay, or topsoil material. Efforts to augment fine sand material in the river are not in <br />conflict with other programs to prevent soil erosion or runoff from farm lands." Morgenweck <br />also noted that the Platte River Governance Committee is continuing its development of the <br />proposed recovery program and that these issues will be discussed in that forum. <br />The Department of the Interior, the three States, water user groups, and environmental groups are <br />all members of the Governance Committee and that group will eventually need to come to a <br />consensus about how to improve river habitat for the three threatened and endangered bird <br />species. If successful, the recovery program would enable current levels of use of the Platte <br />River waters for irrigation and power generation to continue in compliance with the Endangered <br />Species Act without additional obligations being imposed on the owners and operators of those <br />current uses. <br />"The Platte River Channel: History and Restoration" is available at www.platteriver.org_ For <br />additional questions regarding this report, you may contact the Platte River EIS Office, in <br />Lakewood, Colorado, at 303 - 445 -2096. <br />C•' <br />