Request for Proposal Platte River Channel Dynamics Study

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Request for Proposals Platte River Channel Dynamics Study Introduction and Backgroun The states of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska are seeking the services of a consultant with expertise in river channel mechanics including vegetation encroachment and channel bank armoring processes. As detailed in this Request for Proposals (RFP) and Exhibits, the consultant will perform comprehensive reviews of existing data, review and critique existing models and studies, arrive at independent conclusions based on existing data and available information, and make recommendations for filling in any information gaps regarding the role of sediment, flow modification, vegetation encroachment and other channel forces that have affected or are affecting the central Platte River in Nebraska, especially in the Lexington to Chapman reach. This project is related to the July 1, 1997 Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitats Along the Central Platte River, Nebraska (Cooperative Agreement) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) reviews of the proposed program being developed under that agreement. The U.S. Secretary of Interior and the Governors of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska signed the Cooperative Agreement to provide a framework to develop a basin -wide Proposed Program to address endangered species' habitat issues in the Central Platte River in Nebraska. The Proposed Program is to reduce shortages to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) target flows in the Central Platte River by 130,000 to 150,000 AF on an average annual basis. In order for the Proposed Program to serve as the Reasonable and Prudent Alternative under the Endangered Species Act, the Proposed Program is being rigorously reviewed by several federal agencies. The federal EIS team and the USFWS, in their NEPA and ESA reviews, respectively, of the Proposed Program, have produced several models and papers, identified later in this document. Those models and papers are being cited as reasons why the Department of Interior (DOI) has reached a preliminary determination that the Proposed Program cannot act as the "reasonable and prudent alternative" to a jeopardy finding for existing and future water uses. Primarily, the DOI has concluded that even with the Proposed Program, the Central Platte River channel will continue to constrict and degrade. DOI has suggested, in part, that increasing the sediment load in the river may need to be part of the final Program to stop the channel constriction /degradation process. While the three signatory states have agreed to work toward the land and water components of the Proposed Program, the need for adding a third "sediment /channel stability" component must be thoroughly evaluated and based upon the best available science. - 1 -