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nesting eagles. I realize they will be delisted in July but the signatories of the agreement <br />did not know this in July 1997. How can one federally listed species be ignored while <br />others are not? <br />In conclusion, the Platte River and its associated wildlife is a national treasure that <br />needs to be protected for what it is. We are not going to remove the dams, plug the <br />diversions, and take out the bridges so that the river can act as it did prior to European <br />development. The forces of nature acting on the system now are vastly and permanently <br />different than they were historically. Maintaining a base flow in the summer to prevent <br />fish kills, converting marginal cropland back to wet meadows, and protecting greenways <br />along the riparian corridor will go a long way towards providing benefits not only to the <br />target species but to the larger biotic community as well. The fatal flaw in this process <br />may be trying to prop the protection of the Platte using the ESA as a foundation. Once <br />again, the Platte needs to be protected for what it is; a resource serving the agricultural, <br />municipal, biological, and spiritual needs of the region. Aldo Leopold once said that the <br />first step to wise ecological tinkering is to keep all of the cogs of the wheel. We would <br />be well served to heed his advice and proceed with a holistic and reasoned concept of <br />how best to protect the river and its unique wildlife. Let us use adaptive resource <br />management in its broadest sense and proceed cautiously and carefully. <br />Sincerely, <br />Platte Watershed Program Coordinator <br />cc. Tom Franti <br />Dale Strickland <br />Curt Brown <br />