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Evaluation of Effects of the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program <br />(In Fulfillment of Milestone 113 -1 by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service) <br />June 16, 2000 <br />Introduction <br />The purpose of this document is to fulfill requirements of Milestone R3 -1, identified in Attachment <br />I to the "Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to <br />Endangered Species Habitats Along the Central Platte River, Nebraska" (CA). The R3 -1 milestone <br />is defined in the document as follows: <br />"FWS [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service)] will develop procedures to determine the means of <br />ascertaining biological response of species and habitat to mitigation measures, and the time frame <br />required to measure such biological response." <br />Milestone R3 -1 is closely related to Milestones R2 -1 and R1 -1. R2 -1 involves the development of <br />study protocols, including sampling strategy and frequency, data analysis, budget, etc., and is <br />currently being developed by the CA's Technical Committee (TC). R1 -1 is being developed by the <br />Service with recommendations by the TC, and involves development of the habitat and species <br />baseline against which future comparisons can be made. The phrasing of the definition of R3 -1 in <br />the CA, however, does not clarify its purpose relative to the other milestones. The Service <br />GOR —� interprets the definition to mean that the Service will develop procedures to evaluate: <br />a) the effect of mitigation measures (protection and management of water and land) on <br />the quantity, quality, and distribution of endangered species habitat; <br />b) the effect of mitigation measures on target species; and <br />C) the time frame necessary to measure habitat and species responses to those measures. <br />Background <br />The "mitigation measures" referred to in the milestones of the CA comprise the actions carried out <br />pursuant to the "Proposed Platte River Recovery Implementation Program" outlined in Attachment <br />III of the CA (Program). Since July of 1997, when the Secretary of the Interior and the Governors <br />of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska signed the CA; representatives of the signatories, various <br />water users, and conservation organizations have been working cooperatively to develop that <br />Program. Those purposes of the Program pertinent to the evaluation of Program effects include: <br />secure defined benefits for four target listed species (interior least tern, piping plover, <br />whooping crane, and pallid sturgeon) and their associated habitats to assist in their <br />conservation and recovery through a basin -wide cooperative approach; <br />2. serve as the reasonable and prudent alternative to offset the effects of existing and new <br />water - related activities in the Platte River basin that, in the absence of such a Program, <br />