Draft Final R3-1 Document ‎(2)‎

• Description: related to the Platte River Endangered Species Partnership ‎(aka Platte River Recovery Implementation Program or PRRIP)‎
• State: CO
• State: NE
• State: WY
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 4/17/2000
• Author: PRRIP
• Title: Items related to the Draft Final R3-1 Document
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Draft Final R34 Document
April 17, 2000
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to fulfill requirements of Milestone R3 -1, identified in
Attachment I to the "Coo_ perative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts
Relating to Endangered Species Habitats Along the Central Platte River, Nebraska" (CA). The
R3 -1 milestone is defined in the document as follows:
"FWS [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service)] will develop procedures to determine the means
of ascertaining biological response of
species and habitat to mitigation
measures, and the time frame
required to measure such biological
response."
Milestone R3 -1 is closely related to Milestones R2 -1 and R1 -1. R2 -1 involves the development
of study protocols, including sampling strategy and frequency, data analysis, budget, etc., and is
currently being developed by the CA's Technical Committee (TC). Rl -I is being developed by
the Service with recommendations by the TC, and involves development of the habitat and
species baseline against which future comparisons can be made. The phrasing of the definition
of R3 -1 in the CA, however, does not clarify its purpose relative to the other milestones. The
Service interprets the definition to mean that the Service will develop procedures to evaluate:
a) the effect of mitigation measures (protection and management of water and land)
on the quantity, quality, and distribution of endangered species habitat;
b) the effect of mitigation measures on target species; and
C) the time frame necessary to measure habitat and species responses to those
measures.
Background
The "mitigation measures" referred to in the milestones of the CA comprise the actions carried
out pursuant to the "Proposed Platte River Recovery Implementation Program" outlined in
Attachment III of the CA (Program). Since July of 1997, when the Secretary of the Interior and
the Governors of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska signed the CA; representatives of the
signatories, various water users, and conservation organizations have been working cooperatively
to develop that Program. Those purposes of the Program pertinent to the evaluation of Program
effects include:
1. secure defined benefits for four target listed species (interior least tern, piping plover,
whooping crane, and pallid sturgeon) and their associated habitats to assist in their
conservation and recovery through a basin -wide cooperative approach;