Pallid Sturgeon and the Role of the Proposed Program

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This paper provides observations and recommendations on the relationship of the Platte River Cooperative Agreement to the pallid sturgeon. The information presented is an outgrowth of several efforts to develop a component of a Proposed Program that can undergo NEPA and ESA analysis. The Platte River Governance Committee (GC) requested that various Platte River partners develop a method(s) to evaluate how the Programs water component might affect the lower Platte and to identify a biological monitoring and research component. This paper focuses on the effort to develop the monitoring and research component. Most of the referenced information comes from the 1998 Missouri River Biological Opinion unless specified otherwise. A subgroup of Platte River partners meet a few times over the last several months to identify monitoring and research tasks. Members of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) provided an initial discussion draft of potential tasks. The GC also provided guidance via notes from their March 25, 2002 workshop. In part the guidance indicated that the subgroup should "...include a review of the pallid sturgeon status in the Platte River, its relationship to pallid in the Missouri River, the significance of the management of the Missouri relative to pallid habitat in the Platte River, a research and monitoring plan, including specific questions being addressed, a process and schedule for research and monitoring that follows a predefined sequence of steps resulting in the most efficient use of time and budget, a descriptions of how other pallid investigations....will be incorporated into program activities, and a budget ...." The subgroup was successful in identifying and r.,,- 11,, of four monitoring and research tasks (Tasks 35, 36, 44 and 45) that had general consensus which ultimately might be adopted as a component of the Proposed Program. Additional subtasks were discussed but consensus could not be reached. In addition some members of the subgroup believe that the current work product does not fully address the Missouri River and other pallid investigations, and additional refinement is needed regarding their status in the Platte River. The main obstacle to reaching consensus can generally be framed as follows: While it is generally agreed that the Program should address the pallid sturgeon the question that persists is what is the appropriate, fair and equitable amount of monitoring and research that should be borne by the CA participants during the first increment? Answering this question requires consideration of technical, biological, regulatory and policy related issues. A more detailed discussion of some of the issues is provided below. The Proposed Program addresses water related activities for only a ygU small portion of the geographic area that might affect the pallid sturgeon. Preliminary results of �o *VeR hydrolovic analysis presently underway indicates that flow form the central Platte do not contribute sinificantl to the overall flows at Louisville Nebraska on the lower Platte. It is impossible at this time to judge how ongoing work and regulatory activities below oil . within the Missouri River system and its tributaries will progress over the first increment of the Proposed Program. It is unreasonable and inefficient to expect the Proposed Program participants to commit to extensive additional analysis of the pallid sturgeon until these other efforts have more fully developed. Rev. 1 Sept. 3, 2002 Draft R.B. ok a� ak