Draft PRRIP GC Minutes March 2014

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PRRIP—ED OFFICE DRAFT 05/10/2014 322 Heaston asked why the pallid sturgeon issue keeps coming up, the GC has had this discussion many times 323 and he thought we had determined that we would not cause adverse impacts to pallid sturgeon in the 324 lower Platte. Runge said goal#3 in the Program document discusses the need to test the assumption that 325 Program activities can benefit the pallid sturgeon. Heaston said to what end —we have spent time and 326 money determining we do not impact the lower river and given financial constraints he is not sure he 327 wants to spend Program staff time pushing the issue further. Heaston asked what specifically the Service 328 would want done. Runge said one option is to improve stream gaging to reduce error, but those ideas 329 need to be discussed first at the TAC. Barels asked what kind of stream gaging the Service is talking 330 about. Runge said that is a technical discussion that should be worked through at the TAC first. Barels 331 said he does not believe the Program document talks about enhancements in the lower Platte for pallid 332 sturgeon. 333 334 Czaplewski wonders if this discussion belongs in this biannual look. Rabbe asked if the GC would like 335 the Service to just stick to the milestones in future reports. The current report goes a little deeper than 336 that and it could be pared back. The Service does not get many opportunities to present something like 337 this with recommendations and opinions but we can certainly stick to just the milestones if that is what is 338 preferred. Barels said a report addressing milestones that includes additional recommendations or 339 enhancements will give the GC better guidance on how to address the milestones and the other ideas can 340 be evaluated based on available resources. Rabbe asked if the Service should update the 2013 report or 341 make these changes for 2014. Ament asked if the current report will be archived. Hines said she has 342 concerns about that. Campbell said he supports revising the 2013 report because he wants to use it as a 343 tool within DOI. LaBonde said he concurs with that, and the GC agreed. Hines said the revisions would 344 be made. 345 346 Sellers asked which conservation recommendations the Service is referring to. Kenny said there are 11 347 recommendations in the Biological Opinion. As examples,Kenny cited investigating and marking power 348 lines;partnership with Platte Valley Weed Management; etc.With regard to FWCA reporting,Kenny said 349 he needs help and guidance on what the Service needs to see. Items under this include flow-related 350 effects to the finescale dace, impacts to Sandhill cranes, etc. Campbell said he urges if we go down that 351 road,they go into the enhancement category because they are discretionary and we need to evaluate them 352 against requirements and what we can afford. Runge said under FWCA,the program is federally-funded 353 water resource development project so all the state agencies provided recommendations and that is 354 compiled as an appendix to the EIS. Hines asked if the revised report should back to the GC at the next 355 meeting. LaBonde said it should come back to the GC for comment and review. 356 357 Public Comment 358 LaBonde asked for public comment;none offered. 359 360 Executive Session 361 Ament moved to enter Executive Session; Heaston seconded. GC entered Executive Session at 9:31 362 a.m.Central time. 363 364 Heaston moved to end Executive Session; Berryman seconded. GC ended Executive Session at 11:111 365 a.m. Central time. 366 367 368 PRRIP March 11-12,2014 GC Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 9