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Why the Platte River Program is Needed by Colorado <br /> The Platte River Program is designed to resolve conflicts between water use and <br /> endangered species protection in the Platte River basin. Resolution of these conflicts is critical <br /> to the continued use and development of water supplies to meet the needs of Colorado's South <br /> Platte Basin. <br /> The Conflict <br /> Water-related projects that are authorized,funded, or carried out by a federal agency <br /> may require consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) under the Endangered <br /> Species Act (ESA). Federal agencies are required by Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA to insure that <br /> those actions are not likely to jeopardize listed species or adversely modify their designated <br /> critical habitat. Construction, operation and maintenance of water projects in the Platte River <br /> basin routinely require a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit from the Corps of Engineers. This <br /> includes routine projects such as pipeline crossings of jurisdictional waters and repair or <br /> rehabilitation of conveyance structures, which activities are frequently covered by nationwide <br /> permits. Many water storage or conveyance facilities located on national forest lands require <br /> special use permits issued by the U.S. Forest Service. Federal action may also be present <br /> through the receipt of federal funding under certain agricultural assistance programs. The <br /> Bureau of Reclamation and Corps of Engineers also own major water collection, distribution <br /> and storage facilities that provide water to numerous ditch companies and municipalities or are <br /> used for flood control purposes in Colorado. These types of activities are all subject to Section <br /> 7 of the ESA. <br /> The FWS believes that the Platte River resource is in a state of jeopardy, and that actions <br /> resulting in water depletions to the Platte River will continue the deterioration of the <br /> endangered species' habitat. The federally listed species at issue include the whooping crane, <br /> interior least tern, piping plover and pallid sturgeon. Prior to the Program, the FWS issued <br /> "jeopardy" biological opinions for virtually all water-depletive projects in the Platte River basin <br /> starting in the late 1970s, citing either new or continued water depletions as contributing <br /> factors in jeopardizing the existence of these species and adversely affecting designated critical <br /> habitat. Notable examples include the biological opinions issued in 1994 for the renewal of <br /> Forest Service special use authorizations for six existing agricultural and municipal water <br /> facilities along Colorado's Front Range. The 1994 opinions concluded that, absent offsetting <br /> measures, each of those existing water facilities would cause jeopardy to the listed species and <br /> adversely modify Platte River designated critical habitat in central Nebraska. The average <br /> annual depletion associated with one of those long-standing projects was 0.64 acre feet. <br /> Under the jeopardy standard applied by the FWS, individual water projects undergoing <br /> ESA consultation must avoid or fully offset all project depletions to FWS instream flow <br /> 2 <br /> Jam. <br /> SPWRAP <br />