BOARD00144

• Board Meeting Date: 9/25/2000
• Description: Platte River Basin Issues - Platte River Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conseroation Board

Department ot Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone' [phone]
FAX, [phone]

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MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

To:

Colorado wategconservation Board

Rick Bro~latte River Coordinator, Interstate Streams Investigation
Randy Seaholm, Chief, Interstate Streams Investigation

Peter H. Evans
ewes Director

From:

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director

Date:

September 15,2000

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

Subject:

Agenda Item 6.d., September 25-26, 2000 Board Meeting.
Platte River Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement.

I. Introduction

In 1997 the Governors of the states of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming signed an agreement with
the Department of Interior to improve and/or study the habitat of four endangered species in the
Central Platte River in Nebraska. The proposed program has three components: water, land, and
monitoring and research. This memorandum will highlight the status of the negotiations and
summarize some of the key activities of several of the Cooperative Agreement (CA) Committees.

II. Status of Negotiations

Several significant events occurred over the last two months which has changed the complexion of
the CA process and negotiations of a long.term agreement. The Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) team announced that they will not be able to complete their work by August/September.
More importantly the EIS team announced that the preliminary evaluation of 7 or 8 alternatives,
which include the proposed program developed by the states, currently does not meet the minimum
requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), The primary concern was described as
continued degradation (narrowing and deepening) of the Platte River channel as a result of
insufficient sediment supply.

This situation raises significant questions regarding the future direction of the CA and proposed
program. Colorado is currently trying to shift the focus of the discussions back to what we believe
was the original agreement (land, water and monitoring and research). Colorado believes that any
potential negative impacts to the Platte channel can be addressed by monitoring and based on those
results options can be developed if necessary. It is too early to determine whether a mutually
acceptable solution is available and/or viable.

What is certain is that the schedule for the CA and negotiations of a proposed program will need a
moderate to long extension, We currently anticipate the need for at least a two years extension. It
is somewhat frustrating to think about extending and already protracted process. The CA
participants are considering developing a few specific interim work tasks/milestones that will focus
on obtaining tangible progress in addition to the negotiation and administrative processes. One
other positive note is that Colorado water users should be able to continue business as usual during
this time extension.