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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Endangered and Threatened Species of the Platte River <br /> <br />Successful, sustainable solutions of species issues in the Platte River Basin must begin <br />with water management. The committee found that sufficient scientific knowledge and <br />understanding exist and have been used to make informed decisions about the management of <br />water resources, the Platte River, and the threatened and endangered species that use the river as <br />habitat. Regarding the critical understanding and modeling that DOl has used to explain the <br />connections among stream flow, sediment movement, vegetation, and habitats, the committee <br />found that valid science was used when recommendations were made in the past but that future <br />decisions must rely on the use of newer methods and perspectives, particularly the concept of <br />normative flow regimes. The quality of the information upon which decisions are based could be <br />further improved by publishing research findings in peer-reviewed journals or in externally <br />reviewed synthesis volumes to increase accessibility and decrease the reliance on non-peer- <br />reviewed literature, The committee found numerous gaps in knowledge, Addressing them could <br />substantially improve science and management for the river, its human population, and its <br />threatened and endangered species, Those gaps are mostly related to problems of integration of <br />the various lines of scientific investigation, to a focus on highly localized rather than more <br />broadly based ecosystem perspectives, to a lack of analysis of basinwide connections, to a lack <br />of standardized procedures for data collection among government and private agencies, and to <br />lack of understanding of the relative cost-effectiveness and distributional consequences of <br />alternative conservation measures. <br /> <br />14 <br />