BOARD01379

• Board Meeting Date: 3/20/2000
• Description: Platte River Basin Issues - Platte River Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement - Status of Cooperative Agreement and Negotiation of a Long-Term Agreement
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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III. Status of Cooperative Agreement Activities

Over the past several months several interesting land and endangered species habitat related
activities took place, A land ownership entity workshop was held, a draft habitat protection plan
was completed, and a draft habitat criteria document was completed, In addition, the Water
Management Committee made progress in developing procedures for monitoring and tracking of
program water, but still has some work ahead of them, especially in regard to what is considered
new program water, and how program water will be protected to and through the critical habitat.
Some of the more interesting issues are briefly summarized below,

. The Land Entity workshop was held in North Platte, Nebraska, The purpose of the
facilitated workshop was to develop the structure for land ownership to meet the program
goal of 10,000 protected acres in the first increment (the program has a total goal of
protecting 29,000 acres for its duration). In attendance at the workshop were negotiators for
the three states, the Department of Interior, water users and Nebraska landowners,

There are several different concepts regarding the quantity and types of land that the
proposed program might acquire, There is still strong consensus that land be acquired based
on the principle of willing buyer/willing seller and that third party impacts be carefully
considered, The options for acquiring land (fee simple, short and long-tenn leases,
conservation easement) all have advantages and disadvantages, and we will continue to
evaluate what makes the most sense once more detail of the proposed program is developed,
Colorado's primary goals in this area are to:

I) Preserve equity for our investment. Nebraska landowners have been very vocal, and
they prefer that the program obtain land via short-tenn leases or conservation easements,
Our preference (as far as equity for our investment) would be to obtain fee title to lands
in Nebraska or some reversionary interest to fee title should the program fail; and

2) Secure adequate representation on any land entity created for the pr.ogram to ensure
that our investments are wisely made, and to ensure that the land component adheres to
the program budget.

Overall the workshop was a good first step and we will continue to keep the board infonned
as further progress is made,

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A very interesting challenge for the proposed program will be faced as we decide what type
of habitat/habitat management will provide the best balance between benefits to the species,
cost, ease of implementation, and will have the least social and environmental impacts,
Colorado would very much like to have a thorough consideration of these factors as we
acquire and manage program lands, However, there are some species experts that believe
only riverine habitat should be acquired and managed, Other species experts seem to have
the same view as Colorado and would also to consider acquiring off-river habitat, which may
provide a better overall balance of the factors describes above,

This is an important issue because management of habitat on the river may be more difficult,
expensive, and may drive the debate for more program water. If adequate habitat can be
acquired off-river, that is less expensive and easier to manage and maintain, then it should be
considered of value to the program, This issue is going to be a challenge for Colorado over
the next several months,

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