BOARD02211

• Board Meeting Date: 7/20/2004
• Description: WSP Section - Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, State of CO Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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GENERAL COMMENTS

1. The DEIS contains several inaccuracies in the description of Colorado's Tamarack Plan.
Colorado's Tamarack Plan will be implemented in compliance with the South Platter River
Compact and consistent with state water law. Corrections to the DEIS should be made to
make it clear that these two criteria are overarching principles in the implementation of the
Tamarack Plan. Additional specific comments will also be submitted on this topic.

2, The DEIS does not do an adequate job describing the benefits of a cooperative program and
the value of an adaptive management program. The DEIS fails to adequately highlight how a
jointly implemented program could react to, adjust to, and if necessary offset negative trends
to the species or habitat using a variety of management tools.

The DEIS portrays several "action alternatives" to the Proposed Program "emphasiz[ing] a
different focus or approach. The DEIS points out that "agreement of all parties to a
cooperative approach in other contexts should not be inferred." That statement is correct.
The DEIS, however, goes on to assume that each action alternative will incorporate the key
commitments and undertakings by the states and resource users under the Proposed Program.
These commitments include: (I) contribution of the three States water projects "as a basic
water supply"; (2) state and federal depletions plans to address the effects of future water
depletions; (3) coordinated water management by the Service's EA manager; (4) legal and
institutional protections for Program water through the habitat reach; (5) a land management
component assuming willing sellerlbuyer and incorporating tracts of land designated for
inclusion under the Proposed Program; (6) policies to protect Nebraska landowners; (7) a
well-funded IMRP; and (8) a 50/50 federaVstate cost-sharing framework.

Incorporating these elements as a base assumption into all action alternatives is not only
incorrect; it understates and materially misportrays the substantive benefits that are part of-
and only part of - the Proposed Program. The DEIS should be rewritten to illustrate a more
realistic range of action alternatives that do not embody these key Program benefits.

3. The Proposed Platte River Recovery Implementation Program embodies a cooperative
approach to benefit the target species in the face of significant scientific uncertainty and
disagreement. As recognized in the Program documents, differences of opinion surround
many issues related to Platte River basin land and water resources, The Proposed Program is
remarkable in that it holds promise of moving forward in the face of these uncertainties and
despite the disagreements. It does so because, while the signatories may not agree on the
science, they can agree to undertake defined contributions to benefit the species, coupled
with procedures to learn as we go and adjust specific management strategies through time.

It is critical that the DEIS and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service)
biological opinion on the Proposed Program recognize this cooperative framework-
consisting of defined contributions of the signatories, implementation of activities as
described in the Program documents as the way to work tluough scientific uncertainty and
disagreement during the I sl Increment, and a rigorous monitoring and research plan to
facilitate adaptive management responses and establislunent of objectives and milestones for
future Program increments. We are concerned that the DEIS portrayal of potential
Flood Protection. Water Project Planning and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation Planning