BOARD02556

• Board Meeting Date: 1/24/2001
• Description: WSP Section - Platte River Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

354

STATE OF COLORADO

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Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

Bill Owens
Governor

MEMORANDUM

CregE.W.aktJer
hecutive Director

Rod Kuharlch
(WeB DireCtor

Dan McAoU{{e
Deputy DireCtor

To:

Colorado Water Conservation Board {;J~ .

Rick Brown, Platte River Coordinator, Interstate Stream~vestiglJ.ti9)l
Randy Seaholm, Chief, Interstate Streams Investigatio~~ A", v<~.

January 12,2001

Prom:

Date:

Subject:

Agenda Item 20.d., January 24-25, 2001 Board Meeting.
Platte River Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement.

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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 Ri ver 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

Negotiation of a long-term agreement has been put on hold pending completion of a
number of important tasks/milestones. A draft final CA extension document was presented .
to the Governance Committee (GC) in December and the GC agreed to extend the terms of
the CA through June 30, 2003.

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Examples of the type of information and work that will be completed during the extension
include: a more detailed understanding of sediment concerns and options; a more clear
understanding of the future depletion plans for Nebraska and Wyoming especially in
regard to hydrologically connected ground and sutface water; a more complete
understanding of baseline habitat conditions; development of methods to monitor the study
area (approximately 80 miles of the central Platte River from Lexington to Chapman
Nebraska) and species use of the area.

Flood Protection. Watel Project Plaf"Jning and Financing. Stream and Lake Protection
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