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<br />#." . <br />000791 <br /> <br />Pror:ram Goals in tlte First Increment - Existinr: Water Proiec/s" To serve as the <br />reasonable and prudent alternative for the impacts of existing water projects, the Program <br />will have two goals in the first increment: a land element and a water element. The <br />parties will commit to protect and restore at least I 0,000 acres of land in the Central <br />Platte habitat area" <br /> <br />The parties will also commit to provide 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet of water in the <br />Platte River through the habitat area" This water will be measured as reductions of <br />shortages against the target flows that the FWS believes is necessary to fully protect the <br />species. <br /> <br />Of this total amount of water, 70,000 acre feet will be provided by three water projects in <br />each of the states: the Tamarack Project in Colorado, an environmental storage account <br />in Lake McConaughy in Nebraska, and a storage account in an enlarged Pathfinder <br />Reservoir in Wyoming. These projects will be operated conjunctively through <br />consultations with an environmental account manager, to manage and reregulate river <br />flows" <br /> <br />The Tamarack Project will be located at the Tamarack Wildlife Area, between Stirling <br />and JuIesburg, Colorado" It will divert water from the Platte River through ditches and <br />wells in periods of excess flow, and recharge water to groundwater aquifers" This <br />recharge will be times so that the water will return to the river in times of shortage, <br />thereby providing additional flow when needed at the habitat. <br /> <br />The balance of the water needed to meet the Program water goal will be provided through <br />as-yet unspecified water conservation and supply projects in the basin" These projects <br />- willbe identified through a water cQnservation/",ater supply study to be conducted during <br />the Cooperative Agreement period, and paid for by the three states and Interior. <br /> <br />Program Goals in tlte First Increment - New Water Proiec/s. In addition to mitigating <br />the effects of new water projects, the Program will implement a framework that will <br />allow the. Program to serve as the reasonable and prudent alternative to mitigate the <br />effects of all new water development in each of the three states" Unlike the program for <br />existing water projects, this will not involve a land element. Each of the states will <br />develop its own program, which will reflect the unique circumstances of water <br />development in that state" Each state will also mitigate the effects of all water <br />development activities, not just those which require federal permits. <br /> <br />Nebraska and Wyoming do not have specific proposals for how they will do this. These <br />states will monitor all new water development activities in that state, and develop a <br />method, including needed legislation, to address those impacts" Therefore, Nebraska will <br />be required to address the impacts of continued well development in that state. <br /> <br />Colorado has developed a specific program to mitigate the effects of new water <br />development on flows in the South Platte Basin in times of shortage to the habitat. <br /> <br />Tn <br />