WSP00190

• File Number: 8407
• Description: Platte River Basin - River Basin General Publications
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 6/2/1999
• Author: URS Greiner Woodward
• Title: Documentation of Existing Conditions in the Central Platte Valley - Delivery Order Number 86
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

I
I
I
J
II
I'
I
(
I
l
I
t
I
II
I
I
I,
I
I

t1'\ "".I ~~ ~ ~ i)
f.;'J.)../.) J

SECT'DNONE

lnuoduclion

The endangered species and wildlife resources of the Central Platte Valley of Nebraska have
been a focus for study and protection for more than 20 years, principally because of the potential
for water development projects to jeopardize certairi Platte River species. In the 19705, the
proposed Grayrocks Dam on the Laramie River in Wyoming led to a court-approved settlement
which established the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust in 1978. The Platte
River Management Joint Study originated from a jeopardy opinion on the Narrows Project, and it
was ongoing from 1985 to 1993. Beginning in 1984, the proposed relicensing of the Kingsley
Darn and the North PlattelKeystone Diversion Dam by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (fERC) resulted in a prolonged permitting process. These and other conflicts
between the ESA and water development led eventually to the July 1997 Cooperative Agreement
for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitats Along the
Central Platte River, Nebraska (Cooperative Agreement).

Attachment I of the Cooperative Agreement lists milestones by year and subject. This report has
been prepared to address Research Milestone R1-1 of the Cooperative Agreement. Rl-l requires
the U.S. fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to document the habitat and species conditions
existing in the Central Platte Valley as of July 1, 1997, to compare against future
changes/improvements in habitat and species status. This report will be referred to as the
"baseline" and is intended to provide a description of the existing quantity and quality of habitat
for target species and other important resources in the Central Platte River Valley. This Baseline
Report is also designed to help support other milestones, specifically R2 -1 (habitat and species
monitoring and research), and R3-1 (means of ascertaining biological responses to mitigation
measures).

To assist in interpretation of the data provided, a summary is presented at the end of each section
that briefly reviews the ability of the existing baseline to suppon future monitoring. Since the
species and habitat monitoring program for the Cooperative Agreement is under development at
the time of this writing, evaluation of data adequacy to suppon monitoring is preliminary and
will be revised as needed. The assessment of adequacy was based on past monitoring
recommendations of the Platte River Management Joint Study (FWS 1990), working papers from
the Technical Committee, and general considerations of habitat quantity and quality and species
population size and strUcture.

The Cooperative Agreement covers four target species listed as threatened or endangered
pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (ESA, 16 USC 1531 et seq .), and their associated
habitats. For purposes of the Cooperative Agreement and its attachments, the term "associated
habitats", means the following:

. For whooping crane, interior least tem, and piping plover, associated habitats includes the
Platte River Valley from the junction of U.S. Highway 283 and Interstate 80 (I-80) near
Lexington, Nebraska, extending eastward to Chapman, Nebraska, and including designated
critical habitat for the whooping crane.

. For pallid sturgeon, associated habitat means the lower Platte River between its confluence
with the Elkhorn River and its confluence with the Missouri River.

_SteiIIeT~t:IpJB
Ft1t/ef;IIIerrfr:a

6BF0097286OO1r1.aoc 612/1999(9-.52 AMYURSGWCF$J2 1-1