Laserfiche WebLink
<br />'\ <br /> <br />.\ <br /> <br />04Q:? <br /> <br />IMPACT OF NARROWS UNIT ON PLATTE RIVER CRANE HABITAT <br /> <br />Sandhi 11 Cranes <br /> <br />Each spring, multitudes of waterfowl and wading birds descend on the <br />Platte River in Nebraska. Annually; 80-100 percent of the midcontinent <br /> <br />population of lesser sandhill cranes, variously estimated to number <br /> <br />between 200-300,000 birds, stage in portions of the Platte and North <br /> <br />Platte River Valleys, on their way to nesting grounds in the tundra <br />, <br />and boreal forests of Siberia, Alaska~~e\canada (Fish and Wildl~fe <br />Service, 1976, and Sanderson, ...l~Fr."<~?:~~'\nes begin their northward <br />migration from wintering gFoonds in w;St~exas, southern New Mexico, <br />~ \ ..... <br />and northern and cen(l::al Me'xi co . "'....n,e fact that both the wi nteri ng and <br />nesting ground~0'~'~'s~!lRf{1"S are extremely widespread gives rise <br />to the term "hou~a'S-e'" migratory pattern. The "stem" of the ,"hourglass" <br />consists of 11 primary roosting sites within the "big bend" portion of <br />the Platte River in Nebraska, an 80-mile stretch from just east of <br />Lexington downstream to Chapman (see figure .}. Crane habitat is <br />also found in a small area between North Platte and Sutherland, Nebraska <br /> <br />(see figure.___). <br /> <br />Historically, sandhill cranes made extensive use of the Platte River from <br /> <br />Chapman all the way to the city of North Platte. Now, the riverine <br />habitat from just west of Overton upstream to North Platte receives <br />no crane use (see figure ___). <br /> <br />q <br />