WSP01978

• File Number: 8460.500
• Description: Platte River Recovery Plan
• Basin: South Platte
• Date: 9/1/1990
• Author: USFWS
• Title: Interior Population of the Least Tern - Recovery Plan
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

south of Bismarck (Dryer and Dryer 1985, Mayer and Dryer 1988), and about
29 km of the Yellowstone River in North Dakota from the Montana border to
the river's confluence with the Missouri River (Krei1 and Dryer 1987). A
few interior least terns nest on islands, shorelines and sandbars along
the reservoir, Lake Oahe, an impoundment on the Missouri River in North
and South Dakota (Schwalbach 1988, Mayer and Dryer 1988). In Montana,
breeding interior least terns ,recently have been recorded on the
Yellowstone River, and.on the Missouri River between Fort Peck Reservoir
and North Dakota. A few interior least terns have been recorded on
islands and shoreline within the Fort Peck Reservoir (Charles M. Russell
National Wildlife Refuge). These locations are the western most nesting
sites of the interior least tern.

Interior least terns breed along the lower section of the Niobrara
River, Nebraska, from Keya Paha and Rock Counties to the Missouri River
(Nebraska Game and Parks Commission 1985a). Current distribution probably
is similar to the historic distribution because the Niobrara River has
been little changed by man (Ducey,1985). On the Platte River, Nebraska,
interior least terns nest on sandbars and at sand and gravel pits from the
Missouri River to North Platte (Nebraska Game and Parks Commission 1987)
and along the South Platte River as far west as Ogallala. On the Loup
River, a tributary of the Platte River, interior least ternB breed as far
west as Arcadia but are most common between Saint Paul, Nebraska and the
Loup's confluence with the Platte River at Columbus, Nebraska. A few
interior least terns also occur along the E1khorn River, another tributary
of the Platte River.

The interior least tern no longer nests in the Missouri reaches of the
Missouri River (Smith 1985, Sidle et al. 1988, Smith and Renken 1990).
The hydrology of the River in Missouri has been drastically altered by
channelization, and studies show that river levels are typically too high
during the breeding season to expose suitable nesting habitat (Smith and
Renken 1990).

Arkansas River System: Breeding interior least terns occur along the
Arkansas River system in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas
(Table 2). In Colorado, interior least terns nest at Adobe Creek
reservoir (Blue Lake) and have been observed at Nee Noshe reservoir
(Carter 1989). Both reservoirs are located on small tributaries of the
Arkansas River.

In Kansas, interior least terns nest on the Cimarron River in Meade,
Comanche and Clark Counties, and Q~ivira National Wildlife Refuge, and in
the recent past at Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Management Area (Boyd 1983,
1986, 1987; Schulenberg and Ptacek'1984).

The interior least tern occurs on several tributaries of the Arkansas
River in Oklahoma. It breeds along the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River at
the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge (Hill 1985, Grover and Knopf
1982); Optima Reservoir at the fork of the Co1dwater Creek and Beaver
River in the Oklahoma Panhandle; :and on the Cimarron River in Beaver,

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