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<br /> <br />SUNMARY <br /> <br />receives water from a supply canal from the Central Nebraska <br />Public Power and Irrigation District's canal below Johnson <br />Reservoir, which receives water from the Platte River near North <br />Platte, Nebraska, The wildlife management areas will require <br />land acquisition; woodland clearing, river channel maintenance, <br />wet meadow establishment, and grass and cropland management to <br />assist in habitat recovery and enhancement for endangered and <br />threatened species and other migratory species. About <br />7,000 acres of land in the Big Bend reach of the Platte River are <br />owned by the Platte River Whooping Crane Habitat Maintenance <br />Trust (Trust) and Audubon Society and are presently being managed <br />for wildlife purposes, Therefore, only 14,065 acres are being <br />proposed for project acquisition. The instream flow <br />requirements, table C, shows the flow regime used in the <br />"Biological Assessment," Volume 1, Attachment A, for threatened <br />and endangered speCies and associated habitat on the Platte <br />River, The FWS recommends in its Coordination Act Report and <br />correspondence (see Volume 2, Attachment B), that the wildlife <br />habitat management areas be managed as national wildlife refuge <br />areas, <br /> <br />Ground-water recharge for the NED plan is provided by diversion <br />from the Platte River east of Kearney, the North Prairie <br />Reservoir, and by storage in Plum Creek Reservoir, Four small <br />recharge reservoirs and 24 recharge ponds would provide <br />48,500 acre-feet of ground-water recharge annually to benefit <br />61,300 irrigated acres over the future without condition. Annual <br />diversion requirements from the Platte River would be <br />54,400 acre-feet for recharge and 52,900 acre-feet to wildlife <br />storage, <br /> <br />Because agriculture forms the basis of the area's economy, a big <br />slump in the agricultural sector has diminished the area's past <br />prosperity in both income and employment opportunities. The <br />NED plan as presented in this report would create direct farm <br />benefits the first year of project operation but would not attain <br />the full direct farm income of $17,169,000 until the year 2035, <br />However, the present value of the net income for the 100-year <br />life of the project is $13,547,000 in direct farm income plus <br />$1,223,000 in pump lift savings plus $2,028,000 in recreation and <br />fish and wildlife benefits for an annual basis of $16,798,000. <br />The direct, induced, and stemming-from effects have an annual <br />economic value in excess of $133,000,000 which are not reflected <br />in the economic summary, The latter two types of benefits are <br />considered to be regional in nature rather than national and are <br />therefore not included. <br /> <br />S-6 <br />