Platte River Recovery Implementation Program

Adaptive Management & Collaboration on the Platte
Home     About the Program     Feature Projects     Meetings & Activities     Request for Proposals     Program Library     Contact Us      
Program Administration     Whooping Crane     Piping Plover     Interior Least Tern     Pallid Sturgeon      
Background and Timing
Efforts to relicense Kingsley Dam on the North Platte River in western Nebraska, the presence of threatened and endangered species, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 1994 Biological Opinion on Platte River operations provided the backdrop for conflict over the Platte’s vital water. Rather than engage in years of courtroom battles over limited water supplies and individual river species, the governors of the three basin states joined with the secretary of interior in July 1997 to sign the “Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitat along the Central Platte River, Nebraska.”
 
As a part of the Cooperative Agreement, a Governance Committee (GC) was formed to lead  the negotiation process.  The GC consisted of representatives of the three basin states; the Bureau of Reclamation; the Fish and Wildlife Service; water users from each of the three basin states; and environmental groups.  The work of the GC concluded in early 2006 with a Final Program Document containing direction for all key elements necessary to implement a program to manage land and water resources to provide benefits for four “target species” on the river in Nebraska: the endangered whooping crane, interior least tern and pallid sturgeon, and the threatened piping plover. The secretary of interior and the governors of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska all signed the Final Program Agreement and the program commenced on January 1, 2007.

 

Program Goals, Governance and Management

The program is being implemented in an incremental manner, with the First Increment covering the 13-year period from 2007 through 2019. The overarching goal of the program is to utilize federal and state provided land, water and scientific monitoring and research to secure defined benefits for the target species and their habitats in the central Platte River. The program will also provide ESA compliance for existing and certain new water-related activities in the Platte basin upstream of the Loup River confluence for potential effects on the target species; help prevent the need to list more Platte River species under the ESA; mitigate the adverse effects of certain new water-related activities through approved depletions plans; and establish and maintain an organizational structure that will ensure appropriate state and federal government and stakeholder involvement in the program.

As during the Cooperative Agreement, the program is led by a Governance Committee (GC) consisting of representatives of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Fish and Wildlife Service, South Platte River water users, North Platte River water users, Nebraska water users, and environmental groups. The program also establishes key standing advisory committees to assist the GC in implementing the program. Those committees include the Technical Advisory Committee, the Land Advisory Committee, the Water Advisory Committee and the Finance Committee. In addition, an Adaptive Management Working Group (AMWG) has been formed to inform the GC on implementation of the program’s adaptive management plan.

Program Area

While the program is designed to provide ESA compliance for existing and certain new water related activities throughout the Platte River basin upstream of the Loup River confluence, the land acquisition and management for the target bird species will occur in the central Platte River region (Lexington to Chapman, Neb.). Program water activities will be designed to provide benefits for the target bird species in the central Platte region and for the pallid sturgeon in the lower Platte River stretch (below the Elkhorn River confluence). These areas are generally known as the “associated habitats.”

 

 

Program Costs and Cost Sharing

The program is estimated to cost roughly $320 million in 2005 dollars with the monetary portion of that being $187 million. The federal government will contribute $157 million in cash, and Colorado and Wyoming will jointly contribute $30 million. The remaining portion will come in terms of land and water from the states; Nebraska’s entire contribution will be of this nature. The total cost of the program in terms of cash, water and land will be shared equally between the federal government and the states.

 

Program Elements
The program has three main elements:

 

• Increasing stream flows in the central Platte River during relevant time periods

• Enhancing, restoring and protecting habitat lands for the target bird species

• Accommodating certain new water-related activities

 

These elements will be implemented according to underlying principles that require interests in land to be acquired only from willing participants and that avoid increasing tax burdens to local citizens by paying taxes or their equivalent on program lands. Program lands will be held by a Land Interest Holding Entity (rather than by the federal or state governments) and will be managed under a “good neighbor” policy.

 

Adaptive Management
An Adaptive Management Plan (AMP), which provides a systematic process to test hypotheses and apply the information learned to improve management decisions, is central to sucessful program implementation. The AMP was developed collaboratively by program partners and cooperators under the guidance of experts from around the country and is centered on priority hypotheses that reflect different interpretations of how river processes work and the best approach to meeting program goals. The AMP’s Integrated Monitoring and Research Plan (IMRP) will guide implementation of monitoring and research protocols to test the joint priority hypotheses and guide Program restoration and management decisions.

 

Water

The program’s objective is to use incentive-based water projects to provide sufficient water to and through the central Platte River habitat area to assist in improving and maintaining habitat for the target species. During the First Increment, the program focus will be on re-timing and improving flows to reduce target flow shortages by an average of 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet per year. In addition to the improved flow conditions, small pulse flows in the spring are intended to create vegetation- free sand bars suitable for plover and tern nesting.

Flow re-timing will be accomplished in part by releases from the Environmental Account (EA) in Lake McConaughy. The EA is a portion of the water stored in Lake McConaughy that is set aside and managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service for the benefit of the target species.  Other actions will include slightly revised operations of other water systems; general retiming of Platte River system water projects and other project management actions; and implementation of new water supply and conservation projects in the basin. Success of the Water Plan also relies on implementation of agreed-upon New Depletions Plans in the three states and by the federal government in accordance with the program goal of offsetting new depletions to the Platte River that occurred after July 1997.

 

Land
During the First Increment, the program objective is to protect, restore and maintain 10,000 acres of habitat. The program’s long-term objective for land is to acquire land interests, restore where appropriate, and maintain and manage approximately 29,000 acres of suitable habitat along the central Platte River between Lexington and Chapman. Land acquired during the program’s First Increment will be credited to this long-term objective as will certain lands that meet criteria established by the Governance Committee but are managed by other entities, such as environmental organizations or utility and irrigation districts.

The initial focus of land activities will be on acquiring interest in land considered part of “habitat complexes” of interest to the program—riverine habitat, wet meadow habitat and associated buffers. Non - complex habitat such as sandpits (important to the terns and plovers) and wetlands (important to whooping cranes) will also be considered. Land-related activities will be guided by the executive director and the Land Advisory Committee in partnership with landowners along the central Platte.