ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, June 19, 2006 7:00 pm
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday that a controversial plan to manage the Platte River and improve wildlife habitat in central Nebraska won’t jeopardize the continued existence of four endangered species.
The federal agency issued its findings in a “biological opinion” that analyzed the proposed Platte River Recovery Implementation Program developed by a Governance Committee in consultation with officials from Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado.
Those three states and the U.S. Department of Interior have been working for 12 years to come up with a plan to protect four endangered and threatened species, while allowing on-going water uses in the Platte River basin to continue. Those uses include using the river’s water — which flows through the three states — to irrigate crops, generate electricity and provide drinking water and recreation.
“We believe such a program is the most efficient and equitable way to protect the species while allowing hundreds of water projects in the basin to continue in compliance with the Endangered Species Act,” said Mitch King, director of the Service’s mountain-prairie region.
Conservation groups called the biological opinion another major milestone in the process to help the whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover and pallid sturgeon.
“The bottom line is, the Platte River program gets a passing grade with respect to the rare species it is designed to benefit,” said Duane Hovorka, executive director of the the Nebraska Wildlife Federation.
The biological opinion comes almost a month after the release of the final environmental impact statement for the plan. Among the key components of the plan: increase river flows by roughly 130,000 to 150,000 acre-feet of water per year and provide 10,000 acres of suitable habitat along the river in central Nebraska. The plan would cost $317 million and be implemented in phases, the first one lasting 13 years.
“It’s a critical step in the federal process,” said Jim Cook, a Lincoln attorney who has represented Nebraska’s interest in the plan. “If they hadn’t arrived at the conclusion, it wouldn’t be acceptable to the federal agencies.
The next step is for the governors of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming and the Secretary of the Interior to approve the plan. Officials say they would like to have the plan in place by Oct. 1.
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.