Summary: cooperative agreement: basinwide recovery program for endangered species in the Central Platte River Basin
Date
1998-02
Authors
Cook, Jim, author
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and the United States Department of the Interior have developed a proposed basinwide recovery program for endangered species in the Central Platte River Basin. The program's primary purpose would be to provide and protect water and land for the habitat of whooping cranes, piping plovers, and least terns. The program would also serve as a reasonable and prudent alternative for water related activities requiring Section 7 consultations under the Endangered Species Act. Such consultations are required by that Act to ensure that federal actions, such as the relicensing of water projects, are not likely to have an adverse impact on endangered species or their habitat. A cooperative agreement outlining the proposed basinwide program was signed on July 1, 1997 by Nebraska Governor Ben Nelson, Colorado Governor Roy Romer, Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer, and Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt. The cooperative agreement specifies the activities to be undertaken in the next three to four years while the proposed program is being reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Funding will begin this fiscal year and a governing body has been established so that the states, the federal government and the other parties involved can work together on the activities planned during that time. The cooperative agreement also describes what the parties intend to accomplish during the proposed program's first increment, which is expected to begin after the NEPA review and last for ten to thirteen years thereafter.
Description
Presented at the Central Plains irrigation short course and exposition on February 17-18, 1998 at the Camino Inn in North Platte, Nebraska.
This 1/6/98.
This 1/6/98.