August 21, 2018
A biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is nearly done as an important step toward seeking congressional approval to extend the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program for another 13 years.
The program involves the U.S. Department of Interior and the states of Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming in a basinwide effort to meet water and land habitat needs for four species listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act — whooping cranes, least terns and piping plovers in Nebraska’s Central Platte River and pallid sturgeon on the Lower Platte.
Program Executive Director Jason Farnsworth of Kearney said some Governance Committee and public comments still are being reviewed, but committee members meeting Tuesday in Denver said they were happy with how the biological opinion process is proceeding.
Farnsworth said the opinion is required under the National Environmental Policy Act. It says federal agencies must assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions.
