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Natural Resources

Platte River EIS Keeps Conflicting Interests Out of Courtroom

September 8, 2004

The south branch of the Platte River flows through Colorado, the north branch through Wyoming, the two merging together to cross Nebraska. The river provides drinking water to more than 3.5 million people, irrigates 2 million acres of farmland, and is one of the West’s most contested rivers. The most contested section, the Central Platte in Nebraska, is the scene of a wildlife conflict that federal and state agencies, environmentalists and farm interests have been attempting to resolve over the past seven years.

On January 23 of this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation issued a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) that is open for public comment until September 20. The DEIS lays out four alternatives all of which would make some significant changes in the river’s water allocation in order to benefit endangered wildlife. While none of the major players are certain the project will work, there is a shared tone of measured support among the parties.

There are millions of birds that use the wetlands and islands situated along the Central Platte. Three species of birds--the piping plover, the interior least tern and the whooping crane--are in trouble due to the deepening of the original wide-braided channel by upstream dams and diversions, which allowed vegetation to encroach on the banks and islands. On the Lower Platte, it is the pallid sturgeon that is in trouble due to changes in habitat.

Four alternative actions are outlined in the DEIS, they are as follows:

1. Increase the flows devoted to wildlife to between 130,00 to 150,000 acre feet per year (an acre foot equals 326,000 gallons, or enough water for one to two families per year);
2. Purchase or protect (through conservation easements) a minimum 10,000 acres of habitat adding to the nearly 14,000 acres already protected;
3. Tune the dams on the Pathfinder River in Wyoming and the McConaughy in Nebraska to deliver water when needed by wildlife; and
4. Make efforts to restore vegetation free islands and wet meadows, both considered to be important habitat.

Irrigated agriculture is one of the potentially impacted stakeholders. It is estimated that 11,000 acres of irrigated farmland would be taken out of production, resulting in an estimated $4 million loss in crop production. It is emphasized in the DEIS that only water and land acquired from willing sellers and leasers will be used for wildlife restoration.

The next major milestone expected is the Fish and Wildlife Service’s draft biological opinion on the alternatives on which the Department of the Interior is expected to make a decision some time in 2005. Many believe that should the truce hold and the plan become a reality, it will be a major development in Western water management--governing the river on a watershed basis, not according to political boundaries.

 Water Resources