By Robert Pore
robert.pore@theindependent.com

Among the sponsors of the bill were U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.

Nelson said the Platte River recovery is "absolutely critical to improving and maintaining habitat for threatened and endangered species while allowing water use and development along the Platte River."

"Our legislation will ensure that this plan is able to be fully implemented, and we are pushing the Senate to act on it as soon as possible," he said. "With the committee's unanimous action, the road is clear for Senate passage of this bill."

The legislation, which the committee approved on Tuesday, will authorize the secretary of the interior to proceed with the program and includes $157 million to carry it out. The cost will be shared 50/50 by the states and federal government.

Through the program, the states will provide benefits for the endangered and threatened species as well as land, water and scientific monitoring and research to evaluate benefits of the program.

Hagel said the passage of funding legislation is "important news for Nebraskans."

"This is the kind of intrastate cooperation that will be necessary to address future water challenges in Nebraska and across the U.S.," he said. "I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that the Senate considers this legislation as soon as possible."

In late 2006, the governors of Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming and the Department of the Interior signed the final program agreement. The states and the Department of the Interior had been working together since 1997 to develop a recovery plan to benefit certain species yet allow continued water use and development along the Platte.

Ron Bishop, manager of the Central Platte Natural Resources District, said much of the recovery program has been at a standstill in anticipation of the federal funding, such as the land and water acquisition portions of the plan.

"It has been sitting, waiting whether the administration is going to fund the federal part of the proposal," Bishop said.

He said Nebraska's share is about 40 percent that has either already been contributed or will be an in-kind contribution once the project gets rolling.

Two of the big goals of the recovery plan are to increase flows in the Platte River and create new habitat to benefit the four endangered and threatened species the program is designed to protect.

The species are the endangered interior least tern, whooping crane, pallid sturgeon and the threatened piping plover.

Once the recovery project gets going, Bishop said, much of the habitat that's part of the project will be located and acquired in the Central Platte NRD.

Bishop said the plan proposes to acquire 10,000 acres of new habitat. The proposed area is between Lexington and Chapman.

He said the land will be purchased from willing sellers, but increasing river flow may involve further regulating water use along the Platte River.