Wyo officials study impact of Platte River endangered species document
JARED MILLER Star-Tribune capital bureau with wire reports | Posted: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - The final version of a plan to manage Platte River flows for endangered species conservation hit the streets Tuesday.
But with more than 500 pages to wade through, Wyoming officials had yet to uncover exactly what impacts the final environmental impact statement will have on state irrigators, fisheries, reservoirs and recreationists.
"It'll probably take some time to digest," said Al Conder, Casper regional fisheries supervisor with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
The document is the latest step in a long effort to accommodate endangered species and growing demand from water users in Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado.
One provision that was evident Tuesday is a plan to expand Pathfinder Dam in Natrona County for another 54,000 acre feet of water. The added capacity would allow occasional heavy releases for improved downstream wildlife habitat.
Water users in Carbon County have complained about that proposal, arguing that existing flows are spoken for by irrigators and others.
Joe Glode, president of the Upper North Platte Water Users Association, said he planned to dive into the new document right away to see if the federal government's preferred alternative addresses the concerns.
"We just haven't had a chance to take a look at it," Glode said.
The preferred alternative could cause problems for Wyoming irrigators and fisheries in times of drought.
For example, it will increase the number of years irrigators on the North Platte and Kendrick irrigation projects and the Glendo irrigation unit experience water delivery shortages. However, the shortages would be even more extreme under the three other alternatives in the document.
Under the preferred alternative, fisheries in Seminoe and Pathfinder reservoirs could be "substantially eliminated" if prolonged drought occurs. Conder said the key words there are "prolonged drought." Under wet conditions, the plan would have little impact on Wyoming fisheries, he said.
"I'm guessing they are going to push the low (water levels) down a little bit lower, which certainly could have some negative impacts, both to fisheries and just to recreation," Conder said.