The Platte River was named today as one of the nation's most endangered rivers of 2003 by the conservation group American Rivers, which cited concerns that growing water demands will undermine a tri-state agreement to protect the river.

The Platte River is at the No. 7 spot on the annual list.

American Rivers and other conservation groups warned that the next 12 months would be crucial in determining the Platte's long-term future and the ultimate fate of four threatened or endangered species.

"The Platte River already loses much of its water for irrigation, but every week we learn about some new proposal to wring a few more drops of water out of it," said Rebecca R. Wodder, president of American Rivers. "Unless commitments to protect the Platte River stick, the basin could become the scene of water conflicts that rival those along the Klamath or the Rio Grande."

The group uses its annual list to draw attention to rivers it thinks are particularly vulnerable to human activities. Last year the Powder River made the list. In the 1990s, the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River made the list three years in a row as controversy swirled about a gold mine proposed for the drainage.

At risk

The Platte is the spring host to the endangered whooping crane, half a million sandhill cranes and millions of ducks and geese that migrate through central Nebraska each year on their way to breeding grounds. In addition, the threatened piping plover, endangered interior least tern and endangered pallid sturgeon are at increased risk as further demands are put on an over-appropriated river system.

Wodder said the current drought has been particularly harsh in the Platte River basin. She is concerned that momentum is building towards new surface and groundwater withdrawals that would further deplete river flows. Perceived threats include irrigation agencies dusting off old plans for new dams and reservoirs as well as political calls for "water yield enhancement," a euphemism for clear-cutting large swaths of the national forests along the river's headwaters to increase runoff.

All of these pressures will severely test a "Cooperative Agreement" between Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and the Department of the Interior to preserve flows and restore habitat in the Platte River, say conservationists. The states and federal government created the Platte River Endangered Species Partnership to work out the agreement.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that it needs 417,000 acre feet of water to restore habitat and protect the threatened and endangered species," said Duane Hovorka with the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. "None of the three states buy that, so they all agreed to disagree."

The states and Interior came up with an initial goal of reducing water shortages for endangered species by 130,000 to 150,000 acre feet.

"That's clearly not enough for the long term," said Hovorka, "but it is a start."

Next fall, the Interior Department is expected to release its analysis of the plan now underway, which includes protecting and restoring 10,000 acres of riparian habitat and establishing a research and monitoring program for imperiled river species.

Hovorka said the immediate task is to start plugging the leaks in the system. He notes that since the Partnership started in 1997, Nebraska farmers have drilled 700 wells in the Platte basin, threatening endangered species, surface irrigators and downstream municipal water rights.

Partners plan

According to the Partnership, many water projects in the Platte River Basin are now or soon will be undergoing a review of their impacts on endangered species. Projects include the Bureau of Reclamation's North Platte facilities in Wyoming and western Nebraska and the Colorado-Big Thompson Project in Colorado; the Corps of Engineers' reservoirs in the Denver area; and a large number of private water storage and diversion projects, which require permit renewals from the U.S. Forest Service.

Mike Besson, director of the Wyoming Water Development Commission, said the challenge facing Wyoming is particularly difficult.

"One third of the state's population lives in the North Platte basin," Besson said, yet Wyoming gets less water out of the Platte system that Colorado or Nebraska. Besson's office is studying how to augment the Wyoming water supply, to allow for future economic growth while meeting environmental needs.

"It will take a lot of time, effort and money," he said. "You can't have growth without certainty of having enough water."

Besson's task is to come up with solutions that will create that sense of certainty. One project is to modify the Pathfinder Reservoir to allow for a higher water level, he said. Of the additional water, 34,000 acre feet will be dedicated to endangered species' water accounts, with the rest available for agriculture and municipal customers.

Dale Strickland, chairman of the Partnership, said all three states are developing effective plans that should allow future economic growth, while meeting ESA requirements.

Roger Patterson, director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, said he's optimistic that science and good conservation efforts by partners like Audubon and The Nature Conservancy, will mean that the species of concern won't need 417,000 acre feet, but can get by on 150,000 acre feet.

In a special chapter of this year's report, American Rivers explored how the combination of rising water demands and the destruction of wetlands and other freshwater habitats threatens the nation with a future where many rivers regularly run dry.

To prevent this, the group called for the establishment of an "ecological reserve" of protected river flows. More specific recommendations included helping farmers acquire modern irrigation equipment that require less water to grow more crops and employing "smart growth" strategies to curb sprawl and protect wetlands and streams from development.