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In 2006, Governor Dave Heineman signed the
Platte River Recovery Program. The Nebraska Wildlife Federation and National
Wildlife Federation led a public education campaign in 2006 in support of
this important program.
We believe the Platte River Recovery Program
brings new hope for the Platte River and the fish, wildlife and people
who depend upon it. The Program would acquire and protect 10,000
acres of land, provide water to improve critical flows needed for fish and
wildlife, and ensure that good science drives the program (see more
information here).
A key component of the Recovery Program is that Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska,
and the federal government would each be responsible for preventing new
water development that could further harm critical minimum river flows. That
obligation started in 1997, when the negotiations for the Program were
begun.
Nebraska's 'Water Depletion Plan' to meet that
promise must be in place and operating by December 31, 2008, yet
the Legislature has not yet appropriated any money to implement the plan!
Worse, Governor Heineman refused to ask the Legislature for the
funds last year or this year.
If Nebraska fails to meet the December, 2008 deadline as promised, it could
put the entire Recovery Program at risk! Colorado, Wyoming, and the US
Department of Interior -- which are providing more than $187 million in
funds for the land, water, and science program -- are unlikely to agree to
pay money to put water into the river on one hand, while Nebraska is
allowing thousands of recent irrigation wells to take water out of the river
with the other.
Please write or
call Governor Dave Heineman and your State Legislator today! Ask them to
support state funds THIS SESSION to allow the State of Nebraska to meet its
promise to have a Platte River Depletion Plan in place by December.
Write to the Governor at:
Governor Dave Heineman
PO Box 94848
Lincoln, NE 68509-4848
or call the Governor's office at 402-471-2244
Write to your State Senator at:
State Senator _______________
PO Box 94604
Lincoln, NE 68509
If you do not know who your State Senator is, you can find it on the
Legislature's web site:
http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/web/public/senators/find
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