BackgroundThe
Platte Watershed is an ecologically and economically diverse drainage basin
that covers more than 86,000 square miles in Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska.
The Platte River is the major hydrologic unit in the watershed. It provides
surface water irrigation for thousands or agricultural producers in Colorado,
Wyoming, and Nebraska. These agricultural producers and their surrounding
communities are highly dependent on this water for their economic livelihood.
Many urban and rural municipalities also rely on the watershed for domestic
and industrial uses and are dependent on the Platte's flows for sustainable
economic development.
The Platte River also provides essential habitat for several threatened and endangered species including Whooping Cranes, Interior Least Terns, Piping Plovers and Bald Eagles. The preservation of their habitat, and the habitat of other wildlife on the Platte has become a major focus of local and national conservation organizations.
A large part of the Platte Watershed lies in a semi-arid region which receives minimal amounts of rainfall. Consequently, a majority of the flows in the Platte come from snow melt in the eastern Rocky Mountains. As a result, the amount of water in the Platte is finite, and it appears that current demands for this water may be exceeding the annual supply.
The management of the Platte River is being evaluated to determine how and if, the system can provide water for its multiple uses. The on-going evaluation of how this scarce resource should be allocated has uncovered several complex and unresolved ecological and economic issues that may adversely affect the preservation of critical habitat and the economic sustainability of the watershed.
The complexity and rapid evolution of this management controversy has created an environment among stakeholders (government agencies; local, regional and national conservation organizations; municipalities and citizens) that has inhibited their ability to interact and cooperatively define acceptable management alternatives.
In light of this, the Platte Watershed Program was created in 1994. It is a watershed-based Cooperative Extension program housed at the University of Nebraska that is designed to address the information, education and research needs of stakeholders in the watershed and link the applicable resources of the University of Nebraska to those needs.
Last updated by GL on 10.13.99