Northern Great Plains

Conservation Plan

Conservation action plan and science agenda from stakeholder-led workshops

Priority Research Needs and Conservation Actions to Conserve Native Fishes in the White, Platte, Kansas, and Arkansas Rivers and Tributaries

Northern Great Plains NFCA

Northern Great Plains Native Fish Conservation Network Workshop Summary:

February 7, 2017
Cornhusker Hotel, Lincoln, Nebraska

Attendee Organizations:

Nebraska Game and Parks, Kansas Dept of Wildlife Parks and Tourism, Ball State University, Kansas State University, Tallgrass Prairie LCC, USGS Mo Coop FW Unit, Southeast Aquatic Resource Partnership, Great Plains LCC, US Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Nebraska-Omaha, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Great Plains Native Fish Conservation Network Goals:

  1. Identify priority research, monitoring, and restoration actions for preservation of native fishes, their habitats and other aquatic resources in priority river systems of the Great Plains
  2. Serve as a catalyst for cooperation, collaboration, and leveraging of technical and financial resources among local, state and federal natural resources management agencies, universities, non-governmental organizations, and other local partners that contribute to the conservation of native fishes and other aquatic resources in priority river systems of the Great Plains
  3. Facilitate local implementation of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan within priority river systems of the Great Plains

Northern Great Plains Workshop Project List:

(Click to expand projects lists within each NFCN objective theme):


(1) Protect and maintain intact, healthy habitats, and (2) Restore impacted habitats:

  • Inventory existing flow protections in the selected basins for the benefit of the aquatic community.
  • Inventory existing land protections in the selected basins for the benefit of the aquatic community.
  • Inventory management actions intended to reduce point and/or non-point contaminants that are known to be harmful to at-risk species.
  • Fill knowledge gaps in flow-ecology and flow-recruitment relationships of Great Plains fishes
  • Conduct environmental flows assessments to ensure science-based consideration of fish and wildlife (and their habitats) in water management decisions; NOTE: Arkansas River is effectively dewatered from Colorado border to central Kansas
  • Address gaps in flow data for ungauged river reaches
  • Examine opportunities to cross-walk native fish conservation issues identified in State Wildlife Action Plans with conservation practices supported through Farm Bill conservation delivery programs (NOTE: case studies exist for Kansas and Indiana)
  • Examine opportunities to influence investments of federal funding programs toward preservation activities in intact, healthy watersheds (as opposed to the majority of investments being centered in highly impaired watersheds, which often provide limited value in preservation of Great Plains fish diversity)
  • Ensure consideration of the conservation needs of native fishes in existing Farm Bill wildlife-focused conservation funding program (e.g., EQIP special funding initiatives; Working Lands for Wildlife; similar to grouse/prairie chicken/bobwhite quail)
  • NOTE: TNC/USACE Sustainable Rivers Program maybe “stood up” in KS; opportunities may exist for flow protection strategies to be adopted
  • Examine the native fish conservation value of cool/coldwater streams (tributaries of the North Platte River) in western Nebraska (Sandhills Ecoregion), particularly considering that these streams involve a limited number of large land holdings; these stream channels effectively serve as a water conveyance system to move groundwater (filled through aquifer infusion diverted from Platte River), offering consistent flows, although stream temperatures have been altered in many cases;
  • Examine Niobrara River for inclusion in the NFCA prioritization
  • Assess the effectiveness of new minimum flows established for the Loup River and Platte River bypassed reaches to determine if flows reduce exceedances in critical stream temperatures.
  • Assess the effectiveness of peak flow minimums in the Loup River in modifying river form and in maintaining important life cycles for at-risk fish species.
  • Assess the effectiveness of maintaining a minimum flow in the central Platte River during the non-irrigation season. Assess the effectiveness of Environmental Account releases in maintaining river processes and in conserving aquatic species.
  • Assess the effects of bank stabilization projects on channel form and on large woody debris. Concurrently, assess role of large woody debris in supporting at-risk species (primarily focused on lower Platte and Elkhorn rivers).
  • Compare the Kingsley Dam Project’s normal hydropower peaking operations to modified peaking operations, and assess if (and how) differences in operation would affect aquatic community and at-risk species differently.
  • Examine groundwater-surface water interactions in the Sandhills to identify groundwater targets/thresholds at which springs and surface flows could be diminished/altered
  • Conduct a cold/coolwater stream vulnerability analysis that examines potential effects of increased groundwater pumping (high capacity irrigation) and altered spring flows
  • Examine effects of center pivot agriculture in the Sandhills on groundwater depletion and springs/flow alteration
  • National assessments of flow alteration and cattle density are needed to accurately depict the condition of western rivers
  • Examine opportunities and assemble recommendations to ensure consideration of fish and wildlife in precision agriculture BMPs/tools
  • Need to examine opportunities for consideration of variable flow agreements in regulated river reaches of the Kansas River that experience constant-flow situations due to dam operations plans (considered for the TNC/USACE Sustainable Rivers Program)
  • NOTE:  Flow protections resulting from a recently issued FERC license for Loup River Hydroelectric Project are in place where there are instream and peak flow protections for Loup and Platte river bypassed reaches.
  • NOTE:  Flow protections resulting from a FERC license for the North Platte Project and the Kingsley Dam Project are in place that maintains a minimum flow during the non-irrigation season. Also through the license, a proportion of Lake McConaughy storage is dedicated toward an environmental account, and releases are made, in part, to benefit the aquatic community. Additionally, there is a modified hydropower peaking during the spring/fall whooping crane migration seasons, and this modification could indirectly benefit aquatic resources.
  • Note: Research in Platte River and Elkhorn River basins studied effects of non-point contaminant sources on the aquatic species including: pesticides from agricultural fields; veterinary pharmaceuticals from concentrated animal feeding operations; and steroid hormones from cattle feedlot effluent.
  • Note: Research in Platte River and Elkhorn River basins have identified point source contaminants from wastewater treatment plant effluent in the form of endocrine disrupting chemicals.
  • Note: The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources have developed a conjunctive use model that is used to project declines in streamflow at certain gages in the Niobrara and lower Platte River basin. Current model is not scaled to assess effects to Nebraska sandhill springs or coldwater streams.


(3) Restore stream and habitat connectivity:

  • Inventory existing flow protections in the selected basins for the benefit of the aquatic community.
  • Inventory existing land protections in the selected basins for the benefit of the aquatic community.
  • Inventory management actions intended to reduce point and/or non-point contaminants that are known to be harmful to at-risk species.
  • Fill knowledge gaps in flow-ecology and flow-recruitment relationships of Great Plains fishes
  • Conduct environmental flows assessments to ensure science-based consideration of fish and wildlife (and their habitats) in water management decisions; NOTE: Arkansas River is effectively dewatered from Colorado border to central Kansas
  • Address gaps in flow data for ungauged river reaches
  • Examine opportunities to cross-walk native fish conservation issues identified in State Wildlife Action Plans with conservation practices supported through Farm Bill conservation delivery programs (NOTE: case studies exist for Kansas and Indiana)
  • Examine opportunities to influence investments of federal funding programs toward preservation activities in intact, healthy watersheds (as opposed to the majority of investments being centered in highly impaired watersheds, which often provide limited value in preservation of Great Plains fish diversity)
  • Ensure consideration of the conservation needs of native fishes in existing Farm Bill wildlife-focused conservation funding program (e.g., EQIP special funding initiatives; Working Lands for Wildlife; similar to grouse/prairie chicken/bobwhite quail)
  • NOTE: TNC/USACE Sustainable Rivers Program maybe “stood up” in KS; opportunities may exist for flow protection strategies to be adopted
  • Examine the native fish conservation value of cool/coldwater streams (tributaries of the North Platte River) in western Nebraska (Sandhills Ecoregion), particularly considering that these streams involve a limited number of large land holdings; these stream channels effectively serve as a water conveyance system to move groundwater (filled through aquifer infusion diverted from Platte River), offering consistent flows, although stream temperatures have been altered in many cases;
  • Examine Niobrara River for inclusion in the NFCA prioritization
  • Assess the effectiveness of new minimum flows established for the Loup River and Platte River bypassed reaches to determine if flows reduce exceedances in critical stream temperatures.
  • Assess the effectiveness of peak flow minimums in the Loup River in modifying river form and in maintaining important life cycles for at-risk fish species.
  • Assess the effectiveness of maintaining a minimum flow in the central Platte River during the non-irrigation season. Assess the effectiveness of Environmental Account releases in maintaining river processes and in conserving aquatic species.
  • Assess the effects of bank stabilization projects on channel form and on large woody debris. Concurrently, assess role of large woody debris in supporting at-risk species (primarily focused on lower Platte and Elkhorn rivers).
  • Compare the Kingsley Dam Project’s normal hydropower peaking operations to modified peaking operations, and assess if (and how) differences in operation would affect aquatic community and at-risk species differently.
  • Examine groundwater-surface water interactions in the Sandhills to identify groundwater targets/thresholds at which springs and surface flows could be diminished/altered
  • Conduct a cold/coolwater stream vulnerability analysis that examines potential effects of increased groundwater pumping (high capacity irrigation) and altered spring flows
  • Examine effects of center pivot agriculture in the Sandhills on groundwater depletion and springs/flow alteration
  • National assessments of flow alteration and cattle density are needed to accurately depict the condition of western rivers
  • Examine opportunities and assemble recommendations to ensure consideration of fish and wildlife in precision agriculture BMPs/tools
  • Need to examine opportunities for consideration of variable flow agreements in regulated river reaches of the Kansas River that experience constant-flow situations due to dam operations plans (considered for the TNC/USACE Sustainable Rivers Program)
  • NOTE:  Flow protections resulting from a recently issued FERC license for Loup River Hydroelectric Project are in place where there are instream and peak flow protections for Loup and Platte river bypassed reaches.
  • NOTE:  Flow protections resulting from a FERC license for the North Platte Project and the Kingsley Dam Project are in place that maintains a minimum flow during the non-irrigation season. Also through the license, a proportion of Lake McConaughy storage is dedicated toward an environmental account, and releases are made, in part, to benefit the aquatic community. Additionally, there is a modified hydropower peaking during the spring/fall whooping crane migration seasons, and this modification could indirectly benefit aquatic resources.
  • Note: Research in Platte River and Elkhorn River basins studied effects of non-point contaminant sources on the aquatic species including: pesticides from agricultural fields; veterinary pharmaceuticals from concentrated animal feeding operations; and steroid hormones from cattle feedlot effluent.
  • Note: Research in Platte River and Elkhorn River basins have identified point source contaminants from wastewater treatment plant effluent in the form of endocrine disrupting chemicals.
  • Note: The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources have developed a conjunctive use model that is used to project declines in streamflow at certain gages in the Niobrara and lower Platte River basin. Current model is not scaled to assess effects to Nebraska sandhill springs or coldwater streams.


(4) Mitigate effects of invasive species:

  • Examine effects of non-native species on native fish communities (e.g., Asian carp)
  • Examine potential effects of inter-basin transfers of water specific to the risk of introduction of non-native species
  • Assess the trade-offs for actions intended to improve fish passage to determine the risk of invasive species expansion.
  • Examine use of eDNA to track presence/absence or range expansion.


(5) Organize conservation networks of public and private landowners:

  • Examine potential indicators/measures of restoration potential that relate to willingness/support of local stakeholders


(6) Develop conservation demonstration areas:

  • NOTE:  Coldwater streams program in Nebraska has case studies to showcase
  • Need exists for conservation demonstration areas that can facilitate the “translation” and operationalization” of applied research and BMPs


(7) Support research to fill critical information gaps:

  • Need to examine distribution of pelagic-spawning minnows; need to understand where we have river systems with sufficient stream length to support long-term persistence of pelagic spawning minnows, and understand what the environmental flow needs are for these specific fragmented river reaches that hold high conservation value for native fishes; genetic component should also be included
  • Tributaries of the Nemaha and Blue rivers have been dramatically altered and new channel/bed forms have been established; need exists for systematic surveys of fish communities in these systems and examine value for native fish conservation
  • Examine conservation value of “groundwater- delivery streams” as refugia for imperiled/at-risk cool/coldwater species
  • Ensure consideration of genetic population structure in planning/delivery of stream restoration, invasive species removal, and native fish repatriation programs
  • Develop native fish culture/propagation techniques for Great Plains fishes; NOTE: native fish/mussel facilities under development in Kansas; native fish/mussel facilities being established in Nebraska
  • Conduct an analysis of “low-hanging fruit” across the spectrum of restoration projects (e.g., invasive species management, flow restoration, riparian restoration, dam removal, and others)
  • Assemble a synthesis of human dimensions research related to landowner attitudes/preferences/values/willingness to engage in restoration practices that benefit rivers and native fishes
  • Use of eDNA to examine species distribution
  • Conduct laboratory and/or field research that assesses the effects of select contaminants to at-risk species.


(8) Conduct adaptive management and reporting:

  • Need for pre- and post-monitoring and evaluation of restoration projects.
  • Assess the effectiveness of grouped restoration projects in a basin toward achieving species or broader conservation objectives. Use results of the assessment to refine type or intensity of restoration actions to better achieve objectives.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of existing flow protections and establish a process for adaptively managing flow-related actions.
  • Develop, and routinely update, an integrative science framework for at-risk species. The framework could include: 1) annotated bibliography of studies about species; 2) summary of existing monitoring activity throughout the range; 3) species specific conservation plan; 4) inventory management actions to conserve species throughout its range.
  • Assess effectiveness of existing easements in the lower Platte River in maintaining river processes. Project how additional land protections (prohibitions against levee construction, placement of bank stabilization materials, and floodplain development) in the basin would increase long-term sustainability of river processes in the lower Platte River or Elkhorn River basins.
  • Project how potential programs in the lower Platte River basin focusing on removal of bank stabilization structures, construction of chutes/side channels, and/or introduction of large woody debris would increase long-term sustainability of river processes and conserve at-risk species. Develop a basin-level evaluation of effects of fish kills events on fish diversity and/or extirpation of at-risk species in the Platte River basin. Fish kills have been documented in segments of the central and lower Platte. Certain segments of the central Platte, Loup and Elkhorn rivers have a stable base flows due to springs and/or irrigation return flows, and it would be helpful to understand to what extent these sustained segments can replenish areas lost from fish kills.
  • Note: Two chutes were constructed in the Nebraska Army National Guard, Camp Ashland property as mitigation for levee construction in the lower Platte River. The chutes are 3,950 and 4,650 feet in length inlet and will be maintained to help accommodate river flows over the life of the proposed project to support various fish life cycles.
  • Note: The Nebraska Land Trust has secured numerous conservation easements in the lower Platte River. Benefits are realized through terms and conditions for conservation easements that include prohibitions against levee construction, placement of bank stabilization materials, and floodplain development.