In the last 30 years, the Platte River Trust has changed the way we view the river

By Maren Thompson Bzdek This December marks the 30th anniversary of the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust, known more informally as the Platte River Trust. The organization and its supporters have much to celebrate, including the successful restoration of 10,000 acres of migratory bird habitat in central Nebraska and steady gains in the whooping crane population. The Platte River Trust was born in 1978 from the out-of-court settlement between the State of Nebraska, the National Wildlife Federation and the Missouri Basin Power Project that allowed the completion of the Grayrocks Dam and Laramie River Station power project on a tributary of the North Platte River near Wheatland, Wyo. To force the settlement, Nebraska officials cooperated with the National Wildlife Federation to invoke the considerable powers of the 1973 Endangered Species Act and the 1969 National Environmental Protection Act, which brought the project to a screeching halt. The Platte River Trust is a significant product of that settlement. The continued recovery of the whooping crane population in recent decades reflects not just the early successes of the trust, but also the tenacity of the endangered birds and their cousins, the sandhill cranes. In 1978, the Endangered Species Act had already stopped the Tellico Dam project in Tennessee in defense of the snail darter, a tiny, endangered fish species. The Grayrocks project owners thus had strong motivation to settle—they understood that endangered whooping cranes garnered much more public sympathy than the lowly snail darter, and they had already invested more than $400 million dollars in a project that was nearly complete. In addition to specific water-release measures, the power companies funded the Platte River Trust with $7.5 million, which created an organization that would exist in perpetuity for the sole purpose of protecting and maintaining habitat in central Nebraska for whooping cranes, sandhill cranes and other migratory species.

The original trustees were Thomas Kimball, executive vice president of the National Wildlife Federation; Richard Spelts, Gov. Charles Thone’s appointee representing the State of Nebraska; and James Grahl, general manager of Basin Electric Power Cooperative. They arrived at their first meeting wary and uncertain, with their attorneys at their sides, and yet they agreed not to “re-try” the Grayrocks dispute. The trust’s mission required the trustees to facilitate land acquisition and a habitat management plan for migratory birds—the daily challenges associated with this task brought the former adversaries together with a new, shared purpose. They also understood that some locals did not consider the Platte River Trust a welcome addition to the central Nebraska community. Farmers worried that the trust’s deep pockets would drive up land prices and restrict traditional agricultural activities on the river. Today’s profitable crane-based tourism industry was still in its infancy, and some Nebraskans viewed the cranes simply as a legal hook that symbolized environmental extremism. According to one account, former Nebraska Governor Robert Crosby once got up on the table at a water meeting in Lincoln, stood on one leg and flapped his arms in sarcastic imitation of a whooping crane, while joking that the settlement provided about $75,000 for each of the then-remaining 100 whoopers. Although preening displays such as this could easily raise the ire of locals already worried about losing their farms, whooping cranes and their sandhill cousins could just as easily inspire admiration and concern from others. Like whales and polar bears, cranes belong to the emblematic group of “charismatic megafauna” with which humans more readily sympathize and identify. As the principles of the science of ecology filtered into public awareness in the 1970s and 1980s, Platte River residents became more receptive to the idea that humans could better meet their own long-term needs if they approached conflicts with the intent to share resources across a broader spectrum of interests, which included the needs of nonhuman species. Over the last 30 years, the Platte River Trust has conducted its most important work on the river, acquiring and restoring 10,000 acres of habitat, two-thirds of which is native and reseeded wet meadow—a dramatic ecological change that required labor-intensive seed collection and planting over many years. These habitat complexes are as permanent as possible in the existing legal framework. The trust pays property taxes on all of its holdings and operates under the principle that their land should be kept in the highest agricultural production that is consistent with their wildlife goals. The trust and other conservation organizations working on the river have proved that agricultural production and wildlife habitat are not mutually exclusive. The trust’s scientific staff has always been willing to experiment and take risks with habitat restoration techniques. They were among the first on the river to experiment with techniques such as four-pasture rotation, prescribed burning and mechanical clearing of vegetation. The Platte River Trust’s lengthy involvement in the Kingsley Dam relicensing process, a battle of competing studies and expert testimony that lasted for more than a decade, only added fuel to water developers’ resentment. In 1987, the trust intervened in Nebraska v. Wyoming in hopes of securing permanent instream-flow protection for wildlife. Gov. Kay Orr was so displeased that she dismissed Spelts from his position as trustee and replaced him with Jack Maddux, a prominent cattleman from western Nebraska. However, the trustees and staff continued to interpret their mission to protect migratory birds as a mandate for demanding a seat at the water negotiations table. In 1992, State Attorney General Don Stenberg petitioned Judge Warren Urbom of the U.S. District Court to rule that the trust be prohibited from legal action based on the intent of the settlement agreement. In his decision, Judge Urbom wrote, “Administration of the trust requires whatever litigation is necessary to allow the Big Bend Area to continue to function as a life-support system for migratory birds.” He also pointed out that Nebraska law gave the trustees power to protect trust assets, in this case land, and also to act as “reasonably prudent landowners” to protect the habitat value of the trust’s property. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Urbom’s decision two years later, effectively ending the state’s resistance to the trust’s mission. The trust’s leadership over the last three decades has included scientists, politicians, ranchers and businessmen—all of whom had to be willing to endure everything from teasing to direct opposition from former allies when they became connected with the trust. Spelts claimed he accepted the appointment because he was more concerned about preserving the capital investment of the trust than the environment, but he quickly became an avid crane-watcher. John VanDerwalker, the first executive director who was the face of the trust for 11 years, had an uncanny ability to persuade others of the importance of protecting diversity using scientific and moral arguments. VanDerwalker knew how to dismantle the simplistic stories that participants in political water battles often told—stories that pitted environmental health against economic health and separated the well-being of humans from their fellow species. The trust also serves as a model for how conservation trusts are particularly well suited to address habitat protection needs. VanDerwalker felt so passionately about the ability of organizations like the trust to effect positive change that he once wrote to the World Resources Institute to advocate for the development of hundreds of small, locally owned entities just like the trust, which would allow local solutions for land and water conservation by private parties working for the public interest. Former NWF attorney Patrick Parenteau, who was a key architect of the Grayrocks settlement that formed the trust, still uses the Platte in his law classes as an example of how law can be used to leverage changes, not just win legal points, if advocates are willing to compromise. The impact the trust has had on the political battles over Platte River water laid the foundation for a new era of compromise. Trustees and staff, including former executive director Paul Currier, now deceased, and current executive director Felipe Chavez-Ramirez, contributed many hours to the cooperative agreement negotiations. The outcome was a model of regional watershed management that requires parties in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska to manage scarcity collectively within a basin-wide recovery plan that governs water development and wildlife protection. New depletions will be offset, water conservation methods studied, and a peer-review process established to regulate the exchange of science-based arguments. Improving water and land management is important, but the river, the migratory birds and the flora of the native prairie are components of nature that define their own spatial boundaries, even in the context of human influence and management. While some still view the cranes as visitors because they do not live on the river year-round, the activities of the Platte River Trust have legitimized the birds’ use of the river for those who recognize the importance of the Central Flyway and the ancient history of the migrations. And that is something to celebrate. The Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust’s 30th anniversary open house weekend is June 21–22. Several outdoor activities are planned, including bird banding, bird-watching and youth fishing, and an art/photography/crafts exhibition will be held. Food and beverages will be provided. The trust is at 6611 W. Whooping Crane Drive in Wood River, Neb. For more information, call 308-384-4633, extensions 201 and 208 or visit www.whoopingcrane.org. All photos in this article are copyright 2008 by Mark J. Harlow www.shingobeestudios.com.

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