Treasuring the Trinity: Challenges and OpportunitiesTrinity Waters
The Trinity River supplies water to 45% of the Texas population, making it perhaps the most important river basin in Texas. Water quality issues have challenged this river, as well as drought, land fragmentation and habitat loss. Trinity Waters and AgriLife Extension are working with partners to promote land stewardship to improve landowner quality of life and water supplies by connecting urban resources back into the watersheds that support them.
Treasuring the Trinity: Challenges and OpportunitiesTrinity Waters
The Trinity River supplies water to 45% of the Texas population, making it perhaps the most important river basin in Texas. Water quality issues have challenged this river, as well as drought, land fragmentation and habitat loss. Trinity Waters and AgriLife Extension are working with partners to promote land stewardship to improve landowner quality of life and water supplies by connecting urban resources back into the watersheds that support them.
Objectives:
There was a dramatic geographic shift in agriculture in the 20th century which concentrated grain production in a small area in the upper Midwest and concentrated vegetable, potato, cotton and other crops in the arid West. This new geography may be extremely vulnerable to climate change and variability. The Midwest droughts 2012 and the current California drought are illustrative of the problems our USDA-EaSM proposal foresaw in 2010.
It is the objective of this project to determine whether a more distributed geographical production system with the SE increasing irrigated production is both economically and environmentally sustainable.
A forum organised by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder to discuss: the benefits of water for the environment, the challenges of deciding when & where to deliver water for the environment, the outcomes of research into community attitudes towards water for the environment.
The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership (UWP) is a 501(c)(3) located in Ouray County, Colorado. The group was formed in spring, 2007, when regional groups and concerned citizens applied for a watershed-planning grant. The UWP is a grassroots coalition of citizens, nonprofits, local and regional governments, and federal and state agencies dedicated to understanding, restoring and protecting land and natural resources within the Uncompahgre Watershed.
This Power Point gives an overview of the activities the UWP has been involved in over the past year and what our future projects will be. For more information visit our webpage at www.uncompahgrewatershed.org
Thanks for watching!
Resource utilization and managing conflict in the pastoral community of Ethio...ILRI
Presentation by Dr Tilahun Amede for the 5th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture and the 18th Annual Meeting of the Ethiopian Society of Animal Production (ESAP), Addis Ababa, October 25-28, 2010.
All Things Trinity, All Things Conservation - Richland-ChambersTrinity Waters
Introductory presentation for explaining the concept and goals of the Cooperative Conservation in the Trinity River Basin project. Challenges that face the Trinity basin are addressed and Trinity Waters is promoted as the voice for conservation in the basin.
Objectives:
There was a dramatic geographic shift in agriculture in the 20th century which concentrated grain production in a small area in the upper Midwest and concentrated vegetable, potato, cotton and other crops in the arid West. This new geography may be extremely vulnerable to climate change and variability. The Midwest droughts 2012 and the current California drought are illustrative of the problems our USDA-EaSM proposal foresaw in 2010.
It is the objective of this project to determine whether a more distributed geographical production system with the SE increasing irrigated production is both economically and environmentally sustainable.
A forum organised by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder to discuss: the benefits of water for the environment, the challenges of deciding when & where to deliver water for the environment, the outcomes of research into community attitudes towards water for the environment.
The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership (UWP) is a 501(c)(3) located in Ouray County, Colorado. The group was formed in spring, 2007, when regional groups and concerned citizens applied for a watershed-planning grant. The UWP is a grassroots coalition of citizens, nonprofits, local and regional governments, and federal and state agencies dedicated to understanding, restoring and protecting land and natural resources within the Uncompahgre Watershed.
This Power Point gives an overview of the activities the UWP has been involved in over the past year and what our future projects will be. For more information visit our webpage at www.uncompahgrewatershed.org
Thanks for watching!
Resource utilization and managing conflict in the pastoral community of Ethio...ILRI
Presentation by Dr Tilahun Amede for the 5th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture and the 18th Annual Meeting of the Ethiopian Society of Animal Production (ESAP), Addis Ababa, October 25-28, 2010.
All Things Trinity, All Things Conservation - Richland-ChambersTrinity Waters
Introductory presentation for explaining the concept and goals of the Cooperative Conservation in the Trinity River Basin project. Challenges that face the Trinity basin are addressed and Trinity Waters is promoted as the voice for conservation in the basin.
Trinity River Land and Water Summit: Overview of Watersheds, Water Quality Im...Trinity Waters
Given at the Trinity River Land and Water Summit in Athens, Texas, on October 2, 2013. Purpose was to highlight specific watersheds in the middle Trinity River basin and provide details on different watershed planning tools that could be used to improve water quality. Other presentations during the day explained how cattle grazing, row crop farming, and wildlife management can all accomplish water quality goals when done with the overall watershed health in mind, especially for the Trinity River that provides water for 45% of the Texas population. Presentation featured questions that the audience could answer using remote clickers for immediate feedback from the entire group. Results are on the slides and will lead to greater understanding of stakeholders in this part of the Trinity River basin. Keynote speakers were Todd Staples, Texas Agriculture Commissioner, and Bob McCan, President of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, promising self-driving cars, medical breakthroughs, and new ways of working. But how do you separate hype from reality? How can your company apply AI to solve real business problems?
Here’s what AI learnings your business should keep in mind for 2017.
A presentation about aquatic ecosystem restoration in Massachusetts. Presented by Tim Purinton, director of the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, during the Buzzards Bay Coalition's 2012 Decision Makers Workshop series. Learn more at www.savebuzzardsbay.org/DecisionMakers
Chattahoochee River Watershed Case Study
Michael R. Barr, Alicia L. Case & Kim Werdeman
May 2013
M.Sc. in Sustainability Management | SEM 607 - Watershed Management
National University
This presentation provides an example of how water quality of lakes, streams and ground water is important to the quality of life and economic vitality of a community. Good water quality allows many in our community to enjoy recreational opportunities associated with lakes and streams. Since property values related to our water resources provide greater than 20% of our tax base good water quality also benefits all of the community. A program is outlined to help protect and restore our natural water resources to provide the greatest potential benefits to our water and quality of life for generations to come.
Presented by IWMI's Priyanie Amerasinghe at a World Wetlands Day dialogue: 'Getting Wetland Research into Policy & Practice' held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on February, 2, 2018
Consideration of the Impact of Climate Change on Lake Levels in the Management Plan of Tribal Fisheries and Culturally Important Sites.
Supported through a grant from the Michigan Coastal Zone Management Program, Office of the Great Lakes, Department of Environmental Quality and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by Frank J. Marsik, Kyle P. White, Richard Rood, Ellie Masters and Barbara Doyle
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
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Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
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Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
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"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor TurskyiFwdays
I have heard many times that architecture is not important for the front-end. Also, many times I have seen how developers implement features on the front-end just following the standard rules for a framework and think that this is enough to successfully launch the project, and then the project fails. How to prevent this and what approach to choose? I have launched dozens of complex projects and during the talk we will analyze which approaches have worked for me and which have not.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
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Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Search and Society: Reimagining Information Access for Radical FuturesBhaskar Mitra
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Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
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And...
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Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
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Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
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https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
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Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
3. Trinity Key Points
– Connects D/FW to
Houston
– 512 miles long,
1,983 miles of
tributaries
– Supplies water to
~40% of Texas
population
– Municipal water
use is 80%
– Rural land covers
75% of 18,000
square miles (7%
of Texas)
4. Where We’ve Been
• History of the river
• Water quality problems and policy changes
5. History of Trinity River
• Navigation projects in mid
to late 1800’s changed
some parts of river
• Pollution from
slaughterhouses, industrie
s, sewage from D/FW and
agricultural chemicals
• U.S. Public Health Service
called river “septic” in
1960’s
Pig’s blood from slaughterhouse entering Trinity
River in Dallas, March 2011
6. Clean Water Act
• Federal Clean Water Act (CWA, 1972, 1977)
created to “Restore and maintain
chemical, physical, and biological characteristics
of nation’s waters.”
• Requires states to set water quality standards and
designated uses for streams and lakes.
• Designated uses include drinking water, aquatic
life, contact recreation, and general use.
• CWA requires states to assess quality of surface
water (i.e. whether the water meets state-set
water quality standards) and report to the EPA.
7. • Every 2 years, the TCEQ must report the
extent to which each water body meets the
state’s surface water quality standards:
Surface Water Quality Standards
•Describes status of ALL surface water
bodies in state that were evaluated,
tested, and monitored in recent 7 years
Texas Integrated
Report
•Identifies ALL “impaired” surface water
bodies not meeting criteria for
designated uses
CWA 303(d) List
9. Water Quality
• 2010 Water Quality
Inventory and CWA 303(d) List
– 37 segments “impaired”
– 67 segments of concern
– 4 segments delisted
from 303(d)
– 7 segments added
– 27 of 37 impaired segments
due to bacteria
10. Water Quality
• 2010 Water Quality
Inventory and CWA 303(d) List
– 37 segments “impaired”
– 67 segments of concern
– 4 segments delisted
from 303(d)
– 7 segments added
– 27 of 37 impaired segments
due to bacteria
15. The Challenges
• Rapidly increasing
population
• Poor water
quality
• Habitat loss
• Declining wildlife
populations
• Reduced
recreational
opportunities
16.
17. Fragmentation
• 5,000 new properties in the 1-100 size class
• Resulting problems
– Loss of sustainable wildlife habitat
– Reduced agricultural productivity
19. Drought
• Plant growth very
reduced
• Hampers livestock
production and
overgrazing common
• Crop losses
• Municipal watering
restrictions
• Loss of recreation
October 2011
20.
21. Trinity River Basin
Restoration Initiative
• Governor’s 2006
Announcement
• Improve water quality
by habitat restoration
• Build capacity of
Trinity Waters
• Foster natural
resources
conservation culture
22. Purpose
• Landowners at the
forefront
– Neighbor working with
neighbor
– Proactive stance can
prevent future,
unnecessary regulation
– Magnify conservation
dollars
– Connect urban
resources
23. Mission
Improve the quality of life, economic sustainability
and ecological integrity of areas associated with the
Trinity River Basin through a coalition of local
communities, NGOs and stewards of private and
public lands.
24. Goals
• Connect rural land stewardship to urban water
resources
• Establish cooperative conservation partnerships
among landowners, NGOs, and agencies
25. Goals
• Promote land
stewardship practices
– Improve ag production
– Increase wildlife
populations
– Greater recreational
opportunities
• Improve water resources
– Allow for land-water
interactions
– Reduce pollutants
26. Tasks
• Enhanced communication and data accessibility
• Deliver information to the public and work with
land managers to restore habitat
27. Tasks
• Educate landowners
and urban residents
about watershed
ecosystem services
• Benefits that people
obtain from
ecosystems
• Inform landowners
of economic
opportunities, such
as mitigation banks
28. Trinity River Information Management System
(TRIMS)
• Accessible
• Interactive
• Watershed scale
(local to regional)
• Soils, vegetation,
elevation, stream
data
• Restoration
potential
trims.tamu.edu
29. A Strategic Approach to Bobwhite Recovery
in the Western Trinity River Basin
Jay Whiteside
Technical Guidance Biologist
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Conservation Example
30. Conservation Example
• Joint project with
NRCS and local SWCDs
announced May 2012
• $5.4 million in
financial assistance for
60 contracts
• Conservation practices
that benefit water
quality and soil health
Chambers Creek Water Quality Initiative
31.
32. Wetlands for Water Treatment
• Richland Creek WMA
– TPWD and Tarrant
Regional WD
– 1,730 acres, 109 MGD
• John Bunker Sands
Wetlands Center
– North TX Municipal WD
– 2,100 acres
– 102,000 acre/ft per year
• Rural-urban connection
Conservation Example
33. Best Management Practices
• Grazing management
• Brush control
• Cover crops
• Riparian areas
• Herbicides/Pesticides
• Water conservation
• Proper lawn watering
• Stormwater reduction
• Rainwater harvesting
• Rain gardens
34. TMDLs vs. WPPs
Regulatory
Focuses only on
pollutant(s) causing
impairment
Water body always on
303(d) list
Voluntary, community-
driven
Holistic – focuses on all
potential pollutant
sources in watershed
Water body usually (not
always) always on 303(d)
list
35. What Can I Do?
• Set conservation goals
for your land
• Contact TPWD
Biologists, County
Extension
Agents, NRCS for
guidance
• Get involved with your
neighbors
(WMAs), Trinity
Waters and other
36. Restoration of the Trinity Basin is a Common Link
Between Urban and Rural Texans
38. Contacts
Ken Klaveness
Executive Director, Trinity Waters
ken@trinitywaters.org or 214-454-4000
Blake Alldredge
AgriLife Extension Associate
balldredge@tamu.edu or 979-845-0916
Editor's Notes
During this presentation I will be discussing the natural resource challenges associated with the Trinity River and what is being done to reverse these trends through the Building Partnerships for Cooperative Conservation project that includes landowners, non-governmental organizations, as well as state and federal agencies.
Dreams by some folks in the mid 1800s that Dallas be a port city led to some navigation projects that altered some parts of the river channel. Luckily, railroads quickly “derailed” that dream. But about the turn of the century, as industrialization and population growth expanded in D/FW, the river was treated as a sewer canal and waste from slaughterhouses, industrial plants, and human sewage made their way into the river. Also, misapplication or overapplication of agricultural chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides further aggravated problems. In the 1960’s, the US Public Health Service deemed the river “septic” and essentially unusable 100 miles downstream of Dallas. This photo is from March 2011 when an private pilot was taking photos around Dallas and noticed this odd color coming out of Cedar Creek into the Trinity River in Dallas. Turns out it was pig’s blood and other waste products from a slaughterhouse just upstream that was illegally dumping this into the creek. They got shut down. But things like this happened all the time up to the 1970’s.
Then when the CWA was passed in 1972 with the goal to “Restore and maintain chemical , physical, biological characteristics of nation’s waters,” a lot started to change. CWA was a major step to cleaning up our waterways by controlling pollution sources, particularly in urban areas. Wastewater treatement technology has advanced a lot as well. The CWA requires states to set water quality standards and designate uses for creeks and lakes in the state. Designated uses include drinking water, aquatic life, contact recreation, and general use among others. TCEQ is responsible for setting these standards and uses in Texas. States also have to assess the water quality and report that to EPA to make sure waterways are in compliance.
In addition to that, every 2 years, the TCEQ must report to EPA the extent to which each water body meets the state’s water quality standards.Thatreport has two major parts: the Texas Integrated Report; and what is known as the 303(d) list. The TWQI describes the status of all surface water bodies in the state that were evaluated, tested and monitored over the most recent 5-year period. And any water body that does not meet the water quality standards is placed on the 303(d) list. These water bodies are considered impaired because they are not able to meet their designated uses. Impaired water bodies must be restored through various watershed management and protection activities, which will be discussed in later sections. The Inventory and List are important management tools because they identify the bodies of water that are a priority for restoration and those for which preventive measures (e.g., limits on discharges of wastewater) are necessary to prevent future impairment.Water bodies not meeting water quality standards are impaired and go on the 303(d) List.CWA Section303(d) requires states to develop a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the impaired water body within 13 years from listing.
Going further into water quality issues, the Clean Water Act requires monitoring of streams to ensure water quality standards are being met for their “designated use”, such as drinking water, fish and aquatic life, contact/non-contact recreation, etc. The 303(d) list specifies stream segments that do not meet requirements for their designated use, also called “impaired” due to high levels of pollutant. In the 2010 draft report, 37 segments evaluated were impaired, 67 were of concern because they were close to that threshold, while 4 segments were delisted and 7 were added to the list. Of the 37 segments impaired, 27 were due to high bacteria levels that can come from various sources, such as wastewater effluent, wildlife, livestock, and failing septic systems.
Significant watershed as the water in the reservoir is pumped back for distribution in Fort Worth and surrounding cities. Past issues include low DO, high pH and high levels of atrazine, so it appears agricultural chemicals could be the culprit. Not sure why it got taken off list, but need to remain vigilant to ensure it doesn’t get back on 303d list.
Sources of bacteria include livestock, wildlife, feral hogs, pets, humans etc.
Legacy pollutants from industrial and municipal waste
We have some major challenges that lie ahead of us, but we’re also working to change directions and forge a new path in the Trinity
The Trinity has several other challenges associated with it. Increasing Population within the basin has led to greater volumes of wastewater and stormwater and has resulted in poor water quality, raising water treatment costs and reducing recreational opportunities. Also, habitat has been lost throughout the basin as native grasslands, bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands have been converted to other uses. This in turn has led to declining grassland bird populations, such as bobwhite quail, which depends on native bunchgrasses and forbs for food and shelter.
Another challenge before us along with the rest of Texas is fragmentation, which is the chopping up of parcel sizes into smaller bits. In this photo, if we examine forest area, we can see that it has been chopped up quite a bit. It is very difficult for wildlife to live in areas like this if they have to cover large areas of presumably hay fields or pastures that provide little cover or food. Wildlife will not do it
In the Trinity we gained 5000 new properties in the 1-100 size class from 1997-2007. Resulting problems can include loss of sustainable wildlife habitat and reduced ag productivity. Loss of sustainable habitat – one example is quail. Their home range is around 40 acres, but in order to fully support a healthy population, around 30,000 acres are needed. If multiple landowners are managing their land in different ways that do not benefit quail, the quail will not be sustained. In addition, agricultural productivity is reduced, especially for cattle producers.
The smaller your land holdings are, the less flexibility you have to adjust when say, drought hits. That’s why we saw a lot of folks have to sell off their cows that live on smaller plots. You can see for those who own less than 140 acres, only 30% report profitability from the land, while 60% of those that own over 2000 acres report profitiablity.
We’ve been especially hit hard by drought the last few years. This has seriously reduced our plant growth, which can make it hard for livestock producers to feed their cattle and overgrazing is then common. The problem is, when you allow everything to get eaten to the ground, your setting yourself up for failure or at least slow recovery because a lot of plants can die and lead to soil erosion or hardening. It’s better to leave some plant material so that when it does rain, you protect your soil, and those plants can recover quicker. We have also have crop losses, loss of recreation as lake levels get too low, and municipal watering restrictions. Dallas went to permanent 2 day/week watering restrictions in 2012!
We still havent recovered and it looks like we’re heading back into another dry summer that will continue to reduce plant growth and water supplies.
Purpose of cooperative conservation is just like it sounds: to engage landowners to cooperate together and “own” this project. By working with and for them, we can encourage them, together with other landowners, to see better ways to manage land through greater knowledge and application. Being proactive in this matter can prevent future regulation of various activities that affect landowners. This can save taxpayer money by not having to go through the process of developing regulations and allows dollars spent on conservation to magnify and go farther than before by enabling landowners to work with other landowners, instead of relying exclusively on agencies. What we want to see happen is a domino effect of one landowner accomplishing great conservation work on his land, who in turn discusses and shows it to his neighbors who then do the same thing.
Trinity Waters is a landowner organization dedicated to the land and people of the Trinity basin. (READ MISSION STATEMENT) They seek to accomplish this mission by restoring wildlife habitat that will produce greater economic and recreational opportunities from abundant wildlife populations, enhance livestock production with better management, and enable natural land functions to improve water quality.
We want folks to realize that rural land stewardship benefits urban water supplies, as most of their water comes from rural areas. We can then draw financial resources from urban areas to benefit rural landowners. The goals of the project include developing these cooperative conservation partnerships between landowners with the assistance of NGO and agency personnel, and to foster and encourage a natural resources culture that is knowledgeable and conservation driven.
These goals build on the 1st one. As landowners begin working together to restore and conserve land through various land practices, wildlife habitat will improve leading to healthy wildlife populations and opportunities for hunting, fishing, and ecotourism. As these practices are implemented, the lands natural filtering and storage functions will be more effective resulting in improved water quality.
A great tool that has come out is the Trinity River Information Management System, or TRIMS, developed by the Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources. This is similar to a GIS program but is available for free on the web at www.trims.tamu.edu. On this interactive website, you can zoom to your specific piece of land, or look at a watershed as a whole. Features on this website allow you to determine soil and vegetation types on the land, measure land area, access elevation and stream gauge data, and others all in the overall goal of conservation planning. On this site, you can determine areas that are best suited for restoration.Replace screen shot, maybe with amy teaching someone at screen
To bring this all back around, im going to share an example of cooperative conservation already occurring in the trinity basin to restore bobwhite quail populations. It is called the Western Navarro Bobwhite Restoration Initiative, or WNBRI. Under the leadership of Jay Whiteside, Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist, landowners in western navarro county, between Hillsboro and Corsicana, have banded together to restore native grasslands on their property, which is vital habitat for the quail. By working together, they have gained the attention of the state who gave them a grant which was used to buy prescribed burn equipment, no till seed drill, herbicides, and native grass and forb seeds.
In May 2012, we partnered with NRCS and local SWCDS on the Chambers Creek Water Quality Initiative. Chambers Creek has a history of low dissolved oxygen and the mill creek watershed is within the Chambers Creek watershed, which lines up with goals of WAAC. NRCS will be providing technical and $5.4 million in financial assistance to landowners to improve the soil health of the land and water quality in the creek and reservoir thru various conservation practices. Some of these practices include cover crops on agricultural fields, native grass planting, and installing fences for prescribed grazing among others. Between WAAC and this initiative, this exemplifies how Trinity Waters works with private groups and agencies to bring resources to landowners in the Trinity basin.
Another great example of the rural-urban connection are 2 major constructed wetlands in the Trinity. Tarrant Regional WD and TPWD operate the Richland Creek WMA wetlands that are 1730 acres big to purify water before pumping back to FW. They can get 109 million galons per day from these wetlands. North TX Municipal operates the John Bunker Sands Wetland near Seagoville that is 2100 acres big. They can clean 102,000 acre ft per year that is pumped back to cities north of Dallas. Cheaper than a wastewater plant, and provides great wildlife habitat!
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There are 2 approaches to addressing water quality problems in Texas. Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, are regulatory in nature as they must be done after 13 years of being on the 303(d) list. Examines the maximum amount of pollutant that can enter a waterway and still meet water quality standards. TMDLs only focus on the pollutant causing the impairment, so other problems that may exist cannot be addressed in a TMDL plan. Whereas a watershed protection plan (WPP) is voluntary, and looks at all aspects of watershed health and all potential sources of pollution. A key difference between WPPs and TMDLs is that TMDLs are regulatory in nature. WPPs are voluntary programs and are not mandated by federal law. In general, WPPs are a way of restoring water quality and avoiding regulatory action in a watershed. For this reason, it takes a much more holistic approach to watershed management and focuses on all potential sources of pollutants in a watershed. TMDLs, on the other hand, focus only on the pollutant causing the impairment. For example, a typical title of a TMDL might be, 1 TMDL for bacteria in the Peach Creek Watershed. Lastly, WPPs can be developed for water bodies that are not on the 303(d) list, while TMDLs are always developed for water bodies that are on the 303(d) list. Developing a WPP for your watershed will ensure that regulations don’t get placed upon that watershed, which is another great reason to conduct one. But really, both of these take a lot of time and money, so if people in the watershed can just work together and look at their own operations and household habits, problems can get fixed by themselves.
At this point, you may be asking yourself what you can do. First, set conservation goals for your land that make wildlife habitat and water quality a priority. Next, contact Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists, County Extension Agents, or NRCS agents for guidance in how to go about getting those goals accomplished, as well as getting cost share information. Lastly, get involved with your neighbors. Wildlife management associations are groups of landowners that work together under the supervision of wildlife biologists that seek to improve wildlife habitat and populations on their land by operating under a wildlife management plan. This is a small scale example of what Trinity Waters is working to accomplish in the trinity river basin. Also, get involved with Trinity Waters and other conservation organizations such as Texas Wildlife Association.
Funding from state and federal sources was administered by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation board which recognizes hunters and landowners as the primary conservationists of land. They view landowners as the key to successful conservation, especially in Texas where greater than 90% of land is privately owned.
We are always available by email or phone to communicate personally with you.