TEMPLE - The Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board will host a Water Supply Enhancement Program Brush Control Field Day on May 12, 2015 at the Stowers Ranch near Hunt in Kerr County. The purpose of the field day is to continue discussions with the public on the State Water Supply Enhancement Plan.
"We want to ensure that the public continues to have an opportunity to provide constructive input on this important state plan," said Rex Isom, Executive Director of the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board. "The State Water Supply Enhancement Plan directs the agency’s efforts to enhance public drinking water supplies by working with landowners to protect the natural resources of Texas."
The State Water Supply Enhancement Plan serves as the State's comprehensive strategy for managing brush in all areas of the state where brush is contributing to a substantial water conservation problem.
The field day is free and open to the public. The program will start at 10:00 a.m. and conclude by 2:00 p.m. Lunch will not be provided, so participants are encouraged to bring a sack lunch.
The Stowers Ranch is located at 3274 FM 1340 in Hunt. To get to the ranch, from Hunt take FM 1340 west for 16 miles. The entrance gate is located between the Boneyard Crossing and the Klein Crossing on the Guadalupe River.
"Voluntary land stewardship, on a grand scale, is a cornerstone solution for water supply issues in Texas. The efforts of private landowners to control water-depleting brush are vitally important to the ecological health of our productive rangelands across the state," said Isom.
The 11,800-acre Stowers Ranch was established in 1904 and is located at the headwaters of the North Fork of the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. The Stowers Ranch landscape presents a blend of open grasslands and wooded areas achieved through grazing management and efforts to control the encroachment of ashe juniper.
The focus of discussions during the field day will be on aspects of the agency’s Water Supply Enhancement Program related to conservation plans for landowners and soil erosion potential from brush control. The purpose of the Water Supply Enhancement Program is to increase available surface and ground water supplies through the targeted control of brush species that are detrimental to water conservation, and the subsequent establishment of herbaceous vegetation on land where that brush has been controlled.
"Many Texans today, especially those in urban areas, enjoy the public benefits, such as clean plentiful drinking water, they derive from the voluntary land stewardship provided by private landowners throughout the state," said Isom.
For more information about the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board’s efforts to enhance public water supplies through the targeted control of water-depleting brush, please contact Johnny Oswald at (325) 481-0335 or joswald [at] tsswcb [dot] texas [dot] gov. Additional information on the agency’s Water Supply Enhancement Program is available at http://www.tsswcb.texas.gov/brushcontrol.
The Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, established in 1939, administers Texas’ soil and water conservation law and delivers coordinated natural resource conservation programs to agricultural producers through the State’s 216 soil and water conservation districts. The Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board is the lead agency for planning, implementing, and managing programs for preventing and abating agricultural and silvicultural nonpoint sources of water pollution. The agency also administers a water supply enhancement program to increase available surface and ground water through the targeted control of water-depleting brush in areas in need of water conservation; works to ensure the State’s network of 2,000 flood control dams is protecting lives and property; and facilitates the Texas Invasive Species Coordinating Committee.