Contact: Jennifer Peterson, 979-862-8072, jlpeterson@ag.tamu.edu
Mike Marshall, 254-865-2061, mmarshall@ag.tamu.edu
GATESVILLE – A Lone Star Healthy Streams workshop is planned for March 24 at the Gatesville Civic Center, 301 Complex Circle in Gatesville.
The Lone Star Healthy Streams program aims to educate Texas livestock producers and land managers on how to best protect Texas waterways from bacterial contributions associated with livestock production and feral hogs, said Jennifer Peterson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program specialist in College Station.
The workshop will begin at 2 p.m. and will end by 6:30 p.m. There is no cost to attend and a meal will be provided at the end of the program. Three general Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education credits will be provided for certified pesticide applicators.
Currently, about 300 Texas water bodies do not comply with state water quality standards established for E. coli bacteria, Peterson said. By participating in this workshop, livestock producers and landowners can learn about specific conservation practices they can use to help improve and protect the quality of Texas’ water bodies.
Workshop presentations will focus on issues within the Leon River Watershed, she said. Topics to be discussed include basic watershed function, water quality and specific best management practices that can be implemented to help minimize bacterial contamination from beef cattle, horses and feral hogs. There also will be a feral hog trapping demonstration.
The Lone Star Healthy Streams program is funded through a Clean Water Act nonpoint source grant from the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Preregistration is requested by March 21. To RSVP, go to http://lshs.tamu.edu/workshops/ or contact Mike Marshall, AgriLife Extension associate in Gatesville, at 512-461-6217 or mmarshall@ag.tamu.edu .
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