Contacts: Allen Berthold, 979-845-2028, taberthold@ag.tamu.edu
Michael Schramm, 979-458-9191, michael.schramm@ag.tamu.edu
EDNA – Anyone interested in reviewing the draft Lavaca River Watershed Protection Plan is invited to a meeting June 29 in Edna.
The free meeting, hosted by the Texas Water Resources Institute, begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office in Jackson County, 411 N. Wells St.
Michael Schramm, an institute research associate in College Station, said stakeholders can provide input on existing chapters of the draft watershed protection plan at the meeting.
“Local stakeholders have been highly engaged and provided valuable input to ensure the plan is accurate and achievable,” he said. “This meeting will provide an opportunity for local residents, landowners and officials to provide additional input before the plan is submitted to state and federal agencies for review.”
Drafts of the plan will be provided at the meeting or can be downloaded from the project website, http://matagordabasin.tamu.edu/.
Dr. Allen Berthold, an institute research scientist in College Station, said the institute has worked with local stakeholders for several months to develop voluntary watershed-based strategies for reducing bacterial loads in the river.
“Reducing bacterial levels in the watershed is important,” he said. “The above-tidal portion of the Lavaca River and a portion of Rocky Creek, a tributary of the Lavaca River, are currently designated by the state as impaired because of elevated bacteria concentrations.”
Information from previous meetings is available at http://matagordabasin.tamu.edu/lavaca/meetings/.
For more information on the June 29 meeting, contact Berthold at taberthold@ag.tamu.edu or Schramm at michael.schramm@ag.tamu.edu.
The Texas Water Resources Institute is part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.
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