The Texas Watershed Coordinator Roundtable, hosted by Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), was held July 26 in College Station. The roundtable, held biannually, featured presentations by watershed and natural resource professionals from across the state.
Roundtable presenters included Dr. Lucas Gregory, Dr. Allen Berthold and Nikki Dictson of TWRI; Reagan Hejl of Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences; Justin Bower of Houston-Galveston Area Council; Kimberly Horndeski of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts office; and Sarah Richards of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation.
“This was another very successful roundtable with valuable topics to assist watershed coordinators including funding from foundations, social sciences to improve landowner participation and implementation, and upcoming trainings,” Dictson said.
The 65 attendees also had the opportunity to tour the turf plots at the new Scotts Miracle-Gro Lawn and Garden Research Facility on the Texas A&M campus and learn about the new Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters research and public educational program.
Dictson said the roundtable provides a forum for establishing and maintaining dialogue between watershed coordinators, facilitates interactive solutions to common watershed issues faced throughout the state and adds to the fundamental knowledge conveyed at the Texas Watershed Planning short courses. The next roundtable will be in January 2018 in Austin.
The Texas Watershed Planning Program is managed by TWRI and is funded through a Clean Water Act nonpoint source grant provided by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.