Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

The underlying concept of the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan is simple: do what’s necessary to ensure the survival of rare, threatened and endangered species – that depend on the Aquifer and the San Marcos and Comal Rivers – while permitting continued use of the resource by human constituents.

06—There’s federal law requiring this, but it’s the right thing to do in terms of protecting the resource for all of us into the future.

Cindy Loeffler is water resources branch chief at TPW and one of the architects of the protection plan. Convincing people to do the right thing – like modifying their usage of the resource based on the needs of rare species – can be a hard sell.

The plan includes ongoing water conservation –especially during times of drought – removing invasive species, and declaring a portion of the San Marcos River a state scientific area that would make it illegal to uproot endangered Texas Wild Rice.

But Loeffler says these protected species are indicators of a healthy ecosystem – which benefits everyone.

21—By providing these protections for these species, that helps ensure the San Marcos river, the Comal River will keep flowing. Keeping these springs flowing is really at the heart and soul of the work done by the recovery implementation program. And so that benefits the species, of course, but also benefits people as well.

Find a link to the plan’s website at passporttotexas.org.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program …supports our series and funds diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.