The Guadalupe Blanco River Trust and the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority: Creating and Then Working with a Non-Profit Conservation Partner
Todd Votteler, Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority
South Central Texas Regional Water Planning Group
March 19, 2009
1 Why Create a Non-Profit Conservation Partner?
A Non-Profit Conservation Partner Can: • Assist with the implementation of the parent agency’s mission; • Provide access to financial resources that are generally unavailable to the parent agency; • Improve the parent agency’s working relationship with landowners and others within your jurisdiction; and • Demonstrate parent agency’s commitment to its mission
2 Why Create a Non-Profit Conservation Partner?
GBRA has created 3 Non-Profit Conservation Partners: • Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust (Trust), 2001 – Conserves the watershed and protects the quality and quantity of water in the Guadalupe River, which supports GBRA’s responsibility for stewardship of the river • Gorge Preservation Society (GPS), 2006 – Ecotourism and education at the Canyon Reservoir Gorge, which supports GBRA’s responsibility for economic development within the river basin • San Antonio Bay Foundation, 2008 – Promotes research on, and the conservation of San Antonio Bay and the Guadalupe Estuary, which supports GBRA’s responsibility for stewardship of the river that provides the majority of freshwater inflows
3 Why Did the GBRA Create the Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust? Land Use Changes in Texas . . . • From 1982 to 1997 over 2.6 M acres of rural Texas was urbanized - the conversion rate is accelerating; • Texas is losing land in agriculture and wildlife habitat more rapidly than any other state; • These changes impact water quality & quantity; • Because 94% of Texas land is privately owned, maintaining land for agriculture and wildlife is ultimately up to private landowners; and • Currently, there is a massive transfer of wealth underway, including land from baby boomers to their children creating a great opportunity for conservation.
4 What is the Trust? The Trust’s Mission is to promote and encourage the conservation, stewardship and enjoyment of the land and water resources of the Guadalupe watershed, while maintaining its unique and irreplaceable natural heritage.
5 What is the Trust? • The Trust is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization known as a land trust, or in this case a water and land trust; • A land trust is a local, state or regional nonprofit conservation organization that protects land for its natural, recreational, scenic, historical, open space or educational value. More than 40 land trusts work in Texas; • The Trust works in the entire Guadalupe watershed, including counties that are not in GBRA’s district, assisting landowners with their long-term conservation goals; • The Trust works with volunteer landowners & organizations such as the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department & the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge; and • The Trust is a non-regulatory approach to conservation.
6 What is the Trust? The Trust … • Has a voluntary Board of 9, with 2 appointed by GBRA and 1 by Upper Guadalupe River Authority; • Is staffed part-time by GBRA employees; • Provides solutions to local needs including the protection of watersheds, farms, and ranches; • Supported by GBRA, individual donations, & grants; and • Provides the GBRA, and now the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, with a reliable, long- term 501(c)(3) partner organization.
7 What is the Trust? The Trust … • Promotes the development of relationships with other organizations such as local, state, & federal governmental agencies, as well as individuals, industries & other conservation organizations; • Draws upon local resources and reflects the basin’s values; • Secures state, federal and private grants that organizations other than 501(c)(3) cannot get; and • Receives tax deductable public donations that a river authority or other agency wouldn’t receive.
8 What is the Trust? The Trust … • Through fee simple acquisition, conservation easements, and the purchase of development rights works to protect and conserve the Guadalupe River watershed much in the same way San Antonio is conserving the waters of the Edwards Aquifer by preserving over 54,000 acres of the recharge zone, and as the City of New York has done by preserving over 70,000 acres of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers watersheds.
9 10 EXAMPLES OF TRUST PROJECTS Linda Dean Ranch in Kendall County
•620 acres near Sisterdale, Texas; •Significant frontage on the Guadalupe River; and •Dinosaur tracks.
12 Stroube Ranch in DeWitt County
This property has significant frontage along the Guadalupe River including a healthy riparian zone.
13 Caulkins Ranch in Guadalupe County
14 Land Donations to the Trust
The Trust will eventually receive the Caulkins Ranch along the Guadalupe River. It could be kept in the Trust or sold to help finance Trust programs. A conservation easement will stay with the property if it is sold.
15 Calhoun County Easement
Guadalupe Delta, 2.5 miles of river frontage protected. 16 Trust Purchase of Property
• Two properties, 820 acres between Hog and Schwing Bayous; • Over 90% wetlands; • The goal is a corridor of conserved lands from the Calhoun County Canal to Mission Bay; and • Land will eventually be open to limited public use for hunting, fishing, birding other uses potentially.
17 GBRA Salt Water Barrier Property
18 Additional Property
TPWD’s Guadalupe Delta WMA
Project Area
TPWD’s Guadalupe Delta WMA
19 Guadalupe River Delta Before and After
Guadalupe Delta WMA
Mission Bay
Mission Bay North Guadalupe River Victoria Barge Canal
North Guadalupe Guadalupe River River Traylor Cut N Old Guadalupe River Channel Guadalupe River Guadalupe South Guadalupe South Bay Guadalupe River Bay Guadalupe River
Hynes Bay San Antonio Hynes Bay San Antonio Bay Bay Approximately 0.5 miles Approximately 0.5 miles 1930 2002
20 20 Traylor Cut PHOTO 1941
21 Traylor Cut PHOTO 1956
22 Traylor Cut PHOTO 2002
23 Removing Sandbar Forming Across Mouth of Old Guadalupe Channel
24 Spraying of Invasive Species Along 4 Miles of the Guadalupe River Below Traylor Cut
25 Wetland Habitat Restoration at the Myrtle-Foester Whitmire Unit
Creating a reliable method for delivering freshwater to 750 acres of wetland impoundments at critical times benefiting hundreds of thousands of waterfowl, wading and shorebirds.
The Whitmire Unit is a major wintering waterfowl area on the
Texas26 Gulf Coast. Wetland Habitat Restoration at the Myrtle-Foester-Whitmire Unit Project Partners and Contributors Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service : Conoco Phillips : National Fish and Wildlife Foundation : Coastal Coordination Council : Friends of Aransas Wildlife Refuge : Formosa Environmental Trust Fund :ALCOA :Tetra-Tech
27 The Whitmire Unit is located at the end of the GBRA’s Calhoun County 28canal system. The new 2.6 mile canal provides for a more efficient delivery of freshwater to wetland impoundments benefiting hundreds of thousands of waterfowl, wading 29and shorebirds throughout the year. Land Conservation Workshops
• The goal of the Trust workshops is to provide information to landowners about land conservation techniques and programs, while introducing them to the Trust.
30 Partnerships: City of Martindale Expansion of Existing Park
31 32 Project Overview • The goal of this project is to create a basin-wide monitoring network to relay “real-time” water quality data to regulating entities and the public. • The network will assist in determining baseline water quality conditions and long term changes in water quality due to non-point source impacts from urbanization. It will also assist in the quick identification and reaction to spills and storms. • Multiple organizations can partner together to establish and maintain a monitoring site by making a tax deductible donation to the Trust.
33 Cypress Creek Downstream of Wimberley Cypress Creek at Jacob’s Well San Marcos River at Spring Lake
Geronimo Creek Station
Plum Creek near Lockhart
Peach Creek downstream of Waelder Kerr County Station
Canyon Lake Guadalupe River in Kendall County Cow Creek Groundwater Stations
Guadalupe River at Lake Placid Sandies Creek near Westhoff
Guadalupe River in Gonzales County
Guadalupe River in Victoria County GBRA Routine Monitoring Stations (27) Existing/Imminent Water Quality Stations
Proposed Water Quality Stations (319 Grant Application 34 San Antonio Bay Stations Potential Locations for Community Sponsored Stations Cypress Creek @ Jacob’s Well
35 Canyon Reservoir
36 San Antonio Bay
37 Water Rights • Cape Family water rights on the San Marcos River totaling 70 acre-feet placed with Trust in 2005; • Priority dates are 1895 and 1905 making these rights some of the oldest on the Guadalupe River; and • A first for a Texas-based land trust.
38 Publications and Website
The Trust has participated in the creation of a number of publications for landowners about topics such as managing riparian zones and protecting springs.
The Trust website, www.gbrtrust.org, contains substantial amounts of information for landowners who want to conserve their land.
39 Guadalupe River Conservation Partner Award • An ad hoc award given to organizations or individuals that a substantial contribution to a Trust project of great importance. • The first award winner is Union Carbide, a fully-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.
40 How to Maintain a Strong Relationship with Your Non-Profit Partner Maintaining a partnership with your non-profit conservation partner requires common sense and a continuing commitment that most governmental organizations should be able to accomplish easily;
• Continuing Financial Support • Proximity • Interaction • Common Goals
41 Questions?
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