SLWA Planning Meeting 2015

SLWA Planning Meeting January 17 2015

The South Llano Watershed Alliance Board, along with other members of the Alliance met on Saturday, January 17th, 2015 at Native American Seed to discuss our efforts in the coming year. Four major activities were discussed.

Oasis Fire Workshop

Following the April 2011 Oasis Pipeline Fire, the Alliance (in partnership state and local organizations) responded by gathering restoration experts from around the state to come to Junction, visit the wildfire site, and develop restoration suggestions for affected land owners. These suggestions were presented at a Recovery and Restoration Workshop in November 2011.

Four years later, SLWA (in conjunction with Texas Parks and Wildlife) is bringing the experts back to Junction to learn how the wildfire area has recovered and which best-management-practices have functioned the best. The findings will be presented at a public workshop on April 18th, 2015.

SLWA members are coordinating with TPWD staff to prepare a landowners guide and have magazine writers and newspaper journalists participate in the process.

Local landowners will have advanced opportunity to sign up for the workshop.

Water Quality and Quantity Workshop

A couple of questions that have been asked frequently these past few years is why is the river cloudy? And why is the river so low? SLWA will evaluate the potential for holding a workshop in the fall on water quality and water quantity issues. The final Upper Llanos River Watershed Protection Plan (WPP) is scheduled to have an approved plan in place by fall and likely will be holding a workshop for the plan. SLWA will coordinate with the WPP on these efforts.

Coordinated Educational Outreach

SLWA, along with other entities and organizations in the area, support educational outreach activities to local schools and organizations. In an effort to coordinate these outreach efforts, SLWA will convene a bi-annual meeting of these partner organizations to discuss opportunities and synergies.

Potential Name Change

The South Llano Watershed Alliance has outgrown its name. As our organization has grown in our efforts, we have expanded to other watersheds outside the South Llano. It was suggested Saturday that the Board consider a name change. One suggestion is Upper Llanos Watershed Alliance.

Suggestions for other names are welcome and will be considered at the next Board meeting. In the interim, we are checking with accountants, web-designers, and our bylaws to see if there are problems with a name change.