Environment
AMIRA VAN LEEUWEN
The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, or GBRA, is continuing its work on a multi- year, basin-wide conservation plan geared toward protecting six freshwater species. “We would be one of the rst river authorities to cover the entire river basin in our jurisdiction under a habitat conservation plan,” Nathan Pence, GBRA’s executive manager of environmental science, told Community Impact . A habitat conservation plan is a tool within the Endangered Species Act that describes impacts to endangered species and quanties the positive things to o set those impacts, also referred to as mitigation. “Any time you protect resources for habitat or water ow for one species, you’re often helping an entire ecosystem,” Pence said. The freshwater species covered under the GBRA develops plan for habitat conservation
Digging deeper
is not sustainable because it is subject to lawsuit, or you could have changes made to your permit- ting,” he said. GBRA received two $1 million grants from the Department of the Interior through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Section 6 Program for planning in 2019 and 2023. However, Pence said the overall cost of the plan will be determined by the amount of mitigation needed, and GBRA is still negotiating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “What one person does upstream aects some- body else downstream ... so the more people that participate, the better it actually is for the river and the species,” he said.
Although GBRA diverts water and conducts activities through lawful permits received from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, there are still activities that the entity conducts that could impact endangered species. Pence said the process will take the authority’s water diversion permits and enter them under the habitat conservation plan so those species would be protected. It would also protect the authority from any endangered species litigation or endan- gered species challenges to its water permits. “If you are not in compliance with the environ- mental laws in Texas or from the federal govern- ment, then the water that’s being used and the resource that’s being used from a legal standpoint
Gillespie
Blanco
Travis
Lee
Bastrop
Hays
1
PLUM CREEK
BLANCO RIVER
Fayette
Real
Bandera
3
6
SAN MARCOS RIVER
plan include the following: • Eastern Black Rail (bird)
Colorado
2
3
• Whooping Crane (bird) • Guadalupe Darter (ish) • False Spike (mussel) • Guadalupe Orb (mussel) • Guadalupe Fatmucket (mussel)
Bexar
Lavaca
GUADALUPE RIVER
Uvalde
Medina
Wilson
Jackson
Frio Species covered under the plan Guadalupe River Basin Federally endangered State threatened HCP area Zavala Atascosa
The authority is collaborating with other entities to develop the plan, including: • Kerr County • City of Gonzales • City of Kerrville • Canyon Regional Water Authority
Karnes
5
Goliad
Live Oak McMullen 6 Guadalupe Darter Fish: 4 Whooping Crane 5 Eastern Black Rail Bird:
1 Guadalupe Fatmucket 2 False Spike 3 Guadalupe Orb Mussels:
Bee
4
Refugio
Dimmit
La Salle
N
SOURCE: GUADALUPEBLANCO RIVER AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT
NOTE: THE MAP SHOWS WHERE SPECIES WITHIN THE PLAN ARE TYPICALLY FOUND.
Looking ahead
Pence said the ITP allows an entity to keep conducting its activities, but also indicates that the entity has taken endangered species impacts into consideration and is operating within the lawful bounds of the Endangered Species Act.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to a July 30 habitat conservation plan public stakeholder meeting presentation. Following draft submittal, GBRA would need to apply and receive an Incidental Take Permit, or ITP, from the federal government.
The next public stakeholder meeting will be in spring 2026. The meeting will go over the mitigation eorts for the species identied in the plan, Pence said. Ocials hope to have a draft of the plan complete by summer 2026 to submit to the
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NEW BRAUNFELS EDITION
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