On Friday, April 21, 2023, at around 7:30 am, a few of my classmates and I traveled up to Blanco River to talk to Ryan McGillicudy, a conservation biologist on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department watershed conservation team. We met on the private land of an owner that was willing to work with the Texas Parks and Wildlife to help protect and restore the surrounding riparian vegetation and river. Ryan then explained to us that about 95% of Texas land is privately owned but the body of water is a public trust resource so they can only work with the private landowners if they allow.

An open path to the river with a surrounding healthy riparian area

He then talked about the major goals of the restoration project, which were to help and teach private landowners to protect the riparian zone, this would then lead to a healthier river.  The main problem was that they kept mowing their lawns to have short grass because that is what everyone else was doing so they assumed it was okay. Doing this would cause issues because of the short roots and lack of plant diversity. Allowing the grass to grow can help native plants grow and lead to a landscape that will prevent erosion, retain storm runoff, help maintain future floods, and just support more wildlife. By helping to educate some of the private landowners he can work to create a new social norm around the Blanco River because as he explained most of the people just do what their surrounding neighbors are doing which is not always correct, so he hopes to create a chain reaction of proper land management.

This is a bioswale they formed to help capture water flow after large rains and ease the infiltration process

Ryan showing the river!

Post and pictures by Lauren Scott