EARIP | Aquifer Stakeholders Agree To Pursue Plan To Protect Species

Aquifer Stakeholders Agree To Pursue Plan To Protect Species

7/10/2009

July 10, 2009. Yesterday the stakeholders in the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program (EARIP) successfully came together to commit to a process of developing a Habitat Conservation Plan for the Edwards Aquifer and its associated endangered species. The Habitat Conservation Plan will design long term actions that will be implemented to help the recovery of the endangered species.

Dr. Robert Gulley, Program Manager for the EARIP, said “I congratulate the stakeholders for coming to consensus about this significant step, after two years of hard work to set up the collaborative process. This commitment, combined with the funding recently allocated by the Texas Legislature to match the federal grant received from U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in April, means the work can now begin in earnest on the Habitat Conservation Plan.”

In 2007, the Legislature mandated the creation of the EARIP and directed the stakeholders to come to consensus regarding a plan to protect the federally listed endangered or threatened species while managing the use of the Edwards Aquifer. This plan is to be completed by September 1, 2012. Additional deadlines for steps that needed to be completed by stakeholders in the past two years were all met. A combination of funding sources has made the progress of the EARIP stakeholders possible.

To date the stakeholders themselves have provided over $775,000 towards developing the plan and studying the impacts of aquifer management, flooding, recreation, and other activities on the listed species. USFWS awarded the EARIP $1,063,125 for the development of a Habitat Conservation Plan, and the Texas Legislature recently appropriated up to $1.69 million to the Texas Water Development Board to assist in completing activities necessary to meet state and federal requirements.

By September, the stakeholders will have retained a contractor to assist in preparing the Habitat Conservation Plan. To develop the document which will be submitted to the USFWS, the EARIP will have to make difficult decisions regarding how the aquifer must be managed and other actions that must be implemented to satisfy the requirements of the federal Endangered Species Act while balancing the region’s water needs. The results of scientific studies will be available in the fall to aid the EARIP in reaching these decisions. The EARIP has elected to use a facilitator to assist them in addressing the obstacles that have previously prevented the region from successfully resolving the tension between species protection and water needs. EARIP stakeholders include water utilities, cities, groundwater conservation districts, agricultural users, industrial users, environmental organizations, individuals, river authorities, downstream and coastal communities, and state and federal agencies.