Executive Director's Report
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 Jody L.Carton
Executive Director
Photo by Charles Dunn |
With the onset of autumn colors and the cooler temperatures, we are all preparing for the conclusion of one year and the beginning of another. In recent months, TBCF has been focused on:
Ø hosting our Annual Meeting & Fundraiser Event,
Ø seeking financial support to offset our program, project and general operating costs, and
Ø the recruitment and orientation of an expanded leadership board.
We appreciate all of the interest and support shown for our Annual Meeting & Fundraiser Event, hosted at the Hart-Morris Conservation Center (TPWD) http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/visitorcenters/tffc/visit/facilityrental/
on October 21, 2010. We were pleased to connect with a wide-variety of conservation-minded landowners and partners during the program and together we raised over $4,000 to advance our mission in the upcoming year.
Just prior to our annual meeting, TBCF hosted a Texas Watershed Stewards http://tws.tamu.edu/ workshop  focused on the middle Trinity basin. Over 50 participants spent the day learning about how watersheds function and the importance of civic leadership in watershed stewardship. Thank you to our partners at Texas AgriLife Extension and all of our participants!
We are pleased to update you on several recent resource development accomplishments for TBCF:
Ø We have been awarded a grant from the Dixon Water Foundation www.dixonwater.org to offset a portion of our general operating expenses in 2011. We appreciate Dixon Water Foundation's investment in our mission!
As outlined our our Strategic Plan, http://trinitybasin.org/TBCF_Strategic%20Plan%20approved_032310.pdf we have successfully recruited for and appointed leaders for an expanded TBCF Board of Directors (term 2011-2013)Both our outgoing and incoming boards will be meeting this month to address business items, review the 2011 workplan and budget and discuss high-priority matters for the incoming leadership team. 
2011-2013 Leadership Team (Photo credit: John Fortune)
L-R Back Row: Daniel J. O'Donnell, Secretary, Palestine/Dallas, Austin Parten, Southern Basin Vice-President, Crockett/Houston, Chuck Raleigh, Director, Kaufman County, Gary Price, Director, Navarro County, Kenneth Cook, Middle Basin Vice-President, Henderson County, Brian Smith, Northern Basin Vice-President, Dallas/Navarro
Not in photo: Colin J. Barrett, Treasurer, Henderson County, Bruce Thomas, Director, Navarro County, Storm Sands, Director, Dallas
L-R Front Row: Jim Cathey, Director, College Station, Ed Reeve, President, Henderson County, Jody Carton, Executive Director (staff), Sandy Bates Bell, Director, Freestone County
We look forward to the continued advisement and support of those individuals that are completing their tenure on our board this term. We extend our sincere appreciation to: Dr. Robert McFarlane, President, David Curtis, Treasurer, Randy Parten, Director
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What We Do and Why It Matters!
Trinity LA.N.D.S. Program
By Michelle Wood
Trinity L.A.N.D.S Program Coordinator
The fourth year of our Trinity LANDS Program has been a huge success and a milestone for TBCF and our partners. This year's program had a total of five field days for the schools, including the capstone/graduation event on November 30th where both schools got a chance to meet and learn together.
In the fall of 2010, we were able to impact 115 students in the 4th grades of St. John's Episcopal School in Dallas and Blooming Grove Elementary School in Blooming Grove, as well as their teachers, administrators, and parent volunteers. We could not have had such a successful year if it hadn't been for the hard work of dedicated volunteers from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Freshwater Fisheries Center, Texas Wildlife Association, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Agrilife Extension, John Bunker Sands Wetland Center, Trinity Basin Conservation Foundation, and many wonderful landowners who believe taking kids outside is worth so many of their busy days. We have had over 45 hard working volunteers make this program successful and influential for these students!
Just to recap - the Trinity LANDS Program concept intertwines place-based education (our watershed), hand-on experience (field events) and service learning activities (conservation work on public and private lands). The model is designed to bridge the divide between rural and urban youth as well as to establish understanding about public and private lands stewardship. The entire focus is based on the Trinity River Basin landscape - which services almost half of the population of Texas. The Texas Wildlife Association, Trinity Basin Conservation Foundation, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and Texas AgriLife Extension Service teamed up to develop a program designed specifically for students who live along the Trinity River Basin to promote sound land stewardship in order to improve the water quality and general health of the Trinity River and its watershed.
Hopefully by next year the program will have grown enough to spread to more partner schools in the Trinity River Basin, and sometime in the future our hands-on approach to learning about our water will flow to other basins as well. For more information on this program, please visit the link on TBCF's website. If you would like to be involved in any way or would like more information, please contact Michelle Wood at mwood@trinitybasin.org.
St. John's kids performed hands on chemistry outside with Terry Bedford (TFFC) as they tested their school's creek for nitrates. Photo: Michelle Wood
Students at the 77 Ranch near Blooming Grove, TX, get to see the effects of rainfall and runoff, demonstrated by Brian Gregory (NRCS). Photo: Michelle Wood
Blooming Grove kids are asked to smell the soils that macroinvertebrates live in by John Defillipo (The Wetlands Center). Photo: Jody Carton
After a long drive and a longer day, Blooming Grove kids are excited to see the fruits of their labor from collecting macros in the creeks around White Rock Lake. Photo: Jody Carton
Western Navarro Bobwhite Restoration Initiative (WNBRI) - Update
By Jay Whiteside
Technical Guidance Biologist
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
The TBCF Partners Project in Navarro County is moving along nicely. The wetland portion of the project was completed this summer with the instalation of 3 water control structures. Now we just need enough rain to start holding water. The grassland restoration portion was also started this summer with the application of 41% Glyphosate herbicide to gain control of Johnsongrass, giant ragweed and some common bermudagrass. All but one of the fields selected for grassland restoration are ready for planting in January or February. We are also still on course to begin planting the bottomland along Chambers Creek with hardwood seedling this February, although there have been some modifications due to seedling availablity and acorn collection for direct seeding.
WNBRI was fairly active over the past year with one big Brush Sculpting / Range seeding project and a few small native grassland restoration projects. There are several habitat restoration projects that are planned for next year, so the cumulative native habitat acreage in the WNBRI focus area is still steadily increasing. Spring bobwhite call counts last year were slightly down from previous years but are expected to rebound due to the favorable nesting habitat conditions this past summer. Additionally, the Texas Agrilife Extension Service and WNBRI will be hosting a Prescribed Burning workshop in Corsicana in January, so hopefully that will translate into burning alot of acreage this winter thus improving more habitat for bobwhites.
Water as a Crop (Update)
By Gary Price
We just completed our second landowner dinner meeting on October 28 at the 77 Ranch. All participating landowners were represented as well as Sand County Foundation, Texas Parks & Wildlife, NRCS, Texas AgriLife Extension, Williams Gin & Grain and two representatives from MillerCoors, one of our main sponsors. Each landowner was given a packet containing tailored recommendations for their particular conservation concerns on their property. The meeting addressed any questions participating landowners had. We are now ready to begin the work on the ground to start these practices. The first priority will be riparian buffers, grass filter strips and appropriate fencing to protect these practices or to implement a planned rotational grazing system. Individual landowner meetings are scheduled for the second week of December to fine tune these practices. We believe we have laid the foundation for this program to be successful.
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How to Get Involved
- Join us by subscribing to our newsletter, the Basin Bulletin.
- Forward the Basin Bulletin to friends and colleagues that have shared interests.
- Check out our website to learn more about our programs and projects.
- Send us an email describing your interest in the Trinity River Basin.
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