Conservation Committee

Wednesday, 9:00am, Jan. 26, 2005

Committee Agenda Item No. 2
Presenter: Scott Boruff

Conservation Committee
Land and Water Resources Conservation and Recreation Plan
Update
January 2005

I. Executive Summary: Staff has been reviewing the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Land and Water Resources Conservation and Recreation Plan (LWRCRP) for the purpose of developing updates. Several focus group meetings were held with staff in Regions 1-10 during the months of February, March and April 2004 in different locations throughout the state to formulate recommendations to the Commission regarding potential changes or updates to the plan. A Natural Leaders group has recommended a protocol for updating the plan in the future.

II. Discussion: The LWRCRP endorses many longstanding conservation efforts undertaken by the agency and set the stage for a renewed focus on water. The agency has decided to enhance operations by developing an aquatic model that would result in closer working relationships between the resource divisions, with an emphasis on improving conservation efforts on the ground. The science teams have devised a regional aquatic model that effectively divides the state into 10 aquatic ecosystems, arranged by river basins or combinations of such. We will have a clearly defined process for keeping the LWRCRP relevant and current, so that future leaders in the agency will be better able to ensure consistency and a common vision for all agency staff. The first round of focus group meetings has been completed. These meetings resulted in an extensive review of the goals and objectives of the LWRCRP.