FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2024
Texas
A&M Forest Service offers watershed protection plan implementation grants
COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Texas
A&M Forest Service is offering $750,000 for watershed protection plan
implementation for local governments, water utilities and non-governmental
organizations that have an existing watershed protection plan.
The watershed protection
plan implementation grant will award up to 15 organizations with up to $50,000
each to implement watershed improvement plans for valuable Texas watersheds. Areas
of implementation will be limited to areas wholly within disadvantaged areas as
defined by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool or to watersheds
that provide drinking water to disadvantaged communities.
“Fifty percent of freshwater
resources in Texas originate in forestland watersheds, which treat and protect
water at its origin,” said Karl Flocke, Texas A&M Forest Service Forest Water
Resources Program Leader. “This grant allows organizations to conserve
watersheds which are critical for the sustainability and reliance of our abundant
water resources now and in the future.”
Texas forests help absorb rainfall,
refill groundwater aquifers, slow and filter stormwater runoff, mitigate
erosion, reduce flooding and maintain watershed stability and resilience. With
a continuous supply of fresh water, as a result of well-managed forests, the
Texas forest-water relationship is valued at $13.3 billion annually.
A watershed protection implementation
plan is any coordinated framework that addresses the root causes of and solutions
to water quality impairment using methods such as the planting and protection
of trees in riparian areas.
Applications for this grant are
now open and may be submitted until Nov. 1, 2024, at 5 p.m.
For more information about
the watershed protection plan implementation grant and submission instructions,
click here: https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/WaterResourcesandBMPs/
For additional landowner and
municipal forestry grants available throughout the state, visit the Funding Connector.
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Texas
A&M Forest Service Contacts:
Julia Schmidt, Water Resources
Forester, (979) 587-8873, WPPIG@tfs.tamu.edu
Communications Office, 979-458-6606, newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu