Writer: Paul Schattenberg, 210-859-5752, paschattenberg@ag.tamu.edu
Contacts: Ward Ling, 979-845-6980, wling@tamu.edu
Matt Brown, 979-862-8072, mwbrown88@tamu.edu
SEGUIN — A combination Feral Hog Workshop and Lone Star Healthy Streams program will be presented from 10 a.m-3 p.m. May 2 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office for Guadalupe County, 210 E. Live Oak St. in Seguin.
The event is free and lunch will be provided.
Preregistration is required, so attendees should go to http://lshs.tamu.edu/workshops/ to RSVP or call the AgriLife Extension office at 830-303-3889.
Workshop coordinators said presentations will focus on the Geronimo and Alligator creeks watershed and discussion will include basic watershed function, water quality and best management practices for minimizing bacterial contamination from beef cattle, horses and feral hogs.
Three Texas Department of Agriculture general continuing education units will be offered for certified pesticide applicators.
“Feral hogs are a problem in Texas, impacting water quality in our creeks and rivers, as well as causing financial loss to agricultural production,” said Ward Ling, AgriLife Extension program specialist and Geronimo and Alligator creeks watershed coordinator, College Station. “This workshop will address feral hog biology, trapping and other control measures.”
Matt Brown, AgriLife Extension program specialist, College Station, said the Lone Star Healthy Streams program helps educate livestock producers and landowners on how to best protect their waterways from bacterial contamination associated with livestock production.
“About 300 Texas water bodies do not comply with state water quality standards established for E. coli bacteria, including the Geronimo and Alligator creeks watershed,” Brown said.
In January 2010, AgriLife Extension, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board established the Geronimo and Alligator Creeks Watershed Partnership to assess and improve water quality in the watershed, Ling said. The partnership analyzed water quality data, identified water quality concerns that are of importance to communities within the watershed and developed a watershed protection plan.
The plan was approved by the partnership and accepted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2012. For more information about the Geronimo and Alligator Creeks Watershed Protection Plan, go to http://www.geronimocreek.org/.
The Lone Star Healthy Streams program is funded through a Clean Water Act nonpoint source grant from the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and the EPA.
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