Texas A&M Forest Service offers watershed protection plan implementation grants

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.

###

Texas A&M Forest Service Contacts:

Julia Schmidt, Water Resources Forester, (979) 587-8873, [email protected]

Communications Office, 979-458-6606, [email protected]

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.