Landscape-Scale Approaches to Conservation of Native Fishes in the Edwards Plateau Ecoregion of Texas: Facilitating On-the-Ground Conservation Actions Through the Development of Private Landowner Networks

This presentation will highlight a landscape-scale conservation initiative underway in the Edwards Plateau Ecoregion of central Texas that is focused on the protection and restoration of native fish populations.  Also known as the Texas Hill Country, the region is characterized by a karst landscape intersected by numerous clear, spring-fed streams.  These streams support 15 species of endemic fishes, including the State Fish of Texas, Guadalupe bass Micropterus treculii.  Despite recent increases in human populations, many streams in the region remain relatively pristine and intact. However, projections of population growth, water demands, and land-use changes indicate that they will soon be at risk. Through this initiative, conservation partners are working to protect and restore native fishes of the region by addressing factors leading to their decline, including flow alteration, loss of watershed connectivity, physical habitat degradation, and competition and hybridization with introduced, non-native forms (e.g., smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu).  Among the core partners of the initiative are networks of willing landowners working to coordinate actions at watershed scales that support healthy habitats, natural ecosystems, and sustainable native fish populations.  Specific actions taken by the landowner networks include stream bank stabilization and reestablishment of native vegetation to support functional riparian zones, removal or redesign of road crossings that serve as barriers to fish passage or that alter natural fluvial processes in the river, upland grasslands restoration to support recharge of springs and restored hydrologic flows, and delivery of riparian and watershed conservation workshops that promote watershed best management practices.  This presentation will highlight the approaches that were taken by the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and other local partners of the National Fish Habitat Partnership to facilitate the formation of these private landowner networks, identify shared interests, leverage resources, and develop a strategic and shared vision for management of land and water resources in the region to benefit native fishes and their habitats, while providing for compatible human uses.