San Marcos River Foundation NewsletterVol. 7, No. 2
Printed Quarterly on Recycled Paper - April 1, 1997

PLEASE TAKE NOTE:
April 15 - Bed & Banks Hearing at 10 am - Board Meets 6 pm

QUARTERLY BOARD MEETING ON TUESDAY, APRIL 15

The quarterly board meeting will be held at Grins Restaurant's meeting room at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15. All SMRF members are urged to attend, and visitors interested in the welfare of the San Marcos River are welcome to attend and participate. The agenda will include discussion and action on the following interesting plans and subjects:

Financial report
River Awareness Month activities
Updates on permit issues:
State Fish Hatchery discharge of effluent into the River
City of San Marcos "Bed & Banks" and other River withdrawals
Federal EPA permit for City of San Marcos wastewater discharge into the River
Proposal for kiosk at Playscape (Lions' Club proposal)
Committee reports on grants, Adopt-a-River, downstream membership drive, and other items

PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS

SMRF's annual River Awareness Month is this month, and we need help to accomplish all our projects. Please volunteer to help with judging the students' posters, coloring /drawings, essays, and poetry/song lyrics on April 20. (See River Awareness Month calendar enclosed in newsletter.) Also, please attend all the events you are interested in, described on the back of the calendar. It is, as always, an ambitious program of lectures, canoe trips, hikes, and birding adventures, for kids and adults.

River issues SMRF is involved in are heating up, after a year of relative quiet. The preliminary hearing for the City of San Marcos "Bed & Banks" permit to withdraw drinking water from the River just below the sewer plant discharge is set for 10 a.m. April 15 at the Hays County Extension Office, off Hwy. 123, east of IH35. Please attend to show your concern about this plan. It is not necessary to speak unless you really want to. Just sign in and check off the box that says you are opposed to the permit, and then watch as long as you have time for. We realize that most people work during the day, and it is difficult to take time off, but daytime is when all these hearings are set by the State. Please drop by, even if it is just during your lunch hour.

The second permit SMRF is involved in is the A.E.Wood Fish Hatchery, run by Texas Parks & Wildlife, (TP&W) which discharges into the River now without treatment. This permit hearing has been postponed to allow TP&W to change the permit. We have not yet heard how it will change, and are waiting to hear more on this issue, in order to pass that info on to our members.

The most recent permit issue SMRF is involved in is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permit for the City's wastewater or sewer plant. We filed a request on March 6 for a public hearing in this permit in order to bring the City's plan to withdraw water from the River to the attention of the EPA as they consider the wastewater discharge permit, since the withdrawals will affect the flow of the River. The amount of water in the River is part of the planning process used to decide how much sewage the River can handle, so EPA needed to know about this. We have not yet heard from EPA.

In February, before the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) meeting that we carpooled to attend in north Austin, we requested that the Bed & Banks permit be declared illegal, as we believe it is after reading the Texas Water Code, but for now, the permit hearings go on as scheduled. Watch the newspapers for updates closer to April 15.

Meanwhile, the State Legislature is busy trying to enact changes in the Texas Water Code. It is too early to see how good or bad these changes will be---but most of the money is not on the river protection side. Keep up with the changes in the newspapers, and let your legislators know where you stand.

Finally, I would like to thank Cathy Supple and Mary Beth Garrett for their service on SMRF's Board. We thanked them at the annual meeting, but wanted to mention their hard work again.

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RANDALL'S REMARKABLE CARD BIG SUCCESS AS FUNDRAISER

Though SMRF has not yet been notified of exactly how big the percentage of groceries sold to SMRF members and friends will be, SMRF has already heard how great the response has been to the notices mailed out to members in December and January. Some of the clerks at Randall's actually know the SMRF number (1808) by memory because so many individuals have applied for a discount card and then asked to key in #1808 as their charity of choice! If you know of a business or large family who buy lots of groceries that needs to be approached personally to ask them to join in the effort to raise funds for SMRF, please contact Dianne Wassenich,
512-393-3787. If you have not yet received the Remarkable Card, just go to the office at Randall's, ask for one, and tell them to key in #1808 the first time you use it. From then on, 1 to 2% of all grocery purchases will be given to SMRF, and for your trouble, you will be given discounts on your groceries. The only thing you have to do is hand the card to the cashier every time you check out. (It is not a charge card, only a discount card.) Tell your friends and relatives to use our #1808 also! Spread the word. SMRF can really put this money to good use, defending the River.

EMAIL IS USEFUL

Dr. Jack Fairchild's email address is: jefrchld@itouch.net
Dianne & Tom Wassenich's is wassenich@centuryinter.net (Note: Their modem was struck by lightning last week and is in the shop, so may be out for a while.)
John Hohn's is jyhohn@sanmarcos.net
Tom & Paula Goynes' is goynes@centuryinter.net

Other members can get their email addresses in the newsletter by emailing Dr. Fairchild. As more people use this feature, it will help to facilitate emergency notices about meetings, etc. Phoning people takes much more time, while multiple email messages can be sent with the touch of one button.

NEW WEBSITE FOR SMRF BEING CONSTRUCTED

Dana Blankenship of Austin is working on a new website for SMRF which will include a current newsletter, the past 7 years of newsletters, historical information about SMRF and its educational programs. At some point in the future, documents could be added to update site visitors on the hearings and other paper-intensive news items. Dana sets up websites professionally, and has volunteered to work on SMRF's for a nominal fee, and train others to update. A permanent address and links are being investigated by SMRF Board member Charles Blankenship. For those who wish to check out Dana's progress, the working site is found at http://www.sanmarcosriver.org/

SMRF NOW ON TV

Watch for the new TV public service announcement about the San Marcos River Foundation. Thanks to Grins Restaurant, who gave footage of the San Marcos River filmed last fall for a Grins ad, and Bob Huffaker who did the great voice-over about the Foundation. Thanks to David Barnett, Jeff Sandmann, Fredd Mendler, and David Roberts of TCI Media Services who put the scenic 30 second spot together, running it whenever there is space available. Let SMRF know what you think about the production. The hope is that this commercial will increase membership. Calls have already begun to come in for membership information.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE IN THE WORKS

With the hard work of intern Fred Mynar of SWT's Geography and Planning Department, a list has been collected of names and addresses of riverside landowners in the three downstream counties that the San Marcos River flows through after it leaves San Marcos. This list is being compiled to allow SMRF to mail a membership form or newsletter to those landowners, informing them about the Foundation. SMRF has reached out to many downstream cities in various ways over the 12 years since it was formed, but there has never been such an organized membership drive. Thanks to Ken Moreland of CCI in Martindale and Britt Meyers of San Marcos for their hours of computer magic to get this list working.

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NUTS & BOLTS MEETINGS

Every month on the third Tuesday, there is a work meeting at Grins Restaurant at 6 p.m for keeping everyone involved and updated. All interested persons are welcomed. Call 512-393-3787 for information.

RECENT HAPPENINGS

25th Annual Spring River Cleanup

For the 25th year in a row, Tom Goynes organized a very successful Spring San Marcos River Cleanup of the whole 90 miles of its length. Around 300 canoers and walkers picked up 6 dump truck loads of trash and turned it over to the Green Guys, who sorted through the mess and found 2,223 lbs. of recyclable materials. This sorting is very labor intensive but worth it when you consider the space saved in a landfill in Travis County. Thanks to Tom and Paula Goynes for their 25 years of work on these huge river cleanups, to the Green Guys for their days of work on the recycling effort, to the Spencers and TeGrotenhuises for canoes and shuttles, Shady Grove and Pecan Park Retreat for free camping for cleanup volunteers, BCI of Houston for the great BBQ meal by Woody's, all the wonderful ladies from Martindale and San Marcos who baked desserts, and all the volunteers who endured messy work for the good of the River. Thanks also to all four counties and Luling and San Marcos, who were involved in disposing of the trash, and Ernest Cummings and Eddie Halamicek for dump truck transport.

Pride Center Blanco River Cleanup

SMRF Board member Kyle Wilson, a teacher at the Pride Center, reports that the teachers, students, and parents worked with Hays County commissioners and staff to clean up the Blanco River crossing at Old Martindale Road, a terrible dump, the week after the San Marcos River Cleanup mentioned above. A great front page photo in the Daily Record showed the enormous pile of trash and tires collected.

Cottage Kitchen February Luncheon

Thanks to all who cooked, baked and served. SMRF served over 80 meals, and enjoyed the day.

Adopt-a-River

New co-chairs are Board members Deborah Lane and Kathryn Chaney. They are working with Steve Gilmer of the City's River Stewardship Program to sign up new adopters. Would you like to claim a stretch of riverbank as your private nature preserve, to have and to clean from this day forward? Or perhaps you'd like to claim a creek that runs near your home. Call Deborah or Kathryn to come speak to your group, or just chat with you about the program. Kathryn Chaney, 396-3819. Deborah Lane, 353-7626.

River Rangers:

This official Texas Watch river monitoring group has almost two years under its belt now, and soon their data, since they have twice yearly quality assurance trainings, will be given the green light to be considered as reliable as professional data. They will be given an award at the annual conference of monitors in April in Austin, for compiling their data themselves in a computer format, and posting it in the communities they test in. They can always use new testers, if you would like to volunteer. Call Mary Beth Garrett at 353-8472. She will be moving away later this spring, so call now to get started.

New Cave Exhibit at Aquarena

There is a new karst limestone aquifer cave at Aquarena, in the same room as the big aquarium. It was funded by a grant from EUWD, now EAA, designed by Ron Balderach, local architect, and built by Perkins Construction of San Marcos. Painted by Laura Dickerson and Dianne Wassenich of the San Marcos Art League, with water drips and cracks and holes, it looks like a very real cave. Texas Blind Salamander aquariums are set into the walls, with interactive computer exhbits about the aquifer.

SMRF Offers Help with Wetlands Project

$1000 was offered to SWT's Biology Department to help build a birding platform or boardwalk in the slough at Aquarena, when the time comes. Manual labor was offered to help restore the wetlands, as well as help with selling planks of the boardwalk as a fundraiser for the project. The San Marcos Art League has been painting the walls and floor to look like a wetland in Aquarena's gift shop, in a room that is devoted to the Wetlands Project. Grantwriting by SWT to fund the project is proceeding.

Grants for SMRF

Thanks to the Daily Record for running a detailed article on SMRF's grantwriting in their March 30 Progress edition. The effort continues to find funds for more studies of the River and computers and equipment, and most recently, a legal defense fund for the River. SMRF's grantwriter, Madge Altes of Cornucopia Consulting, has also given her written summaries of SMRF activities, history, and goals to be used in SMRF's new website. Thanks to her and Hays County grant coordinator Richard Salmon for the success SMRF has had in getting grants this year. Dr. Jack Fairchild also continues to write successful grant proposals, and is currently working on one to fund a better phycology (or algae) study of the River to define the State Fish Hatchery's impact on the River.

Note:
The aquifer and River are still not up to average levels, so continue to conserve water!
Thanks to Mary Beth Garrett, who with family and friends, peopled the Sally float in the Carnaval parade. Thanks to Southwest Plumbing, who provided the truck and driver to tow Sally the 16' Texas Blind Salamander. The kids wore white masks with red side feathers to imitate Sally's red gillfeathers. Sally never looked better, with her new coat of paper mache. It was cold, but fun for all.

The Cinco de Mayo parade is coming up on the first Saturday in May, so please call Dianne Wassenich if you would like to help with that parade, 512-393-3787. A smaller 5' version of Sally is being constructed on Thursdays in April by the Art League for Aquarena. See the River Awareness Month calendar enclosed, if you want to help.

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