20 Years of Making Waves for Texas’ Water & Environment Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report | The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment

Foreword

2022 marks the 20th Anniversary of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment – 20 years of connecting children and people of all ages to the natural resources that nourish and sustain; 20 years of providing communities with research and tools to plan for uncertainty and build resilience; 20 years of restoring iconic Texas rivers and building science to inform policies that support their long-term protection.

Anniversaries are a time to celebrate achievements, big and small, but also an opportunity to examine how we have navigated the challenges along the way. Please enjoy this commemorative report as we acknowledge the good work and the good people that make the Meadows Center a truly special place and the impact we have made with the support of our donors and friends.

While we are proud of our achievements in 2022 and over our 20-year journey, there is much more to be done to ensure abundant water for the environment and all humanity. We are committed to making even bigger waves for Texas water as we—with your help—face some of the greatest challenges yet.

Then & Now: Research

Research has always been central to our mission and informs our education and stewardship programs. This brief history offers a glimpse into some of the milestones of the Meadows Center’s research.

A Vision For Holistic River Management – The International Institute for Sustainable Water Resources

With the spring-fed San Marcos River born and running through the heart of its campus, Texas State University was always well-positioned to become the leading academic authority and resource on water issues in Texas and beyond.

In the early 2000s, in the midst of a severe drought, it became apparent that Texas’ water policies were not up to the task of addressing the state’s water needs. Science was needed to identify management solutions and the various university-led water institutes in existence at that time focused on the engineering and technological aspects of water resources. There was a clear need for an academic institution to deliver science and solutions to address the crucial environmental, social, and political elements of water issues.

In January 2002, the Houston Endowment Inc. provided the seed funding to establish the International Institute for Sustainable Water Resources (Water Resources Institute) and Dr. Andrew Sansom, one of Texas’ foremost and most beloved conservationists, was selected to lead the endeavor.

The Water Resources Institute was unique in its devotion to comprehensive, integrated water resource management. Its research was rooted in a solutions-driven approach to address real-world issues and inform science-based solutions from which decisionmakers could make choices.

The Institute was small by design, with only two full-time staff in its infancy, and functioned as a connector and hub for university-wide efforts in water management. With the startup funding from the Houston Endowment Inc., the Institute began developing integrated watershed management models in the Rio Grande, Colorado, and Guadalupe river basins, pulling expertise from Texas State’s Geography, Biology, and Political Science Departments to create models that provided guidance for achieving sustainable freshwater resources and addressed dispute resolution for water rights issues.

A Foundation of Research - The River Systems Institute

In 2005, the Institute was renamed the River Systems Institute to establish a unique niche for the program and reflect a sharpened emphasis on its research of river systems. Over the next seven years, the Rivers System Institute built on its reputation of connecting decisionmakers with Texas State researchers ready to contribute to solving real-world water problems and entered into a wide variety of projects with major state, federal, and international players in natural resource management.

With the addition of Dr. Thomas Hardy, an internationally recognized leader in ecohydraulics and river system modeling, during a period of substantive state-wide work on instream flows, the River Systems Institute became a known authority on environmental flows and the fragile habitats of our rivers, bays, and estuaries. With funded research growing to 1.5 million, the addition of resident scientists enhanced a growing reputation and built the university’s scientific capacity in the water arena. Between 2005 and 2012, the Institute’s team grew from five to 17 full-time positions.

Research + Education + Stewardship + Leadership - The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment

2012 brought yet another name change, but this time it would stick. The Meadows Foundation contributed a transformational $5 million gift to Texas State, endowing the Institute and enabling an expansion of research into water conservation, environmental flows, watershed protection, and environmental education.

The Meadows Foundation’s gift supported the recruitment of several key leadership positions to realize this expanded vision, including the initial hiring of Dr. Robert E. Mace, former deputy executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board, who was selected to serve as Chief Water Policy Officer in 2017 (and later Executive Director in 2019). With his experience in state government, Dr. Mace brought intricate knowledge of how science can be effectively used in the policy world.

The new Meadows Center brand would be the key to achieving the research and education vision for the former theme park known as Aquarena in a program called Spring Lake Education and provide the opportunity to stitch the decades-old citizen science expertise of the Texas Stream Team with the years of in-house river conservation expertise in a program called Watershed Services.

Then & Now: Education

In 1994, Texas State University became the steward of one of the most unique ecosystems in the world when it purchased the Aquarena Springs resort and theme park. The 90-acre (and $7 million) acquisition of the beautiful, ecologically fragile San Marcos Springs opened endless possibilities for the University and started a multi-decadal effort to move the resort facilities in an educational and environmental direction.

From Historic Resort to Premier Environmental Programming

After a couple of years of trying to continue the park operations with this new emphasis, and a couple of million dollars sunk in the endeavor, the university began the true transformation of the property from a commercial-use theme park to an educational and research facility. While the glass-bottom boats would remain in operation, the dancing mermaid shows and theme park-like rides were eliminated.

Initially designated as Aquarena Center under the Office of Continuing Education, the Center became the first designated field station in Texas (making it eligible to receive National Science Foundation funding) and added educational public programming, including seven different interpreter-led tours – from bird watching and botanical tours to the infamous glass-bottom boat tours. The Center also joined the Texas Education Agency's Environmental Education Advisory Committee, and tours were customized to meet specific grade levels and classroom learning goals, including the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (known as TEKS).

In 1998, the University entered into an agreement with Texas Parks and Wildlife to transform historic Spring Lake Hall into a multi-million dollar education facility that incorporated meeting rooms, laboratories, and conference facilities to be named the Texas Rivers Center. Completed in 2006, this renovation removed many of the former resort's remaining buildings, roads, and parking lots and converted the former Aquarena Springs Inn into administrative offices, classrooms, interpretive exhibits, and a gift shop. By completion, more than 100,000 square feet of impervious cover had been removed and replaced with vegetation moving the site closer to ecological restoration.

The Texas Rivers Center became a showcase for the San Marcos Springs, but this time not for the kitschy theme park attractions – visitors were coming from all over the world to make a connection with the critical role that the water plays in their lives.

Despite all of the other changes, there was still no better way to experience the wonder of the San Marcos Springs than by touring them on the historic fleet of glass-bottom boats that have characterized Spring Lake for over 60 years. And with the support of the family of the original 1928 resort’s founder, A.B. Rogers, Texas State created a permanent maintenance endowment in 2009 in hopes of keeping the glass-bottom boats in operation for generations to come.

Under the leadership of the River Systems Institute, the Center received over 75,000 annual visitors, with roughly 22,000 of those being school children on field trips. And programming expanded to include weekend kid programs, senior tours, and Girl and Boy Scout merit badge programs to serve the diversity of individuals in the local community. After 16 years of devoted commitment from the staff, the rebranded educational destination finally turned its first profit. Boat ticket sales and community support still provide the funding that keeps the boats running and the educational programming available to our community.

Under the banner of the Meadows Center, Spring Lake became the first informal education center to be named a Texas Aquatic Science Certified Field Site by Texas Parks and Wildlife. The education team also launched a new teacher program to give educators the tools and training to incorporate more environmental education in the classroom. Teachers can now earn Texas Environmental Education Advisory Committee professional development credit while their students are on a field trip at Spring Lake.

In 2017, Dr. Rob Dussler’s selection as the Chief Education Officer ushered in a new era and direction for the Center's education programs that emphasizes immersive programs (like snorkeling, kayaking, and paddleboarding) and research related to education, interpretation, mindfulness, and nature connection.

In 2020, recognizing that the state had not yet incorporated climate change science in the state curriculum, the Meadows Center began to expand the impact of its expertise in environmental curriculum development and teacher training by creating TEKS-aligned content related to climate change.

We are proud to continue the legacy of this special site and continue to create lasting memories and connections to nature for the 35,000+ Texas children who visit each year.

Then & Now: Stewardship

The San Marcos Springs is one of the largest freshwater springs systems in the state. As the entrusted stewards, the Meadows Center ensures Texas State University fulfills its commitment as guardian of Spring Lake by carefully managing and maintaining its healthy ecosystems.

Securing San Marcos Spring Flows and River Ecology

Thanks to forward-thinking individuals and decades of work that resulted in the 2013 Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan, the use of the aquifer that feeds these springs is now being managed to keep the springs flowing and the unique species here thriving in perpetuity. This monumental achievement, however, was preceded by decades of uncertainty for the springs – and even the extinction of at least one of the unique species of Spring Lake.

Meadows Center leadership worked alongside policy-makers to help pass Senate Bill 3 in the closing hours of the 80th Texas Legislative Session (2007). The result was that all Edwards Aquifer stakeholders were mandated to participate in the creation of a federally-approved Habitat Conservation Plan for the Comal and San Marcos Springs. The new legislation also tasked the Meadows Center to assist in forming an expert science subcommittee to analyze species requirements related to spring discharge rates and aquifer levels. Our Chief Science Officer was selected to direct the subcommittee in leading research to determine measures to protect flow at Comal and the San Marcos Springs.

The Habitat Field Crew

Implementing the Habitat Conservation Plan is more than managing water use and springflows. The health of the species and their habitats is also dependent on the management of the recreational activities, impacts from development, and competing/invasive species that affect the San Marcos Springs and River. So, 2013 also marks the birth of the Meadows Center’s Habitat Field Crew. Led by Research Associate and Fish Biologist, Tom Heard, this team of highly skilled biologist divers works directly with the City of San Marcos to rehabilitate aquatic habitats and conduct research to strengthen conservation efforts in Spring Lake and the San Marcos River.

Aquatic habitat restoration is a tough job, especially in crystal-clear waters and consistent temperatures that allow for abundant (often invasive) aquatic growth. Our Habitat Field Crew continuously monitors Spring Lake and the San Marcos River for non-native and native plants. Non-native species are removed by hand and sent to composting, while native aquatic plants are grown on campus to be replanted in the river.

Over the past 10 years, the Habitat Field Crew's efforts have nearly doubled the endangered Texas wild-rice distribution – increasing areal coverage from 5,019 square meters in 2013 to 14,747 square meters in 2021. Texas wild-rice is only found in the San Marcos River, so it's important to have larger distributions to ensure its survival.

The crew has also significantly reduced the presence of invasive species in the river. Most notably, our efforts have led to an 80 percent removal of Hydrilla, one of the world's worst aquatic invasive plants! Hydrilla is the primary invasive species in the San Marcos River and can persist for years following the initial removal due to the reproductive capabilities of its root structure. This requires our scuba divers to routinely perform extensive searches of the river to prevent Hydrilla from re-establishing.

The Habitat Field Crew also assists faculty and staff from Texas State University and other institutions on research projects that require aquatic fieldwork. Recent projects have included scuba dives to conduct mark-recapture population surveys on the big claw river prawn and tagging suckermouth armored catfish to track population movements and quantify habitat associations. In the past, we have worked alongside San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center on annual Texas wild-rice surveys, performed visual surveys to estimate endangered fountain darter populations, and identified macroinvertebrates collected to assess the ecological health of the San Marcos River. These nimble field biologists have also collaborated with organizations on projects involving the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to gather aerial imagery across many parts of Texas, including surveys of bird populations along the Texas Coast and desert lizard habitat in the Permian Basin.

Then & Now: Conservation Leadership

Good water policy requires good science. Research plays a vital role in devising the lasting solutions necessary to overcome the daunting water problems facing the state. When stakeholders in academia, government, philanthropy, and industry collaborate to design research that that speaks to their individual and share interests, it creates informed and lasting water policy.

The Meadows Center shines brightest when reaching beyond our own walls to connect policy-makers and communities to research that addresses the questions they really care about. From our organization’s beginnings, we have worked to bridge the academic world to help decisionmakers make smart decisions about water – whether it’s through providing a science-based perspective to water problems, or facilitating conversations about how these problems can be solved.

Connecting the Dots: Science, Policy, and Decision-Making

Leveraging the well-known cachet of our Founder, Dr. Andrew Sansom, one of the Center’s first projects became a hallmark of what the Center would become. In 2002, the Texas Legislature authorized the exploration of an unprecedented transfer of water from the Colorado River to San Antonio. The newly minted Meadows Center was contracted to lead an independent scientific review and 7-year research study to determine if San Antonio’s future water needs could be met by capturing stored or unused Colorado River flows (it could not).

The project illuminated the challenges that legislators faced in making policy for environmental flows (the quantity and timing of freshwater needed to maintain ecologically healthy streams, bays, and estuaries). With skyrocketing population growth, and a limited water supply to support this growth, Texas was at a crossroads and needed defensible science. The Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 1639 during the 78th Legislative Session to establish a Study Commission on Water for Environmental Flows (the Study Commission). Dr. Sansom, was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor to serve on the 15-member Study Commission tasked with analyzing existing research and the best available science to establish environmental flow recommendations and standards for all Texas river basins and estuaries.

The Meadows Center was instrumental in creating consensus among environmental and development interests in Texas on a regulatory framework for protecting environmental flows. The findings of the Study Commission were subsequently embodied in Senate Bill 3 that was passed by the 80th Texas Legislature (2007) and directed the state to develop and adopt comprehensive environmental-flows standards for major river and bay systems, using a science-advised stakeholder process to help define each system’s flow needs.

Our early involvement on environmental flows legislative action catapulted the Meadows Center’s reputation of using research as a means to address important societal questions and inform policy. Soon, the Center would undertake many more policy-driven research projects at both the state and local level.

While the Meadows Center was growing its work, state leaders and local officials in the Texas Hill Country were scrambling to protect the streams and aquifers vital to the region. Due to rising demands and continuing drought in Hays County, groundwater resources were depleted to the point that spring flow at Jacob’s Well, the source water of Cypress Creek, virtually stopped. However, the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (the District), the agency charged with managing groundwater for the county, had very little authority to regulate groundwater use in its jurisdiction and no significant funding.

To address this urgent situation and find consensus among stakeholders in the Wimberley Valley, the District formed a scientific-technical committee of groundwater scientists and a stakeholder advisory committee to delineate a protective corridor for Jacob’s Well using a science-based approach. The Meadows Center’s Dr. Robert Mace and Nick Dornak served on the stakeholder advisory committee. The resulting Jacob’s Well Groundwater Management Zone was established as a final rule in 2019 and created curtailment requirements for permitted wells during drought periods. This was the first time a groundwater district deployed the use of a special management zone, as permitted by the Texas Water Code. The Jacobs Well Groundwater Management Zone serves as a model tool for other groundwater districts across the state who are grappling with the conservation of their aquifer systems and associated springs.

Then & Now: Stakeholder Engagement

From the beginning, the Meadows Center has been the place where science-backed collaborations lead to game-changing policy innovation. Modeled after the strengths of our Founder, we have built our reputation as an informed, pragmatic convener able to bring varied viewpoints together for lasting and impactful natural resource solutions.

Leading Change Through Stakeholder and Scientific Process Design and Facilitation

As demonstrated throughout this report, this distinction has put the Center front-of-mind for Legislators grappling with water policy impasses, for local communities facing seemingly intractable conflicts, and for scientific endeavors requiring diverse and interdisciplinary expertise. The practice is also at the heart of our Watershed Services work, but the 2019 addition of our Operations Director, Carrie Thompson, a specialist in natural resource mediation and facilitation, has catalyzed the Meadows Center on a journey to further formalize the Center’s historic role as a convener and expert in stakeholder processes. Partnering with national organizations like the Association for Conflict Resolution, the University Network for Collaborative Governance, and the University Council on Water Resources, we are also working to enhance our academic presence around the topics of public and scientific engagement.

What's NEXT?

There’s no mistaking the themes emerging in our most recent work: flooding, drought, water reuse, water rights, loss of springflow, degraded water quality. They all point to climate change. With the 2020 and 2021 infusions of seed money from the Meadows Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Meadows Center is gearing up to change the climate conversation in Texas. Not only will we be working to produce and make available the most up-to-date and relevant data to inform local decisionmakers we will be convening decisionmakers and scientists to answer the most important questions and produce solutions that fit the needs of local communities. We’ll be facilitating conversations about how to best reach and engage communities that have historically been excluded from the decisions that affect their communities and we’ll be working to ensure that information produced by our scientists is informed by, relevant to, and usable by all of the diverse stakeholders of Texas.

What's NEXT?

Fundraising Priorities in Fiscal Year 2023

Reimagining Discovery Hall

Our Discovery Hall connects thousands of visitors with the wonder of an aquatic ecosystem like no other, Spring Lake. Children and their families engage with endangered species, learn about watersheds, and develop an appreciation for the incredible natural and cultural resources located here in the San Marcos Springs. Discovery Hall has tremendous potential to offer even more and Texas State University and the Meadows Center have launched a capital campaign to renovate its interpretive exhibits to meet the needs of a changing generation. The new facility will support innovative technology that lets visitors take a virtual dive into the lake, storytelling by the original peoples of the region, expanded educational opportunities, and modernized exhibits.

Changing Texas for a Changing Climate

We are focusing our endeavors on the single greatest environmental threat facing the world: climate change. The Meadows Center will help Texans address these issues by developing sound science to inform public policy. Changes to our climate affect the way our natural systems operate and could impact the environmental services they provide. In 2023, under the leadership of our new Director of Climate Science, Dr. Mona Wells, we will build a multi-institutional collaboration to downscale climate data, calibrate tools to model its impact, and better understand how anthropogenic climate change will impact groundwater sustainability in Texas.

Access for All and ADA Compliance

The Meadows Center’s offices, educational facilities, and historic glass-bottom boats are not ADA-compliant; therefore, mobility-challenged students and guests are not able to fully access facilities or experience a glass-bottom boat tour at Spring Lake. Over the last two years, the Meadows Center has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to expand access for every member of our community and we’re still a long way from converting the historic facilities (some more than 100 years old!) to accessible standards. This year, we will add a new ADA-accessible boardwalk to aid access to our glass-bottom boat dock. We will also incorporate permeable pavers around our ticket kiosk that both improve runoff infiltration and ease access challenges. Funds to expand access and improve interpretative experiences for all who visit the San Marcos Springs are a high-priority need.

Advancing One Water Policy and Research

The Meadows Center has emerged as a statewide leader in advancing One Water principles across the state. Over the last three years, we have established networks with dozens of NGOs, governmental agencies, and local communities to facilitate research and develop real-world solutions to water supply and water quality challenges. Additional funding is necessary to develop One Water projects, policies, and infrastructure and transfer the expertise to urban and rural communities throughout Texas to implement this resource-optimizing approach.

Operational Resilience

Like most organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on our financial resiliency – and areas that need bolstered resiliency. With 90% of our resources coming from federal and state grants, professional service contracts, donor support, and the revenues from our glass-bottom boat rides, we realize that remain too vulnerable to external factors. The Meadows Center is developing an intentional, strategic and diverse approach to fundraising that will ensure our staff is protected from external volatility, our research projects are carried through to their respective conclusions, and that we never waver in pursuit of our mission even in the most turbulent of financial times. As our organization grows in size and reach, we will strengthen our financial infrastructure and internal systems to enable us to scale up our impact. We will protect the investments that our supporters have made and ensure that the essential functions of our organizations are maintained in perpetuity.