ALPINE The Rio Grande Research Center at the Earth and Physical Sciences Department at Sul Ross State University has been awarded $1,429,491 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to continue water quality research.

The funding was awarded through an Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) program grant for the continuation of the Sustainable Agricultural Water Conservation (SAWC) in the Rio Grande Basin research project. Sul Ross and four other universities of the Texas State University System, Texas State, San Marcos; Lamar University, Beaumont; Angelo State, San Angelo; and Sam Houston State, Huntsville, participate in the research projects. Other entities involved include the University of Texas Pan Am, Utah State University and the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory.

Twenty projects, including six by Sul Ross and 14 by Lamar, Sam Houston State and Texas State are included in this year's funding. Sul Ross' share of the SAWC award is $633,057.
This represents the fourth year of funding that was secured for the biophysical assessment of the Rio Grande Basin. Since Fiscal Year 2004, $6,508,526 has been funded (No award was given in FY2007 as all Federal earmarked funds were removed from the budget.) Sul Ross' total share during the four years of funding is $3,120,826.

"Some significant additions to our activities with this new funding include more aggressive pursuit and promotion of linkages between different entities such as land managers, government agencies and other organizations to stimulate discussion and cooperation on regional environmental issues,"said Kevin Urbanczyk, Sul Ross professor of Geology and director of the Rio Grande Research Center.

"A stellar example of this is our Kokernot Springs project for which we have secured seed money to initiate an environmental restoration of the springs," he said. "This funding is from USDA, but we have requested additional funding from Texas Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to continue the research. This is also being done in collaboration with the Sul Ross State University Theatre department which is interested in improving the infrastructure at the springs."

Sul Ross projects funded include:
>> Education and outreach by the Rio Grande Research Center, headed by Urbanczyk;
>> Mapping and monitoring of native and exotic vegetation in Trans-Pecos, Texas, by Patricia Moody Harveson, Bonnie Warnock and Louis Harveson.
>> Kokernot Springs restoration, Urbanczyk, Jeffery Bennett of Big Bend National Park, Patricia Harveson, Warnock and Aimee Roberson, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
>> Evaluation of source of spring flow from cretaceous aquifers along the Rio Grande, Urbanczyk, Bennett and Benjamin Schwartz, Texas State University.
>> Impact of upland areas near drainages on water quality in the Terlingua Creek Watershed of Brewster and Presidio counties, Warnock.
>> Studying wintering grassland birds as bio-indicators in the Rio Grande drainage basin, Arvind Panjabi of the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and Warnock.

All of the projects are focused on resources within the 335,000-square mile physical boundary of the Rio Grande Watershed. The Rio Grande is 1,896 miles long, the fifth longest river in the United States, draining more than 40,000 square miles in Texas alone. Alpine is very near the geographic center of the Rio Grande watershed basin, making Sul Ross the ideal location for coordinating research conducted in remote areas of the basin.

"The recent flooding in Presidio is an example of how important it is that we collect water related data in the Rio Grande basin (which includes much of northern Mexico) and promote communication between decision makers regarding issues such as scheduling dam releases," said Urbanczyk.

"We can't control the climate, and as a result, the flooding has had negative impacts in the Presidio area. It may turn out, though, to have a beneficial effect on the hydrology of the river downstream."