The course will be held at the Mayan Dude Ranch, 350 Mayan Ranch Rd., about 47 miles northwest of San Antonio.

“This is one of the few courses that builds upon the nine essential elements for watershed planning as identified by the Environmental Protection Agency,” said Kevin Wagner, an associate director at the institute and course leader. “People attending this course will come out better prepared to develop plans according to EPA guidelines.”

Well-considered, holistic watershed protection plans involving as many stakeholders as possible are becoming a widely-accepted approach to protecting Texas surface waters, Wagner said.

“The goal of the Texas Watershed Planning Short Course is to equip watershed coordinators and water professionals with the tools they need for effective watershed protection efforts,” he said.

The course will address watershed protection planning, building partnerships, watershed assessment, and how to identify solutions and create and implement a plan.

Wagner added that the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the two state agencies responsible for Texas’ water quality, are financing the creation of more than a dozen watershed protection plans statewide.

“The course will benefit those involved or interested in watershed restoration and protection projects to improve the water quality of the state’s rivers, streams and estuaries,” said Aaron Wendt, the soil and water board’s state watershed coordinator.

Upon completion, participants will receive continuing education units from the National Registry of Environmental Professionals.

Course registration is $350 if postmarked by July 17 and $375 thereafter. Registration does not include lodging and meals.

A block of rooms at the Mayan Dude Ranch has been reserved at a special rate of $121 per night, which includes all meals as well as lodging. Reservations must be made by July 31 to receive this special rate, and participants should identify themselves as short-course attendees when making reservations.

The upcoming short course is the third such program to be held in Bandera.

For more information, visit http://watershedplanning.tamu.edu/ or contact Wagner at klwagner@ag.tamu.edu or Courtney Swyden at cswyden@tamu.edu.

(Story from AgNews)

The two and a half-day course will begin at 1 p.m. on July 8 and end at 5 p.m. July 10. It will be held in Room 214 of the Centeq Research Plaza, 1500 Research Parkway in College Station.

The course is designed for engineers and scientists employed by water agencies and consulting firms working in Texas or worldwide. The course will include lectures, discussions and computer model­ing exercises that will cover WRAP in its entirety, focusing on fundamentals.

WRAP is a generalized modeling system for simulating the development, management, alloca­tion and use of the water resources of a river basin. The public domain WRAP software and reference, users, and supplemental manuals are available at http://ceprofs.civil.tamu.edu/rwurbs/wrap.htm.

Dr. Ralph Wurbs, P.E., will serve as an instructor for the WRAP course. Wurbs, a professor of civil engineering and TWRI associate director, developed WRAP and has been involved with its continued development and application since its incep­tion in the late 1980s. Richard Hoffpauir will also be teaching the course, and has several years of consulting experience in applying WRAP both in Texas and abroad. He is nearing completion of his doctorate at Texas A&M with his dissertation research focusing on expanding WRAP modeling capabilities.

Early registration of $875 must be received before June 19 and all registration received on or after June 19 is $900. To register online visit http://watereducation.tamu.edu/. For more information contact Swyden at cmswymden@ag.tamu.edu or 979.845.1851.

Two Texas A&M Continuing Education Units will be awarded for completion of the course. Attendees are responsible for their own hotel reservations and travel. Information regarding local accommodations is available at the TWRI Training Course Web site.

The TAMMI Conference will provide education on proper animal manure management for both a thriving animal industry and environmental protection efforts in Texas, in the context of an evolving regulatory environment. The two-day program will include keynote speeches, information on federal and state regulations and policies affecting livestock and poultry manure management, and regulatory and engineering ethics training.

The latest research on the following specific topics related to manure and mortality management issues will also be provided:

• Manure Nutrient Balances and Flows
• Manure Management and Water Quality
• Manure Management and Air Quality
• Disposal of Catastrophic Animal Mortality – Lessons from Hurricane Ike
• Advanced Manure Conversion: Bioenergy and Value-Added Products
• AFO Siting Considerations and Performance of Manure-Management Systems

Texas nutrient management specialists may earn 8.75 continuing education units. Managers of concentrated animal feeding operations may earn nine Dairy Outreach Program Area credits. And professional engineers may earn one hour of ethics training and eight professional development hours.

For more information, visit the TAMMI Web site.

The conference seeks to expand opportunities for multi-state interdisciplinary collaboration regarding conservation practices and the sustainability of reservoirs, examine current scientific research and technological issues related to sediment loading, and formulate recommendations regarding strategies to address sedimentation in reservoirs.

The Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) is part of the conference planning committee and TWRI Acting Director Dr. B.L. Harris will be leading a conference session on “Consequences of Nutrient Loading and Sedimentation on Eutrophication.”

See the conference’s Web site for more information.

The workshop will include valuable information on the latest water pre-treatment technologies, membrane/filtration operations, and post-treatment technologies. Continuing education credits will be available to participants who complete the course.

To learn more, visit the workshop’s Web site.

The one-acre gardens were designed by the AgriLife Urban Solutions Center using research-based information and techniques, said Clint Wolfe, project coordinator with the center.

The grounds were designed to demonstrate that landscape, through proper plant selection, can be beautiful and conserve water at the same time, Wolfe said. The gardens will help educate children, homeowners, developers and landscapers about water-conservation practices.

“It is a beautifully designed collection of six small gardens that contain native plants and grasses or those well adapted to the North Texas environment,” he said. “Visitors can stroll the property on winding paths or congregate in the center.”

The gardens’ educational program is supplemented by a free interactive Web site where visitors can view a layout of the grounds and review pictures and descriptions of plants and grasses. Learn more about the gardens at http://McKinneyGreenGardens.tamu.edu.

The McKinney Green Gardens project is a product of a public-private relationship between McKinney and the AgriLife Urban Solutions Center, Wolfe said. Forged in March 2007, the partnership combines the center’s expertise and the city’s desire to integrate water conservation policies and practices in an ever-growing community that imposes increasing pressures on the region’s water supply.

(Story from AgNews)

He received the award for his paper, “Experiments on Mass Exchange between Groin Fields and Main Stream in Rivers,” in the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. According to Socolofsky, the paper covered contaminant mixing problems in navigable rivers, where there is potential for accidental spills and the need for a predictive response capability.

“Since this paper, we’ve applied similar methods to several other shallow water flows to learn more about mixing in natural water bodies,” Socolofsky said.

Socolofsky earned his doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001 and joined Texas A&M in 2003.

(Story from Texas A&M Engineering News)

In addition to teaching courses and mentoring graduate students, Wu conducts research focused on landscape ecology, wetland restoration ecology, landscape pattern and hydrology in rangeland and urbanizing watersheds, and ecology education. He earned his degrees from Lanzhou University in China and the University of Tennessee, and after completing postdoctoral research at The Ohio State University, Wu joined Texas A&M in 1995.

Wu says that his teaching philosophy is centered on “a passion for teaching, genuine care for students, and well-designed materials and approaches to foster effective learning.”

The award was established in 2003 to underscore the importance of teaching at a major research university and includes a stipend of $25,000, believed to be the highest in monetary value of its type in the nation.

(Story from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)

Proposals for workshops and symposia are due July 15 and proposals for oral and poster presentations are due Sep. 15.

The conference will include presentations on the following topics: agricultural best management practices, rural and coastal environmental protection, conservation and resource management, watershed assessment and restoration, human dimensions of water resources. Additionally, 150-200 posters and exhibits will highlight results on research, education and extension programs addressing water quality and quantity issues locally, regionally and nationally. The conference will also include tours providing exposure to water resource management experiences on the Southeast Atlantic Coast.

The National Water Conference provides opportunities for water scientists, engineers, educators and managers to share knowledge and ideas, to identify and update emerging issues, and to network with leading researchers, educators and innovators from academia, government and the private sector. The conference is hosted by a team of educators from Land Grant and Sea Grant institutions around the nation in cooperation with national program leaders from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For more information, visit the conference Web site.

Precision Irrigators Network: On-Farm Research Demonstration to Evaluate Irrigation Scheduling Tools in the Wintergarden and Texas High Plains, Giovanni Piccinni, Daniel Leskovar, Wyatte Harman, B.L. Harris, Texas Water Resources Institute Report TR-351, 2009

Due to constraints such as water pumping and allocation limits, the need arose for growers in the High Plains and Wintergarden to shift their irrigation strategies from full water application to minimal use supplementing rainfall and available soil moisture. Recognizing the need for agricultural producers to become more efficient in their water use, the Texas Water Development Board funded this project, known as the Precision Irrigators Network or PIN II. Texas AgriLife Research and Extension scientists worked with growers to demonstrate the need for real-time knowledge of crop water use and the necessity of careful attention to the amount of water available to effectively irrigate and manage crops to optimize economical production. The results of this project continue to help High Plains and Wintergarden growers increase irrigation efficiency and improve irrigation strategies, as well as provide crop coefficients and water use requirements of agronomic and vegetable crops.

Soil Testing Following Flooding, Overland Flow of Wastewater and other Freshwater Disasters, Tony Provin, Sam E. Feagley, John L. Pitt, Mark L. McFarland, E-522, 2009

Freshwater flooding can seriously affect soil fertility and the physical and chemical properties of soil. This publication explains how to reclaim flooded soil. Having the soil tested for microbes, pesticides, hydrocarbons and other contaminants is an important step.

TWRI Water Resources Training Courses