Hosted by the San Antonio Bay Partnership

Sept. 22, 2011 – 5:30 – 8:00 pm

The University of Houston – Victoria
University Center – Multipurpose Room
3007 N Ben Wilson St, Victoria, TX, 77901

Interested members of the public and stakeholders are invited to attend a Sept. 22 meeting of the San Antonio Bay Partnership where updates will be provided on efforts to develop and implement a management plan for the San Antonio Bay/Guadalupe Estuary System.

The meeting will be held from 5:30 to 8:00pm at the University of Houston-Victoria, in the University Center — Multi-Purpose Room.

Meeting topics will include:

• Drought – how it is impacting San Antonio Bay

• Environmental flows – a summary of recommendations about how much water should flow into the San Antonio/Guadalupe Estuary from the San Antonio, Guadalupe and nearby rivers to maintain a sound ecological environment.

• Wetlands Inventory – a demonstration of how the public can use Google Earth to access a recently completed inventory of San Antonio Bay Wetlands that will be used to restore habitats.

• National Estuaries Day – activities on Sept. 24

• An update on SABP funding and work plan

About the San Antonio Bay Partnership

The San Antonio Bay Partnership is a group formed to develop and implement a management plan for San Antonio Bay and the Guadalupe Estuary through public and stakeholder involvement and scientific research. The plan is intended to protect, restore and enhance the natural resources and human uses of the bay and estuary.

About San Antonio Bay

San Antonio Bay is one of the seven major estuaries along the Texas Coast and receives flows from the San Antonio and Guadalupe rivers. Located on the middle Texas coast, the estuary also includes several smaller bays — Guadalupe, Espiritu Santo, Mission Lake, Hynes and Mesquite. San Antonio Bay supports a diverse range of ecological resources and human uses, including an eco-tourism industry, commercial and recreational fisheries, water-contact recreation, minerals extraction, petrochemical processing and real estate development.

The San Antonio Bay Partnership: Motivated and Moving Forward Together

Ever wonder what happens to the water flowing down the San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers? Well, most of it winds up in San Antonio Bay, where the fresh water derived from spring flow and runoff in these watersheds mixes with water from the Gulf of Mexico to create and sustain one of the seven major estuaries along the Texas coast. The San Antonio Bay / Guadalupe Estuary System, which includes San Antonio Bay along with the minor bays of Guadalupe, Espiritu Santo, Mission Lake, Hynes and Mesquite, covers approximately 205 square miles of the middle Texas coast. This estuary system is a unique complex of ecologically and economically valuable resources and which is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of both human activities and natural events.

A range of stakeholder groups that have an interest in, and impact on, the continued health of the San Antonio Bay / Guadalupe Estuary System including: commercial and recreational fisheries, ecotourism, water recreation, petrochemical processing and real estate development just to name a few. In addition to providing for these human uses, the San Antonio Bay / Guadalupe Estuary System provides a myriad of valuable ecosystem services and ecological resources, including marsh complexes which are the winter home for the last wild flock of the endangered Whooping Crane (Grus Americana).

On Jan. 12, 2010, a meeting was held at the University of Houston – Victoria to determine if there was interest in developing a program to protect and conserve San Antonio Bay. More than 80 stakeholders indicated they were willing to participate in a process to develop a management plan for the San Antonio Bay / Guadalupe Estuary System through public involvement and scientific research. Thus, the San Antonio Bay Partnership was formed.

During subsequent meetings SABP stakeholders, representing diverse interests, drafted and adopted a “SABP Purpose and Goals Statement” and got to know their neighbors from throughout the river basins and bay area.

In November 2010, the SABP held a “Science and the Stakeholder Workshop” in Victoria. At the workshop, scientists explained the “Status and Trends Reports” that represent the first step in developing a bay management plan. The reports will characterize the ecological, economic, and recreational resources associated with San Antonio Bay/Guadalupe Estuary System.

The San Antonio Bay Plan will be a comprehensive, science-based “blueprint” for protecting, restoring and enhancing both the ecological resources and the human uses of the San Antonio Bay/Guadalupe Estuary System.

The SABP invites interest individuals, enterprises and entities to join the plan development process.

An SABP stakeholder and public meeting will be held on Sept. 22, 2011, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm at the University of Houston-Victoria, in the University Center – Multipurpose Room, 3007 N Ben Wilson St., Victoria, TX, 77901.

For more information, contact Laura Raun at 512.797.9925.