• Indoor Water Efficiency Practices
• Irrigation Check-up
• Making a Rain Barrel
• Outdoor Water Efficiency Practices
• Rain & Freeze Sensor
• Rainwater Harvesting
• Water Efficient Landscaping
• Weather Based Landscape Irrigation

Rainwater Harvesting Publication B-6153
Russell A. Persyn, Dana O. Porter and Valeen A. Silvy

On January 24^th, 2008, representatives from the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB) and the Kaufman-Van Zandt Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) participated in a meeting of the Cedar Creek Watershed Protection Plan Stakeholder Committee in Kaufman, Texas. Landowners and agricultural producers in the Cedar Creek watershed along with agency representatives and local and state government leaders are working on a proactive plan to help reduce pollution flowing into the Cedar Creek Reservoir.

A series of urban and agricultural nonpoint source best management practices were ranked by stakeholders at the previous meeting and results of that ranking process were presented for consideration. Lee Munz, a Natural Resource Specialist with the TSSWCB, said “it’s good to see that the stakeholder process being used for this project is a genuine effort, and the landowners and producers who will be asked to voluntarily implement management practices are the ones making the recommendations.” Potential reduction percentages for sediment and nutrients were suggested for consideration by stakeholders, and the group chose to make that a topic for further discussion at the next scheduled meeting. In addition, the floor was opened to a general discussion of stakeholder views. Community education efforts toward nonpoint source pollution and illegal dumping seemed to be viewed as quite important and key to overall reductions.

The 34,000-acre reservoir, southeast of Dallas, is the first of five reservoirs managed by the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) that is being studied. After conducting 15 years of monitoring in Cedar Creek, TRWD confirmed increasing levels of chlorophyll-a. Chlorophyll-a, an indicator of excessive algae growth, is accelerated by excessive nutrients flowing into the reservoir from the surrounding watershed. TRWD officials said they hope to avoid mandatory regulation by engaging in stakeholder-based watershed protection planning focused on holistic solutions to water pollution by examining the impacts of upstream activities.

Watershed-based planning is a relatively new approach to pollution reduction in all sizes of water bodies. The process evaluates the relationship of water quality to land use, soils, hydrology and climate within a single geographic area. ”Watershed protection planning is based on the management of activities that take place within the land mass that drains into a specific body of water,” said Clint Wolfe, grant and project coordinator with Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Urban Solution Center at Dallas and manager of the project. “By incorporating water quality testing and computer modeling, we are able to assess the condition of Cedar Creek Reservoir and its tributary streams to develop a specific plan of action to address the excessive pollutants.”

The overall North Central Texas Water Quality Project is collaborative effort of EPA, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, TSSWCB, TCEQ, TRWD, Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Urban Solutions Center at Dallas, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Espey Consultants Inc. and Alan Plummer and Associates, Inc.

The TSSWCB awarded Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Urban Solutions Center at Dallas and Kaufman-Van Zandt SWCD a Clean Water Act, Section 319(h) grant to support efforts to improve water quality in the Cedar Creek Watershed. Utilizing grant funds, Kaufman-Van Zandt SWCD will work with local agricultural producers in developing water quality management plans (WQMPs). These WQMPs will include the best management practices identified in the watershed protection plan to voluntarily implement on agricultural lands to reduce soil and nutrient loss. Additionally, funds will be made available to landowners in the watershed as an incentive to implement best management practices. The grant funds from the TSSWCB will also be used by the Texas AgriLife Urban Solutions Center to demonstrate the effectiveness of several agricultural best management practices identified in the Cedar Creek Watershed protection plan such as the conversion of cropland to pastureland, grassed waterways and filter strip. These data will serve as reference for future modeling efforts and additional water quality projects for the State of Texas.

Contact: Dave Mayes, 979-845-2803, d-mayes@tamu.edu

Kathleen Phillips, 979-845-2872, ka-phillips@tamu.edu

Mike Jackson, 972-952-9232, mcjackson@ag.tamu.edu

Two state agricultural agencies that have served Texans for a combined 224 years are beginning 2008 with new names and renewed missions.

Texas AgriLife Research is the new name for the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, which annually conducts more than $150 million in agriculture and life sciences research in such areas as improving food and fiber production, enhancing human and animal health, and conserving water, soils, wildlife and other natural resources.

The Texas AgriLife Extension Service is the new name of Texas Cooperative Extension, which provides Texans in all 254 counties with non-biased, research-based education programs and services in agriculture and natural resources, 4-H and youth development, family and consumer sciences, and community economic development.

“We are making these changes to better communicate the life-sustaining and life-changing impacts that both AgriLife Research and AgriLife Extension deliver to the people of Texas and beyond,” said Dr. Mark Hussey, director of AgriLife Research.

Both agencies remain members of The Texas A&M University System, with the same commitment to their partners, clients and mission.

“But we also want to tell our story to a larger audience and a changing state population, attract new resources and build new partnerships, while strengthening our existing ones,” Hussey said.

“In this way, we hope to better serve the people of this great state.”

The name changes are part of a re-branding initiative launching this year after two years of study and planning. These efforts were led by former vice chancellor Dr. Elsa Murano, who was named president of Texas A&M University on Jan. 3.

“The re-branding efforts are centered on one foundational message: ‘Agriculture is Life!’” Hussey said. “The central idea is that life itself is the core value that our agencies seek to sustain and enhance.

“People usually don’t realize how much we all depend on agriculture and the life sciences. Discoveries and innovations in these fields directly impact the quality of the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the homes we live in, and, more and more, even the fuels we pump into our vehicles.”

“This is more than a name change, or even a new logo design,” said Dr. Ed Smith, director of AgriLife Extension. “These new brands will impact not only our marketing materials and signage, but also the way we position and prioritize our programs and work with our federal, state and county partners to serve the state of Texas. It is vitally important to tell our story and that people connect our agencies to the tremendous impacts they have on the state.”

One of the drivers of the re-branding initiative was a market study that showed that the work of the research and extension agencies was not widely known across the state of Texas.

“We hope to help people better understand the vital role that agriculture and life sciences still play in improving the prosperity of their lives,” said Smith. “We believe that if they come to know us better, they will see that connection more clearly, even within a state population that is now 85 percent urbanized.”

AgriLife Research, established in 1887, employs a team of 425 scientists on the campus of Texas A&M University and at 13 centers across the state. Research has made many innovative advances over the years, including development of the Texas 1015 onion and the TAM Mild Jalapeno pepper, which revolutionized the U.S. salsa industry.

Current major research includes the efficient use and conservation of water resources, the development of fruits and vegetables with higher levels of disease-fighting compounds, and the adaptation of crops and other agricultural products for making biofuels.

AgriLife Extension, established in 1915, provides Texans with continuing education programs and services. More than 900 professional educators team with some 90,000 volunteers to serve families, youth, communities and businesses throughout the state. Some 600,000 children annually participate in Extension’s 4-H and youth development programs.

[Editor’s Note: Texas Cooperative Extension changed its name to Texas AgriLife Extension Service on Jan. 1.]

DALLAS – Owners of small farms and ranches will soon have access to Web-based help for managing their land.

Three online courses designed for agricultural novices will be offered by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, beginning Jan. 22, said Rebecca Parker, AgriLife Extension’s Dallas-based regional director of programs in agriculture and natural science.

The courses were organized to meet the demand for information from the growing group of small-acreage landowners, said Parker, who cited the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2002 census of agriculture.

The number of Texas farms with 10 to 49 acres grew by 13 percent between 1997 and 2002, according to the census. By comparison, the number of farms with 2,000 acres or more remained about the same.

The new landowners are often city dwellers who buy rural property for retirement, an alternative source of income or a lifestyle change, Parker said. Unlike traditional farmers and ranchers, the landowners typically have jobs that provide primary sources of income.

“They don’t have an ag background, and they don’t know how to decide what to do with their land,” Parker said. “There’s a whole group that we’re not getting to because they don’t have time for face-to-face educational programs.”

The course subjects were chosen based on the demand from landowners for information about those particular topics, Parker said.

The courses cost $50 each. They are offered on the following dates:

Resource InventoryrnJan. 22 – Feb. 22rnMarch 3 – March 31rnApril 21 – May 19rnJune 2 – June 30

Beef Cattle ManagementrnJanuary 28 – March 7rnMarch 24 – May 2

Pasture ManagementrnJanuary 30 – February 29rnMarch 12 – April 18

Landowners should take the Resource Inventory course first, Parker said.

“It answers the question, ‘I’ve got this land, now what do I do with it?’ ” she said. “We consider that the most important course.”

For more information, visit the Small Acreage Landowner Webcourse Web site at http://grovesite.com/TAMU/RI .

AgriLife Extension plans to expand the course offerings to include horse production and rainwater harvesting, Parker said.

Texas Cooperative Extension changed its name to Texas AgriLife Extension Service on Jan. 1. An agency of the Texas A&M University System, local AgriLife Extension programs provide practical information and educational outreach in the four areas of agriculture and natural resources, 4-H and youth development, family and consumer sciences and community economic development.

[Editor’s Note: Texas Cooperative Extension changed its name to Texas AgriLife Extension Service on Jan. 1, 2008.]

DALLAS – Dr. Gregory Church has been named Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent for horticulture in Collin County, effective Feb. 1.

A native of Collin, Church will replace Dr. Landry Lockett, who transferred to a position at Texas A&M University in College Station, said Tony Douglas, District AgriLife Extension Administrator, who is based at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Service Center in Dallas.

“Church has enjoyed a very productive career since obtaining his doctorate in plant pathology,” Douglas said. “In Collin County, he will work with local residents, Extension committees and community organizations in planning and conducting Extension programs. He will also provide leadership to the Collin County Master Gardener Association.”

Church served as an assistant research scientist for Texas AgriLife Research (formerly the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station) at Chillicothe and Vernon for two years before accepting the position in Collin. He also worked for three years as a research plant pathologist at the U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory in Ft. Pierce, Fla. In 2000, he received the Bailey Research Award from the American Peanut Research and Education Society.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1997 from Stephen F. Austin State University. Church was awarded his doctorate from Texas A&M University in 2002.

Texas Cooperative Extension changed its name to Texas AgriLife Extension Service on Jan. 1, 2008. An agency of the Texas A&M University System, local Extension programs provide practical information and educational outreach in the four areas of agriculture and natural resources, 4-H and youth development, family and consumer sciences and community economic development.

DALLAS – After soaking in paint, dozens of maggots squirmed across construction paper leaving colorful trails behind them.

"They're not going to be moving fast, so you have to be patient," Kim Schofield told a class of 31 fifth-grade students. Behold maggot art, said Schofield, a Texas Cooperative Extension program specialist in entomology.

But it wasn't art for art's sake, Schofield said. She allows students to handle the maggots in her presentations on entomology at schools around the Dallas area. It's a fun, effective method of engaging children. She picked up the idea from a forensic entomologist at the University of California at Davis.

"By using maggots, I help students gain an appreciation for insects," Schofield said. "I teach students to appreciate their role and to not be afraid of them."

Schofield gave her presentation recently at J. Erik Jonsson Community School in Dallas. She was invited by Anne Mechler, a teacher who is in charge of the school's science club.

"The kids think it's cool to dip the maggots in paint and watch them crawl around," Mechler said.

Schofield opened her lesson with a discussion about arthropods, a group of animals that includes insects, arachnids and crustaceans. She introduced the class to Trixie, her pet tarantula, and described the difference between harmful centipedes and pet-worthy millipedes.

"There are over a million types of insects in our world," she said. "Not all of them are bad. Not all of them need to be squished." Schofield also held up two hissing cockroaches, which were as long as her fingers, and allowed the kids to pet them.

"When I was your age I was very fearful of insects," she said. "But the more courses I took, the more I learned about insects. And then I got excited about insects."

Then it was time for the maggots.

"Are maggots good for the environment?" she said. "Yes, because they eat decaying things."

Mechler and Schofield distributed the construction paper and non-toxic, water-based paint. They carefully removed maggots from their containers, where they fed on fermenting corn meal. Each student got two or three to dip in the paint.

"They have a bit of an odor, like manure or a barn at the state fair," Schofield warned.

Alex Flores, 10, dipped his three maggots in blue, green and yellow paint. In about 30 minutes, they filled the page with crisscrossing and curly lines. "They feel slimy," Flores said.

He admitted to being nervous about touching the maggots at first.

"But not anymore," he said. "At first they smelled nasty. The paint makes them smell better."

Sarah Medina, 10, named one of her maggots Curly. "He's a lazy fatty," she said, as the maggot moved slowly across the paper.

After the lesson, Schofield collected the maggots and rinsed them off for her next presentation. No one, she said, has ever questioned whether the process was harmful to the maggots. But she pointed out to the class that the paint doesn't bother them.

"These maggots are quite hardy," said Schofield, who started doing maggot art last year. "But usually people don't care about maggots. There are no maggot advocacy groups."

September is the best time to apply the herbicides before the weed seeds begin to germinate, said Dr. James McAfee, Extension turfgrass specialist in Dallas. If applied too late, the pre-emergent material won't control weeds.

"Most homeowners don't think about winter-weed control until the weather starts to cool, but by then it's too late," McAfee said.

In North Texas, including the Panhandle, pre-emergent herbicides should be applied in early September, McAfee said. In Central Texas, apply the material by mid-September. In communities farther south, it can be applied toward the end of the month, or early October.

Water lawns immediately or at least within a day or two of applying the herbicide, he said. A soaking of about a half-inch of water would be necessary.

"You need to water it in as soon as possible so that the sunlight doesn't get a chance to start breaking it down," he said.

Before buying pre-emergent herbicide, read the label carefully to determine if the material is appropriate for the type of grass that will be treated, McAfee said.

During a mild winter with rain, it may be necessary to apply the herbicide a second time, in late December or early January, he said.

"Last winter was a prime example of excessive rainfall and mild temperatures causing winter weeds," he said.

For annual winter broadleaf weeds, apply a post-emergent herbicide for that type of weed, McAfee said. Allow the post-emergent material to dry on the foliage for about two days before mowing. The best time to treat for the winter broadleaf is in the fall and early winter while the weeds are actively growing. Don't wait until spring to apply the herbicide. By then the weeds would be mature and difficult to control.

When in doubt, contact the Extension agent in your county for information about weeds and appropriate herbicides, he advised.

Continue using "best cultural practices" to maintain a healthy lawn through the fall and winter, he said. The practices include regular mowing, irrigation and fertilization.

"Remember, a dense healthy stand of turfgrass is our best defense against weeds," McAfee said.