“We would be one of the first river authorities to cover the entire river basin in our jurisdiction under a habitat conservation plan,” Nathan Pence, GBRA's executive manager of environmental science, told Community Impact.
What is it?
A habitat conservation plan is a tool within the Endangered Species Act that describes impacts to endangered species and quantifies the positive things to offset those impacts, also referred to as mitigation.
“Any time you protect resources for habitat or water flow for one species, you’re often helping an entire ecosystem,” Pence said.
The freshwater species covered under the plan include the following:
- Eastern Black Rail
- Whooping Crane
- Guadalupe Darter
- False Spike
- Guadalupe Orb
- Guadalupe Fatmucket
Although GBRA diverts water and conducts activities through lawful permits received from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, there are still activities that the entity conducts that could impact endangered species.
Pence said the process will take the authority’s water diversion permits and enter them under the habitat conservation plan so those species would be protected. It would also protect the authority from any endangered species litigation or endangered species challenges to its water permits.
“If you are not in compliance with the environmental laws in Texas or from the federal government, then the water that’s being used and the resource that’s being used from a legal standpoint is not sustainable because it is subject to lawsuit, or you could have changes made to your permitting,” he said.
GBRA received two $1 million grants from the Department of the Interior through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Section 6 Program for planning in 2019 and 2023.
However, Pence said the overall cost of the plan will be determined by the amount of mitigation needed, and GBRA is still negotiating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Pence said the authority is also collaborating with other entities to develop the plan, which includes:
- Kerr County
- City of Gonzales
- Canyon Regional Water Authority
- City of Kerrville
Looking ahead
The next public stakeholder meeting will be in spring 2026. The meeting will go over the mitigation efforts for the species identified in the plan, Pence said.
Officials hope to have a draft of the plan complete by summer 2026 to submit to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to a July 30 habitat conservation plan public stakeholder meeting presentation.
Following draft submittal, GBRA would need to apply and receive an Incidental Take Permit, or ITP, from the federal government. Pence said the ITP allows an entity to keep conducting its activities, but also indicates that the entity has taken endangered species impacts into consideration and is operating within the lawful bounds of the Endangered Species Act.
