Recently, Texas Master Naturalists (TMN), Wanda Anglin and Maria Dahlberg, both of Columbus, tested the water quality of Cummins Creek, a tributary north of the Colorado River that meanders east of it just before joining the river. It was a pivotal event as it is the first Citizen Scientist volunteer-monitored site that the LCRA’s Colorado River Watch Network (CRWN) program has ever had on private property.
As Anglin and Dahlberg became certified TMNs last May, they found a passion for “all things water” during their training. Last summer, they attended training to become certified Texas Stream Team water quality testers. Their TMN chapter has had three Citizen Scientist volunteer monitors for several years, testing the Colorado River in Columbus and La Grange. So, they were eager to test Cummins Creek to provide water quality data for a stream before it joins the Colorado. But, there were no public access points on Cummins Creek as all of the land within 15 miles north of Columbus is privately owned with no schools, parks, or other areas that offer public access to its banks. So, they agreed to take over the north bridge monitoring site from a TMN member who had to resign due to a family illness.
But they never forgot about Cummins Creek. One day as they were speaking with a group in Columbus about TMN and the service projects they conduct in Colorado County, Anglin mentioned the difficulties she had encountered finding a way to test Cummins Creek. A private property owner who owns land through which Cummins flows offered to permit access. With this new information, she lobbied the CRWN to begin accepting private property monitoring sites, pointing out that with all the private land ownership and rural setting, many important bodies of water receive runoff from farms, lands, and growing communities that were not being monitored. CRWN is headquartered in Austin, where there are public access points on the Colorado and other bodies of water, so the organization is not accustomed to needing private property access, but it was open to the possibilities. Soon, the CRWN program developed a process with their legal team to begin accepting private property testing sites.
The Cummins Creek site was approved for testing. And now the path to future sites with no public access will be much easier to get approved.
Over the past year, the local chapter of Texas Master Naturalists, the Gideon Lincecum Chapter, has focused on bringing water quality projects to Colorado County.
Their Water Group recently trained more monitors who will soon be testing more sites in the region and are working on volunteer- presented water cycle and riparian educational programs that will be piloted in our Columbus schools. The Gideon Lincecum Chapter’s mission is to develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach, and services dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within Austin, Colorado, Fayette, Lee, and Washington counties.
Its citizen volunteers implement youth education programs; manage pollinator gardens and nature trails; and provide leadership in local natural resource conservation efforts. Interested in learning more? Visit https:// txmn.tamu.edu.
