Developing a recommendation to allocate approximately 7 million dollars for conservation funding through the State of Texas.

The 2018 Farm Bill provides for increased incentives on implemented conservation practices that are beneficial to water quality, water quantity, and the protection of drinking water (NRCS, 2020).  Increased payment rates for these practices are only applied within the identified local priority areas which meet the source water protection assessment objectives (NRCS, 2020). On June 2, 2020 at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) meeting, the NRCS requested the NRCS Water Resources Subcommittee to identify local priority areas which meet the source water assessment objectives and core conservation practices.

It is estimated that approximately 7 million dollars of funding for targeted conservation practices will be available to the identified areas within the State of Texas based on the Water Resources Subcommittee recommendation.

In the year prior, the Water Resources Subcommittee attempted to define priorities areas resulting in agencies and organizations pushed their preferred locations for funding resulting in lack of agreement. Due to the lack of agreement, NRCS recognize every SWPA in the state as a priority area, resulting in 67,149.25 square miles (25 percent of the state) being defined as a priority area without sufficient evaluation of the areas. In the following year, 2020, NRCS received direction to once again try to work with local partners in the the NRCS Water Resources Subcommittee and develop a single, supported, recommendation of specific priority areas.

Kimberly Horndeski was selected as Chair of the NRCS Water Resources Subcommittee in 2020 and tasked with engaging stakeholders to develop a SWPA recommendation. Kimberly began by identifying 24 members, with a diverse range of knowledge, experience and perspectives, representing 15 different organizations to form the NRCS Source Water Protection Areas (SWPA) Task Force (Task Force). Agencies representatives included the Texas Water Development Board, Texas Soil and Water Conservation District, Department of Agriculture and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The Task Force was charged with providing a single recommendation, within three months, defining priority areas throughout the State of Texas that would receive the approximately 7 million dollars from the Farm Bill.

Through a facilitated Structure Decision Making process led by Kimberly, the Task Force was able to develop a scoring criteria based on the primary concerns identified by the Task Force members. This process was a strong departure from the previous year allowing, as participants explained, the “science to speak for itself” when the final recommendation was developed. No one Agency or organization was able to push their specific agenda at the expense of others. Instead, the Task Force worked as a unified entity to tackle the problem, not each other.