News

BIO-WEST’s Ed Oborny was recently featured in an podcast and article from the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan Steward, a blog site that highlights different efforts to protect the threatened and endangered species that inhabit the Edwards Aquifer as well as improve habitats within the Comal and San Marcos rivers.

Oborny and Adam Zerrenner, the field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Austin Ecological Services Field Office, sat down to talk about the habitat conservation plan and the effects it has had since the program began. In particular, they talked about how the endangered species are affected by these restoration efforts.

Each year, the EAHCP sends an annual report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with details on the progress made by the programs involved in the habitat conservation plan. The data collected includes estimates on how many endangered species have been disrupted by activity in and around their habitats.

In the interview, Oborny discussed how part of the restoration process involves a give and take. In order to make improvements to the habitat, like planting native vegetation and removing invasive species, there’s going to be a negative effect on the endangered species that call those areas home.

BIO-WEST has been collecting data on the Edwards Aquifer for over 20 years and while there are some expected losses, the spring systems and the endangered species living there are a lot better off than before the EAHCP was created.

You can read the full article and listen to the podcast on their website:

https://www.eahcpsteward.org/

To read more about BIO-WEST’s work on endangered species within the Edwards Aquifer, check out these articles: