Guadalupe Bass Restoration Initiative

I grew up catching Guadalupe bass in the beautiful waters of the Texas Hill Country over 20 years ago. Even then, I found it strange how the Guadalupe bass, native to these clear-water rivers, co-existed with largemouth bass that I believed were stocked in these waters–or at least found themselves there otherwise. After all, largemouth are not swift-water fishes. I loved fishing the Guadalupe River and Llano River and catching bass, especially Guadalupe bass. It seems the beautiful Guadalupe bass has been in trouble recently, but something is being done.

The Texas Guadalupe Bass Restoration Initiative Landowner Incentive Program Funding Series hosted by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is dedicated to protecting Guadalupe bass populations and their habitat by developing networks of willing landowners interested in implementing coordinated landscape conservation actions at watershed-scales. Conservation actions implemented by private landowners will promote functional riparian and stream systems, and emphasize the conservation of native fish communities and supporting associated habitats.

The Guadalupe bass networks will attempt to reduce or eliminate activities on the landscape that degrade water quality, reduce water quantity, degrade riparian systems, favor non-native species, or fragment stream systems, while encouraging a wide array of sustainable land-use activities that are compatible with aquatic resource conservation.

For the 2010/2011 fiscal year this funding is specifically available to landowners located within the north and south fork reaches of the Llano River watershed. Keep in mind that property does not have to include a riparian area to be considered. This allocation of Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) funding is made possible through a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Southeastern U.S. Native Black Bass Keystone Initiative as well as partnerships with Anheuser Busch.

Important points of the Guadalupe Bass Restoration Program must e followed. Applications should be submitted by a TPWD biologist between January 1 and April 15, 2011. In addition, priority will be given to applications with 50:50 cost share, so if you are willing to help financially your application will move towards the top of the applicant pool. Also, financial match can be in-kind (labor, materials, etc.) as well as monetary. The Guadalupe bass initiative is a reimbursement program, so landowners will have to submit invoices to TPWD for reimbursement on project costs.

Contracts for Guadalupe bass restoration projects are written for one year with two, one year renewals (a 3 year project period). Interested landowners are encouraged to contact their local TPWD biologist to discuss their options. Direct program questions and application requests to Arlene Kalmbach at Arlene.Kalmbach@tpwd.state.tx.us or at 512.581.8732. Watershed questions should be directed to Gary Garrett at Gary.Garrett@tpwd.state.tx.us or by phone at 830-866-3356 (ext 212).