Conservation action plan and science agenda from stakeholder-led workshops

The Upper Brazos River NFCA planning was part of the Southern Great Plains Native Fish Conservation Area planning process - An interdisciplinary team of 45 fish and wildlife conservation professionals representing conservation non-profits, universities, state and federal agencies gathered for a series of conservation planning workshops in the early spring of 2016. Priority actions now provide the groundwork for a conservation action plan that will guide partner investments over the next 5-10 years in cooperative, watershed-scale conservation of native fishes and other aquatic resources in the Upper Brazos, Red, and Canadian rivers.

Brazos River Action Plan Summary

Three priority projects were identified at the workshop to address the primary stressors within the Brazos River of flow regime alteration, and habitat loss, and invasive species control and management.

• Set up monitoring sites across Great Plains major streams - Develop protocols and implement long-term monitoring sites across Great Plains basins.

• Research to support salt cedar management plan - Research to support SOPs and planning related to ongoing efforts to conduct an inventory and characterization of salt cedar (SC) coverage, potential refugia, and fish passage barriers; develop plan for prioritized, stepwise, sustainable SC management within upper Brazos River drainages including SOPs for SC surveying and monitoring. Implement prioritized, large-scale SC management that is adaptive to periodic reevaluation based on monitoring results.

• Assess effects of invasive Sheepshead Minnow and Gulf Killifish in the Brazos and Red river basins - a. Determine genetics and extent of introgression, b. Assess effects of invasion