District HCP Advisory Groups
The District is utilizing two advisory groups to assist in the preparation of the HCP: a Citizens Advisory Committee, and a Biological Advisory Team.
Citizens Advisory Committee
The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is created to provide periodic input and critical review of the HCP as it is being prepared, and to evaluate the HCP once it is completed in draft form. The CAC is created in conformance with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code §§ 83.015-83.016. At least 30% of the CAC must be owners of unimproved land in the District. The recommendations of the CAC are advisory only, but it will have an essential role as a forum for critical review of the HCP. As the District prepares the HCP with the help of a consultant team and other participants over the next two years, it will ask the CAC to provide feedback and advice at various times during the process. Dr. Kent Butler chairs and facilitates the CAC.
The members of the current CAC and their affiliations, if any, include:
- Ira Yates, Landowner
- Mark Zeppa, Creedmoor-Maha Water Supply Co. (permittee)
- Carl Urban, Landowner
- John Noell, Landowner and permittee
- Jane Orr, Landowner and permittee
- Scott Nester, Landowner
- Ms. Jennifer Walker, Sierra Club
- Sarah Baker, SOS Alliance
- Ed Peacock, City of Austin
- Matt Wagner, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
- Andrew Backus, Hays-Trinity GCD
Biological Advisory Team
The Biological Advisory Team (BAT) is created to provide biological and other scientific input and critical review of the HCP as it is being prepared, and to evaluate the HCP once it is completed in draft form. The BAT is created in conformance with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code §§ 83.015-83.016. The recommendations of the BAT are advisory only, but it will have a role in interpreting the results, findings, and conclusions of scientific studies conducted as a part of the HCP and in influencing the outcome of the permit application to the Service. As the District prepares the HCP with the help of a consultant team and other participants over the next two years, it will ask the BAT to provide feedback and advice at various times during the process. By TPWD rule, the BAT is chaired by a TPWD senior staff member, and one member of the BAT must be selected by the Landowners Subcommittee of the CAC. For the current District HCP, Dr. Wendy Gordon is the BAT Chair; Dr. Jack Sharp is the Landowners representative. Dr. Bryan Brooks, who also served on the BAT of the earlier HCP project and is now a consultant to the District, will be the principal liaison between the BAT and the HCP project team.
The members of the current BAT and their affiliations include:
- Dr. Wendy Gordon, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, BAT Chair
- Dr. Jack Sharp, Jackson School of Geological Sciences, University of Texas
- Dr. Laurie Dries, City of Austin Watershed Protection
- Dr. Mary Poteet, Integrative Biology Department, University of Texas
- Dr. Lauren Ross, Glenrose Engineering
-
Dr. Bryan Brooks, Ecological Sciences, Baylor University