The Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will host a residential rainwater harvesting and turf management training Aug. 27 for residents of Lampasas and Mills counties.
The training is offered in collaboration with the Lampasas River Watershed Partnership.
The free event will be online from 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. with a half-hour lunch. Participation is limited, andonline registration is required.
Attendees can RSVP online or contact John Smith, AgriLife Extension program specialist, College Station, at johnwsmith@tamu.edu or 979-204-0573.
Those who RSVP to the event will receive updates, instructions to join the online meeting and materials related to the meeting via email.
“The Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program aims to improve and protect surface water quality by enhancing awareness and knowledge of best management practices for residential landscapes,” Smith said.
Becky Grubbs-Bowling, Ph.D., Texas Water Resources Institute urban water specialist, Dallas, said attendees will learn about the design and installation of residential rainwater harvesting systems as well as appropriate turf and landscape species based on local conditions and other practices.
“Management practices such as using irrigation delivery equipment, interpreting soil test results and understanding nutrient applications can help reduce runoff and make efficient use of applied landscape irrigation water,” she said.
Diane Boellstorff, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension water resource specialist in the Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, College Station, said proper fertilizer application and efficient water irrigation can protect and improve water quality in area creeks and collecting rainwater for lawn and landscape needs reduces stormwater runoff.
Participants can have their soil tested as part of the training. The soil sample bag and analysis are free to Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program participants.
Residents can pick up a soil sample bag with sampling instructions and the Urban and Homeowner Soil Sample Information Form, at the AgriLife Extension offices in Lampasas County, 409 S. Pecan St., Suite 102, Lampasas, or Mills County, 1011 4th St., Goldthwaite.
Bags containing residents’ soil samples should be returned to the location where they were obtained. Please do not mail the soil sample to the lab.
Attendees can submit a soil test by dropping their soil sample off to the AgriLife Extension offices in Lampasas or Mills counties prior to or by one week after the meeting.
Samples will be grouped into one submission and sent to the AgriLife Extension Soil, Water and Forage Testing Lab in College Station for routine analysis, including micronutrients, pH, conductivity, nitrate-nitrogen and other parameters.
The training will include information on how to understand soil test results and nutrient recommendations so residents can interpret results once the analysis is mailed to them.
Lisa Prcin, watershed coordinator for the Lampasas River Watershed, will discuss updates on watershed protection plan activities to improve and protect water quality in this watershed.
More detailed information is available in the Lampasas River Watershed Protection Plan.
Funding for the Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program is provided in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreements to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The project is managed by the Texas Water Resources Institute, part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.
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