Mike Carter, director of the Playa Lakes Joint Venture, Lafayette, Colorado, will highlight a panel of speakers at a Stewarding Our Aquifer Field Day presented by Ogallala Commons.
The event will be held Oct. 13 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the Floyd County Friends Unity Center near Floydada.
Carter will present examples of municipalities in Texas, New Mexico and Kansas employing playa restoration as a strategy for ensuring adequate groundwater supplies for the future of their communities.
The PLJV’s purpose is to find solutions to address habitat conservation challenges in the western Great Plains so that birds and other wildlife, agricultural producers, and local communities all prosper and thrive in this landscape.
PLJV helps partners and producers do habitat conservation work by providing science- based information, funding, and other resources.
The purpose of the educational event is to provide information about management practices that can reduce groundwater depletion in the region, improve playa management for recharge of the Ogallala Aquifer, as well as assist in the transition from irrigated agriculture to rainfed agriculture.
“As evidence is emerging that decades-long patterns of aquifer depletion are being slowed and even reversed in parts of High Plains Underground Water Conservation r District territory, it is critical that educational tours be held to explore the management practices that are taking place in these localities—which include improving soil health, using cover crops, improving playa ecosystems, and greatly limiting or discontinuing irrigation,” explains Dr. Darryl Birkenfeld of Nazareth, Executive Director of Ogallala Commons.
Doors open at 9:00 a.m. at the Floyd County Friends Unity Center with registration. After introductory presentations at 9:30a.m., the opening presentation at 1 0a.m. will be an overview of playa ecosystems and the Texas Playa Conservation Initiative by Heather Johnson, Migratory Game Bird Specialist: Region I, of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Immediately afterward, an overview of a drip irrigation project will be offered by Rick Kellison, project director of the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation, Lockney. Following a break, Carter will give his remarks.
At 11:40 a.m., a sandwich lunch will be served, before the group departs for a field tour at 12:15p.m. The group will return to the Unity Center at 1:15p.m. for adjournment.
Registration for the event is $20 per person (which includes the cost of lunch and snacks). To register and pay online, please click on this link: https://ecs.page.link/2siFQ Those interested in participating may also contact Birkenfeld to register for the event (darryl@ogallalacommons.org or call 806-9452255).
Registration can also be paid at the door on Oct. 13.
The Field Day is sponsored by Ogallala Commons and its partners the Playa Lakes Joint Venture, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, High Plains Underground Water Conservation District, and the Dixon Water Foundation.