Riparian Management

Riparian Management

An easy way to keep Hill Country streams clean and flowing is to use simple riparian management techniques. A riparian area is often described as the “river bank” but in reality it is much more. The riparian area is the interface between land and water along a body of water. It includes the vegetation, soils and features from the water’s edge across the flood plain to the upland area. Typically, the best approach for managing this system is to do nothing, observe and let nature do the work.

Where riparian areas have been disturbed from overgrazing, mechanical lawn mowing, excessive erosion or other alterations to the natural order, restoration MAY be necessary to re-create a healthy functioning system, resulting in more water and cleaner water. The value of riparian preservation/restoration work is immeasurable when you consider the quandary we face with dwindling water supplies throughout the Hill Country. Healthy riparian areas protect water supply in times of drought and slow water velocity in times of flood.

In a nutshell, dense vegetation (native trees, shrubs and grasses) and an active floodplain are necessary to slow water down (dissipate energy) and trap mobile sediment. These are the building blocks of riparian health. Interlaced roots and trapped sediment rich in water storing organic material help to stabilize banks and conserve floodwater. That water recharges groundwater resources and can return to the channel in the form of clean base flow.

The first step toward good riparian management is having an understanding of what a healthy riparian area looks like and how it functions in both drought and flood. On this page you’ll find important links and documents to help educate Hill Country landowners and citizens about proper riparian land management.

Arundo donax and the Healthy Creeks Initiative

Map: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department – Healthy Creeks Initiative

Arundo donax, also referred to as Giant Reed or Carrizo Cane, is a non-native, invasive plant that can take over creeks and rivers. This invasive plant has the potential to significantly damage the health of Hill Country streams and rivers by worsening flooding, displacing native plants, destabilizing banks, contributing to erosion, degrading fish and wildlife habitat, and increasing wildfire risk. Click here to view an informational graphic on Arundo.

Since 2016, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD), Hill Country Alliance (HCA), City of Fredericksburg, and other organizations have partnered with volunteering landowners through the Healthy Creeks Initiative to control Arundo donax and enhance the creek-side (or riparian) habitat along Barons Creek, Town Creek, and other portions of the Pedernales River Basin primarily upstream of Johnson City. The Healthy Creeks Initiative focuses its efforts within rivers and creeks in the headwaters of the Blanco, Guadalupe, Llano, Medina, and Pedernales watersheds. The initiative focuses on improving riparian health by providing Arundo control at no cost to landowners.

Through the Healthy Creeks Initiative, TPWD partners with government entities, nonprofit organizations, volunteers, and hundreds of private landowners to implement large-scale management of Arundo on Hill Country rivers and streams. Since 2015, efforts have been highly successful (see project map) and continue to expand to new areas.

Click here to learn more about the Healthy Creeks Initiative.

Helpful Riparian Resources

Tips & Tidbits for Hill Country Landowners: Grow Zones and Targeted Access Along Creeks & Rivers

Across the Texas Hill Country, private landowners, businesses, housing developments and public parks are establishing “Grow Zones” along creeks and rivers to protect the land and water. Grow Zones are specific areas where disturbances, such as excessive mowing and foot traffic, are proactively restricted to allow native plants to thrive.

Click here to view and download a Tips and Tidbits for Hill Country Landowners PDF on Grow Zones

Tips & Tidbits for Hill Country Landowners: Riparian Planting and Materials Resource Guide

Click here for a two-part guide to riparian planting! Section one provides an overview of the planting methods used along Hill Country creeks and rivers in what is referred to as the riparian zone. Key considerations, as well as a few appropriate riparian species, are listed for each planting technique. The second section is a resource guide on where to obtain native plant materials in Central Texas.

Click here to view and download a Tips and Tidbits for Hill Country Landowners PDF on Riparian Planting and Resources.