November 16, 2007

Dear Arroyo Partners,

Attached are the meeting summary notes of the October 25, 2007, Steering Committee meeting. Thanks to Joe Hinojosa and the City of Brownsville for providing the snacks and refreshments for the meeting and welcome to Jim Tabak as a new Steering Committee member representing the Valley Land Fund. Jim is a financial planner with a background in urban planning and joins our Partnership with fresh ideas on joining land and water conservation, and long-term sustainability of the Partnership. We have begun discussions on joint conservation projects and a special task group has been formed to strategize on long-term Partnership sustainability and how to bring in more private partners. More on this laterà..

We also welcome Dr. Lee Clapp as a new work group leader for the Wastewater Infrastructure Work Group. Dr. Clapp is Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M Kingsville. Dr. Clapp and I will coordinate the efforts of this work group. Please go to our new and improved Arroyo website, www.arroyocolorado.org, to see all work group meeting summary notes including notes of the most recent meetings. You should find the website easier to navigate. We will continue to build it and any comments/suggestions are welcome.

In the grants arena, Amy and Megan have been hard at work developing and assisting in the development of several grant proposals:

CWA 319 grant to develop and implement innovative storm water detention facility designs for urban water quality improvement
EPA environmental educational grant to promote and improve the existing Educator's Guide: Restore our Watershed - Arroyo Colorado Watershed Curriculum
EPA environmental educational grant to gain prime air time for existing water related public service announcements (PSAs) and to develop and air additional PSAs to raise awareness of water quality issues associated with our streams and the Lower Laguna Madre
Texas Water Development Board grant for the planning of regional wastewater systems

Again, please let us know if you are willing to write letters of support and note that we may be contacting some of you directly.

On a couple final notes, an Arroyo Colorado wetlands meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 17, 2007, from 2 pm to 4 pm. We will share system designs and focus discussions on wetland plants and availability. Save the date, meeting location to be announced.

Also, attached is a briefing on a project presented to the Partnership during the last Steering Committee meeting; a proposal from Los Camino del Rio for the development of a whitewater park and swiftwater rescue training center at Mercedes, Texas. For more information contact Eric Ellman at eellman@rgv.rr.com.

Enjoy this cool weather,

Laura