Texas Riparian Areas

Riparian areas—transitional zones between the aquatic environments of streams, rivers, and lakes and the terrestrial environments on and alongside their banks—are special places. They provide almost two hundred thousand miles of connections through which the waters of Texas flow. Keeping the water flowing, in as natural a way as possible, is key to the careful and wise management of the state’s water resources.

Texas Riparian Areas evolved from a report commissioned by the Texas Water Development Board as Texas faced the reality of over-allocated water resources and long-term if not permanent drought conditions. Its purpose was to summarize the characteristics of riparian areas and to develop a common vocabulary for discussing, studying, and managing them.

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THOMAS B. HARDY is professor of biology and chief science officer at The Meadows Center
for Water and the Environment at Texas State University where he specializes in watershed
planning, riparian corridors, and aquatic ecosystem dynamics.

NICOLE A. DAVIS is a graduate research assistant at The Meadows Center for Water and the
Environment and a PhD candidate in aquatic resources at Texas State University.