Who we are.

Trans Pecos Water Trust is a non-profit organization working to improve the flows of the Rio Grande in far west Texas and the Big Bend.   100% of the money raised from individual donors goes to direct project costs, funding solutions in areas of greatest need.

The Trust’s board of directors is composed primarily of local ranchers, farmers and area residents that recognize landowner stewardship and understand the natural and cultural heritage and economic value of the Rio Grande.    

                                                                                                                                                                     Image from Mariscal Canyon, Big Bend National Park, May 2003

Trans Pecos Water Trust is modeled after successful water trusts located in Oregon and Washington, and following this model the Trust has successfully leased almost 2000 acre feet of Rio Grande water rights for instream flows.   An instream use is a beneficial use of water for such purposes as water quality, recreation, aquatic and riparian wildlife habitat, fisheries, wildlife preserves, and livestock.   Under Texas Water Code, permitted water rights that are not put to beneficial use during a consecutive 10 year period are subject to cancellation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

In addition to working to secure and protect instream flows, the Trust assists private and public landowners in protecting springs, removing non-native invasive plants, rehabilitating river banks, flood plain, and neighboring grasslands. 

Among the Trust’s guiding principles is respect for private property rights,  recognition of landowner stewardship, and the cultural heritage associated with the Rio Grande and its tributaries in far west Texas.

Why the Rio Grande? 

In 2007, a leading conservation group listed the Rio Grande as one of the top ten rivers at risk.   The primary reason the Rio Grande is on the list is because so many people are extracting water for personal and agricultural use.  Irrigation accounts for more than 80% of the water taken out of the Rio Grande each year.  There are six dams and much of the Rio Grande’s length flows through the Chihuahuan Desert, so evaporation is extreme and droughts occur often.  This much-reduced flow inhibits the river’s natural cleaning mechanisms and has allowed non-native plants to invade where native plants or no plants at all used to grow, and water quality suffers, sometimes so salty it cannot be used by farmers, livestock and wildlife. 

The Big Bend stretch of the Rio Grande from Fort Quitman, Texas to Lake Amistad Reservoir near Del Rio is really in trouble.  Flows from upstream are much reduced by the time it reaches this area, and the banks and riverbed are heavily invaded in places by non-native salt cedar and giant river cane that further restrict flows and steals water needed for people, wildlife, and native plants.  The Mexican Rio Conchos joins the Rio Grande near Presidio, Texas and furnishes most of the water in the Rio Grande that flows past Big Bend National Park.

Big Bend river guides say they can tell when the salt cedar (Tamarisk) upstream begins to put on leaves each spring because the river’s flow suddenly drops.  Native fish have been greatly affected by the reduced river flows.  Once home to many kinds of fish, several species are no longer found in this stretch of the Rio Grande.

Get Involved.

Much of the Trust’s spring rehabilitation, invasive plant removal, and restoration work is performed by volunteers.  Learn how you can help here>.

                                                    US Army Corp of Engineer Forgotten River Study