Published: July 30, 2008 10:17 am      

Respect the rice

A 'weed' to some, Texas Wild Rice may be the salvation of the San Marcos River

San Marcos — Even though she’s been a champion of Texas Wild Rice for years, it still happens.

Every once in a while, someone will comment to Dianne Wassenich about the unsightly “weeds” in the San Marcos River, most notably just below the University Street Bridge.

Each time it happens she cringes, because the reference is to Texas Wild Rice, an endangered species that grows nowhere else on earth.

And it’s not just new residents or others unfamiliar with the local flora and fauna.

“It’s people you would expect to be a little more intelligent,” Wassenich says. “It’s frustrating,” she added, but not overly so. “I want everybody to know how to answer people that say things like that. The answer is we will not have a river if we don’t have wild rice, so take good care of it.”

Since Texas Wild Rice, the Texas Blind Salamander, San Marcos Salamander and fountain darter were added to the Endangered Species list, certain strict conditions have been put on development near the river or the Edwards Aquifer that could result in pollution of the habitat.

That, and pumping limits designed to ensure the San Marcos Springs will survive.

Due in large part to those rules, Texas Wild Rice continues to thrive in several locations along the river, from “just above Spring Lake Dam to close to the State Fish Hatchery upstream of the (city’s) wastewater plant,” said Mara Alexander, a biologist with San Marcos’ National Fish Hatchery and Technology Center.

The center also studies the Wild Rice plant and has several plants “in refugia,” meaning that if the San Marcos Springs went dry some would still survive.

The state keeps tabs on the river’s stands of Texas Wild Rice too.

Through Aug. 13, volunteers under direction of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department are taking careful measurements of wild rice stands and mark their distance and angle from the bank.

“It’s the rarest plant in Texas, a beautiful aquatic grass,” said Jackie Poole, botanist in the Wildlife Diversity Program of TPWD. She said volunteers, who will work in teams of 8 to 10, do so because Texas Wild Rice is “an indicator of the health of the San Marcos River ecosystem; it’s home to fountain darters and other aquatic organisms; because exact plant locations are needed for planning purposes; and because we love it.”

Poole has assigned time slots on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call her at (512) 339-8019.