- "Making of a Million" is made possible by H-E-B.

You can learn more about their sustainability efforts at OurTexasOurFuture.com.

(gentle music) - Just about every Texan knows that other-worldly feeling of plunging full body into a cool, refreshing swimming hole.

Or hitting the lake, reeling in the big one, sitting in a tube, running through the sprinklers, or even simply turning on the tap.

But water is more than just Texas ritual and recreation.

It is our most valuable resource.

Our lives and the lives of millions of animals literally depend on it.

So how do we both celebrate the fresh water we have, and protect it while we still can?

Well, I'm on a mission to find out.

From the coast, to the West, Texas covers over 170 million acres.

It's home to tens of thousands of native plants and animals, and some of the most beautiful, diverse lands in the country.

Lands that are changing, fast.

I'm Chet Garner.

Let's take a trip with the Nature Conservancy in Texas to visit the people and places who've helped protect one million acres of Lone Star lands, both for our generation, and the one to come.

(gentle music) (birds chirping) (bright music) All right, so I vividly remember the time when I first fell in love with Texas freshwater.

I was in the fifth grade, and it was the Rio Frio, whoo!

And from that moment on, I was hooked.

I would travel anywhere and everywhere just to take a dip.

And truthfully, I still do.

But I know that there is so much more to fresh water than I even know about.

And so I'm excited to travel around our state to visit some of our most precious places, and talk to folks who are on the front lines of protecting the fresh water we know and love.

I've taken the plunge in Barton Springs.

I've gone headfirst into Balmorhea.

I've even paddled the enigmatic Devils River.

But there's one place I've yet to swim, because it's highly protected and stewarded by the Nature Conservancy in Texas.

And soon, you'll realize why, as we stop off to visit the Independence Creek Preserve.

(gentle music) - So this is why it was called the Oasis Ranch.

Because we're walking up to a literal oasis in the desert here, created by these springs.

- To find any water in the desert is special, but something like this?

- So Caroline Springs actually provides about 5,000 gallons per minute.

And this is the largest spring on Independence Creek, which provides a significant amount of flow to the Pecos River.

- Into the mighty Pecos.

- Absolutely.

And making the mighty Pecos mighty again, and bringing it back to life and rejuvenating it after it goes through some really salty area.

(gentle music) - Just look at our surroundings, and you'll instantly know why this water is so valuable.

Historically, water dictated almost everything.

Where people traveled, and ultimately settled.

Where people could grow crops and ranch.

The land was only livable if it had water.

So a spring like this would've truly sustained life in a dry and parched land.

(gentle music) - We know this was an important place to the Native peoples of this region, but also settler's history and military history and things like that.

- Not just people, but wildlife as well.

I mean, this is an incredible hotspot for biodiversity.

These are kind of critical areas that we're trying to protect, both for the species that are here, but also just the long-term viability of a place like this to provide recreational opportunities for generations moving forward.

- The Nature Conservancy worked with local landowners and eventually purchased a few historic ranches to make sure this precious water source stays protected.

- These places that people have loved and used, but they want to keep it that way.

That's something we're able to do.

- That's cool.

When it comes to protecting water in Texas, the Nature Conservancy has a number of preserves all across the state, dedicated to this very purpose.

Places like Dolan Falls on the Devils River, a stunning limestone waterfall, carved by the most pristine river in the southwest United States.

All the way down to the small, seemingly insignificant Diamond Y Spring, that's a habitat for fish found nowhere else on Earth.

In many ways, each of them is more than a preserve.

It's an outdoor lab giving us valuable insight into the very thing that sustains us.

Fresh water.

- We're gonna show you some real science.

So we're measuring several things here, including water level to measure the flow, measuring water quality.

So by Bluetooth, we turn this guy on, and it actually reads the data from here.

- This is just like they did it in the 1800s, right?

- Exactly.

(Chet laughing) - It's critically important to keep a close eye on the flow, as springs like these feed our major rivers, that in turn feed the crops that feed all of us.

It's all connected.

And the Nature Conservancy wants to be the first to know about changes upstream, that can have big consequences downstream.

If you don't know Independence Creek exists, it's very hard for you to care about how healthy it is.

- Yeah.

- But once you see it, and you understand its impact, all the pieces start falling into place.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

- I think that anytime you can bring someone to a spring or one of these clear-fed, Edwards Plateau streams, - Yeah.

- It creates an impact.

It creates a memory just so that people can appreciate both what's here as well as our attempts to put this in conservation and protect it.

- But I didn't come all this way just to study the springs.

Nor does the Nature Conservancy in Texas protect places like this just to look at 'em.

I've been waiting a very long time for this.

(gentle music) (water splashing) Oh, yeah!

It is cold.

But on a day like today, it is just, ah, it's perfect.

(gentle music) The water is so clear, it's as if the goggles in front of my face don't exist.

And I'm getting up close and personal with multiple endangered fish that only live in desert springs like this one.

(gentle music) As they say, water is life.

And out here, you can't help but feel alive.

You know what I mean?

Woo hoo hoo!

(water splashing) So all across Texas are springs, rivers, lakes, and streams that are much more critical to our livelihood than we even realize.

So let's head to another place on the opposite end of our state, where fresh water is critical to everything.

Only here, people didn't have to find water to live.

Instead, they had to learn to live with the water.

(gentle music) Oh, my gosh.

Laura-Ashley, this is another world out here.

- Yeah.

You feel like you've stepped back in time.

Millions of years.

- Oh, my gosh.

- Primordial swamp.

I mean, this is not like anything you've ever seen.

- No.

Caddo Lake is the only major natural lake in Texas.

Meaning every other major lake is actually a manmade reservoir.

Caddo is a swampy twisted labyrinth of bayous and cypress forest, a place Laura-Ashley calls home.

- This lake isn't special because I've come here since I was five years old.

Or because somebody's a third generation person that lives here.

Like it's objectively special.

Almost 1,000 different species of animals.

- Wow!

- We're talking about 300 species of birds, 80 species of fish.

Every freshwater game fish you can find in Texas is in this lake.

- Seriously?

- Yeah.

So it's a whole wetland system that covers at least 40,000 acres across two states.

This is one of the most diverse ecosystems in the state of Texas, and even in the entire country.

(gentle music) - Freshwater has been flowing through Caddo for millennia, supporting a bounty of wildlife, families, and guides like Captain Danny here.

It's not exactly a swimming lake, but it's one that's critical to so many species, which is why the Nature Conservancy in Texas protects the Fred and Loucille Dahmer Caddo Lake Preserve with thousands of acres of wetland habitat.

(jaunty music) - And then there's so much mystery.

I mean, when you can't see in the water, and that's not because the water quality is poor, it's a natural effect of tannins and nutrients from the soils, from the trees, that's in the water, that makes it look so dark.

- I was gonna splash in it, but even I'm nervous to put my hand in it.

- You know... - You just don't know what's under there!

- You can't see, you can't see.

- The work is never-ending, as invasive species move in, and threaten the lake's natural balance.

(gentle music) - So this is a native species that we wanna see here.

- These lily pads?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Lily pads are a sign of health, yeah?

- It's great.

Yeah.

But this native species has been threatened by these other species over time.

Hyacinth was a huge problem for a long time.

It's been out competed by salvinia.

So this is the booger.

- Oh, yes.

- That's been plaguing us since the early 2000s.

They will choke out the natives and outcompete the natives.

They will also cover the surface.

- Oh, yeah.

- And then prevent light and oxygen from getting down into the water column.

- Okay.

- But it's the fastest-growing aquatic invasive plant in the world.

- Whoa!

- And so this booger has been giving us a lot of trouble.

- And so the Nature Conservancy works with partners across the board to keep Caddo healthy.

But oddly, it wasn't the salvinia that almost killed Caddo, but us, as we built dams, and failed to count the consequences.

- When they first started building these dams, they served a purpose.

- Yeah.

- And it worked very well to reduce flooding.

- Uh huh.

- But engineers back then just weren't thinking about the downstream effects.

- While Caddo has always been a constant lake, it had seasonal flooding and droughts, causing the water to rise and fall, to speed up and slow down.

And once we added the dam, all of that stopped, making the lake almost catastrophically stable.

(gentle music) - Before the Flows project, the water quality was dangerously close to not being able to sustain life.

- Wow.

- The pH was at a level that was almost not able to sustain life.

- Not only did the water quality change, but fish no longer felt the seasonal flow changes, telling them when to go upstream and spawn.

Silt began to pile up on the lake's bottom, choking out native plants, and leaving no place for fish to lay eggs.

Caddo was on the verge of a catastrophic collapse.

- So to go back to that, where it almost crashed.

- Yeah.

- Is a terrifying prospect.

- I think outsiders think that the book is written, the rules are set.

This is how you maintain, conserve, and preserve a special place.

But then you spend time with the scientists who are here, and it's so unknown.

- That's right.

It's a living laboratory.

We are writing the playbook as we go.

It's adaptive management.

So nature is resilient and she can handle a lot, but there's a certain point at which she can no longer adapt.

- Yeah.

- And we just, I get very concerned, and wanna always stay on our game, so that we don't let that happen on our watch.

(gentle music) - So what helped Caddo's road to recovery?

Well, for that, we need to head upstream.

(bright music) All right, Ryan, why did you bring us to a dam in northeast Texas?

- Well, this dam is an important place to one of the coolest partnerships that we have.

The Nature Conservancy National Partnership with the US Army Corps of Engineers, called the Sustainable Rivers Program, that has the goal of simply looking at can we operate dams in a way that's more compatible with the environment?

- Okay.

- The rivers downstream, the health of the ecosystems.

- Previously, was it just like the Army Corps deciding like, "Hey, how about this much water?"

Or, "How about we keep back this much water?"

- Right.

Yeah.

So dams are super important to society, obviously.

- Yeah.

- Flood control, water supply.

And they operate the reservoirs for those purposes.

So what we do in this program is we bring together all the partners, the environmentalists, but also the communities and the agencies responsible, and we gather kind of all the science, and all the information on what would a healthy ecosystem downstream of this dam look like.

- Let's take the paddlefish as an example.

It's the oldest species on our continent, and one weird-looking fella.

Dams cut off the springtime flow of water that told the paddlefish when to go upstream and spawn.

So they never made new baby paddlefish.

The existing population died off, and by the 1980s, it was thought to be extinct in Texas.

But thanks in part to initiatives like the Flows Project, and some thoughtful breeding.

Well, the paddlefish population now has a better chance at survival.

- The system's starting to respond.

So it's a really cool story.

And it's not a regulatory action.

No one told 'em they had to.

- Yeah.

- There's no endangered species lawsuit.

It's been voluntary coming out of the partnership.

- Everyone wants this river and everything downstream, - That's right.

- To be as healthy as possible, right?

- Yeah.

- Because of the success of the Sustainable Rivers program, pioneered right here, it's now being rolled out in rivers across the nation.

Amazing what can be accomplished when you bring everyone to the table.

(bright music) Texas Parks and Wildlife notes over 250 species of freshwater fish in Texas.

Add to that 600 species of birds that need fresh water, and 6,000 species of plants.

Our waters not only hold a menagerie of amazing creatures, but support entire ecosystems and habitats, stretching from the amazing water fowl that fill the sky, to the tiny spiders that float atop lily pads.

But there's one type of creature that often gets overlooked when discussing the amazing beasts of the watery realm.

Yet it's one that does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to keeping our fresh water clean.

The humble mussel.

(bright music) To explore its realm, we're headed to the Sandyland Sanctuary in southeast Texas to paddle down Village Creek.

(bright music) So Shawn, I've seen rivers that are smaller than this creek.

- I've always said that.

So 15 years here, yeah.

Village Creek should be a Village River, yeah.

So yeah, this is, yep.

(bright music) - This sanctuary covers over 5,500 acres of longleaf pine forest and creek corridor adjacent to the Big Thicket National Preserve.

Which has been called America's Ark, given the impressive number of native species.

But I'm here on a mussel-y mission.

(bright music) - I think this spot right here looks pretty decent.

So we've got this slower area.

I see a sandbar over there.

A little bit darker and slower right here.

So really good, likely area we might find something here.

- I thought we were wading.

Whoo hoo hoo, it's brisk!

- And it feels nice today, yeah.

- Just to give you guys an idea.

It's all I got.

I got sand.

Lots of sand.

Why are we doing this again?

- Some mussels are really good indicator of water quality.

- So mussels are a bit like the canary in the coal mine, huh?

- You got it.

Thanks, yeah, perfect.

- There are over 50 different types of freshwater mussels in Texas.

And of those, 12 are considered endangered or threatened.

They are critical to keeping this water clean, and a sign of its overall health.

Plus these might be my favorite species names of all time.

(bright music) - Hey Chet, I finally, - You got one!

- There we go.

Success.

- There it is!

- They're a threatened mussel.

This is a Louisiana pigtoe right here.

- The Louisiana pigtoe.

- Yeah, that's a good find right there.

- Oh, oh, oh!

- There we go.

- What's I got?

What do I got?

- You got the best one of all.

We got the Louisiana Fatmucket.

- The fatmucket!

(jaunty music) These names are great!

All right, just keep working this edge.

- I think so, yeah.

Let's keep on- - We found the sweet spot, Shawn!

- Keep on going.

And go lay 'em out.

Yeah, come see what we got.

- Oh, oh, oh, oh!

- Holy cow.

What you got?

- Now you tell me!

- What do you think it is?

What's it look like to you?

Think Zydeco.

- Zydeco.

Oh, a washboard!

- That's it.

You got it, man!

(both laughing) - Which one of these, you find one, you go, "Okay, now I know my river's healthy."

Or it's all of them in concert together?

- I think I would say yeah, both honestly, in concert together.

So the more species you're finding that overall biodiversity, but yeah, really those four threatened ones.

If you've got those in your watershed, we're doing right.

(gentle music) - I had no idea there were this many types.

When you see one in isolation, you don't have a benefit of comparing.

These all look so different.

- Yeah, just really a great showcase of mussels here, if you want to call it that.

- I've never met a man who knows as much about mussels as you.

- I do.

And I don't really go to the gym that often.

- Well, you fooled me.

You fooled me.

The quality and quantity of our fresh water has an enormous impact on our lakes and rivers.

But many don't know that it's just as critical on the coast where the fresh water meets the salt, and life thrives in the briny mix.

So, Steven, am I right like, the beach is just right over there?

- Absolutely.

So you've got the main Matagorda Bay is just past this tree line here.

- With the salt water right there, what does fresh water have to do with anything down here?

- I think when we talk about this interface where fresh water and salt water meet, we're talking about these estuarine systems, the nursery grounds for fisheries, waterfowl habitat.

I think it's real easy for anybody to think whenever we're releasing fresh water inflows into these estuarine systems that we're really just wasting this amount.

And that couldn't be anything further from the truth.

It takes acre feet, millions of gallons of water over unit time at the right time to be able to maintain these same ecological processes.

- Wow.

- That have been here for millennia in this area.

- Yeah.

(gentle music) Many of the species here need both fresh and salt water to survive.

The red fish we love to catch, the alligators, crabs, and countless birds that eat the small creatures.

They all need this brackish water ecosystem.

But things are changing.

In the past few decades, the number of birds on this preserve has dropped by 90%.

- What they're doing is migrating to other areas along their flyway.

- This is dramatic change happening pretty fast.

- On a geological timescale, yeah, this is moving really quickly.

Now, what we're looking at is that the value of water is probably higher than we've seen- - Ever.

- So we're working in partnership with other nonprofits such as the Texas Water Trade, and Texas Water Development Board, for being able to both monitor and secure fresh water inflows into these areas.

- Wow.

- If you don't get those freshwater inflows to maintain this, you almost have an ecosystem collapse, and not be able to recover.

- Wow.

And it can happen quick.

There are so many sport fishermen in Texas that love our red fish, we love our trout.

- Absolutely.

- Trout.

That if those things disappeared, there'd be a lot of blame-gaming.

And so I'm thankful that people like you are making sure, like y'all are a little ahead of the game.

- Absolutely.

- Before we see those impacts.

- No, that would be a travesty to lose those species, the economy, the Texas culture that is associated with saltwater fishing all in these areas.

- Oh, yeah!

- So for any of that to be remiss in the dialogue would be terrible to have that.

- Yeah.

So when you think about everything fresh water supports in Texas, you're literally thinking about everything in Texas.

But the truth is, water is getting even more scarce, and trends are, well, they're frankly alarming, especially in central Texas, and out west.

We have less water, but also more people.

And ground zero for this growing friction is definitely the Texas Hill Country.

(gentle music) - This is Honey Creek, Chet.

And it's absolutely gorgeous.

And we're working hard to keep it that way.

- I had no idea places like this still existed in the Hill Country.

- It's all beautiful, but this is spectacular.

(gentle music) - The Honey Creek State Natural Area is over 2000 acres, protecting one of the cleanest water systems in Texas.

The land was acquired by the Nature Conservancy in the '80s, and then transferred to Texas Parks and Wildlife for safekeeping.

(gentle music) - The Edwards Aquifer is underneath us.

We're part of the Edwards Plateau.

So it's very important, 'cause this provides a water source for one of our largest cities.

There's a lot of urbanization.

As you know, Chet, Texas is gonna be close to 50 million people into 20 years.

- That's hard for me to wrap my head around.

- It really is.

We're losing a lot of rural lands, and that can impact the ecosystem and impact our water quality.

Keeping the surface not concreted so that all that water can go into through the karst system and recharge that aquifer, feeds into these creek systems, and eventually feeds into the river, the Guadalupe.

It's important for us to allow that recharge to keep the quality of the water up and the amount that's available to us up.

So it all is connected.

- Let me help explain.

So a lot of us rely on groundwater for our drinking water.

And when a neighborhood goes in, so does a lot of concrete.

After that, when it rains, instead of having water trickling through the ground and back into the aquifer, it rushes away through concrete drainage systems downstream, and the aquifer dwindles.

San Antonio saw this problem coming, and has worked with groups like the Nature Conservancy and Texas Parks and Wildlife to set aside huge chunks of land.

Not just for parks, but to allow nature to do all the amazing things we can't see.

(gentle music) I mean, 'cause once this gets turned into a development, there's no rewinding the clock.

- There's no turning back.

And the impact is gonna be long term.

And there are places in Texas right now that might be vulnerable.

And so we need good people, landowners, private landowners, to understand the criticality of preserving water, so they can conserve what they have on their property.

- Yeah.

- And so it's gonna take all of us, Chet, to find these very special places and keep 'em protected.

That's what inspires me when I come to places like this.

And I realize the good work Texas has done in protecting this place.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is a shining example of what's possible.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

- We started this journey out west, on Independence Creek.

And while Mad Island seems like it's a world away, the one thing that connects them both is fresh water.

Flows out west affect flows on the coast.

And the Nature conservancy in Texas is keeping track of all of it.

So I have to admit that I've been thinking about spaces like this completely wrong.

I used to consider green spaces a bit of a luxury, but the more I'm learning, and the more I'm talking to the experts, I'm realizing these places aren't just need to have.

They're absolutely necessary for the whole ecosystem, for our entire quality of life here in Texas.

And so while, yes, they're beautiful, they're fun to explore, but there's so much else happening just below our feet and all around us that we can't see.

And if we don't appreciate the entire picture of fresh water that we have here in Texas and respect the water we do have, then we run a very real risk of losing it for everybody.

(gentle music) Fresh water is important.

It isn't just about the places we protect.

It's about the choices we make on a daily basis, both for the species we love so much, but also for our own species, our families, and the next generations of Texans that will definitely need fresh water to drink, but also to survive that hot Texas summer.

- "Making of a Million" is made possible by H-E-B.

You can learn more about their sustainability efforts at OurTexasOurFuture.com.