Healthy estuaries are vital to the economy of the Texas central coast, supporting the region ’s multibillion-dollar fishing industry and growing tourist trade. Adequate supplies of freshwater are key to the productivity of these estuaries. However, as the regional population grew and the recent drought deepened, estuaries were receiving less freshwater. In response to this challenge, the Mission-Aransas Reserve worked with a multidisciplinary team to develop science-based, stakeholder-informed recommendations to support freshwater inflows to maintain healthy estuaries in this region, while balancing other competing needs for freshwater.

This video, "Balancing Freshwater Needs in a Changing Environment," was produced by the 2011 Collaborative Research project team. It discusses the project, emphasizing the project goals and importance of public input from stakeholders at all levels to enhance resulting research and policy outputs.