San Antonio Oxbow Site Visit
Led by Kyle Faig, Open Space Field Biologist; Dustin Chavez-Davis, Open Space Project Coordinator
The site visit to the San Antonio Oxbow will demonstrate beaver mitigation, water flow regime, invasive vegetation control, and discuss future restoration efforts. While BDA’s are a popular restoration tool the San Antonio Oxbow has the opposite problem, too many beaver dams. Given that the oxbow is filled via Corrales Drain tailwater, a constant inflow of water is necessary for the health of the marsh wetlands and to preserve MRGCD infrastructure so beaver dam mitigation strategies (i.e beaver deceivers) have been employed. Planning has started for future restoration strategies of the Oxbow including invasive vegetation management and clearing of cattails and potentially Jetty Jacks are included. The site visit will include visiting the beaver deceiver installations, discussing water flow issues and dilemmas, and future project discussions.