Award Recipients

Every year, the SMRF recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution towards protecting & preserving the purity and flow of the San Marcos River for future generations.

Friends of the River

2021: Scott Nicholson

Scott has called his work with SMRF to conserve recharge land “the most meaningful work I have done in my life.” A realtor and broker by trade for the past 22 years, Scott has patiently and loyally guided SMRF through several land transactions, including our most recent land swap along Sink Creek. These properties, conserved for perpetuity, will forever help protect the river and provide public lands and trails for local residents. The father of two, Scott is motivated to leave this world a better place for the next generation and believes we are at a tipping point when it comes to groundwater in Central Texas and the Hill Country.

Scott has spent numerous hours finding conservation buyers, showing the properties, and helping SMRF wade through reams of documents. We are extremely grateful for his work and his sage advice. It takes a special person to convince buyers how important conservation is in these critical areas, and Scott has immersed himself in knowledge about spring low, recharge, and the value of protecting important areas for our long-term interests.

Raised in Austin, Scott spent his time collecting fossils and fishing along Walnut and Brushy Creek, which spurned him toward biology at ACU, where he got into biking and competitive cycling. Now Scott spends his free time mountain biking, caving, backpacking, and mountaineering with a renewed appreciation for the work he does to create green spaces, especially as our region swells with development and industry. SMRF can not thank him enough for his dedication to our mission to protect the springs and their flow.

2020: Nick Menchaca, Atlas Environmental

When the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Restoration Plan was put into effect in 2015, Atlas Environmental was hired to remove invasive fish species from Spring Lake and the upper San Marcos River. Owner and diver, Nick Menchaca and his wife, Janaye Williamson, have since removed over 8000 non-native fish, helping to restore the native habitat of the San Marcos springs. Freediving with a spear gun, Nick removes tilapia and armored catfish, allowing the native and endangered species to thrive. In addition to the suckermouth catfish, Nick removes other ramshorn snails, nutria, and sailfin catfish.

Nick has the enviable job of being at the river nearly every day. Besides pulling out thousands of invasive fish, Nick hauls out the hard-to-reach trash, educates visitors and local residents about his work and the HCP, and has brought unprecedented attention and creativity to the real possibility of eliminating detrimental species in our unique water system. To raise awareness and participation, Nick created the bi-annual Polespear tournament, where the public can compete to remove the most invasive fish and then celebrate with an invasive fish taco party. The River Foundation is so pleased to recognize the innovative work of Nick and the massive impact he has had on the health and beauty of our river.

2019: Pat Stroka

Pat was born in Odessa but took one trip to see a friend at SWT and he never left San Marcos. He has been a volunteer water monitor with the River Rangers for 19 years, monitoring the confluence of the Blanco and San Marcos Rivers. That alone would be enough to call him a Friend of the River. But then Pat was approached to replace a retiring board member from the Edwards Aquifer Authority Board. Pat decided to run and has been serving in this position for 11 years.

A highlight of his work there was the successful banning of a carcinogenic substance, coal tar sealants used on parking lots. The work continues to try to ban it statewide.

He has also spearheaded the current EAA campaign to plug abandoned wells so they don’t become pathways for pollution. He quickly became a rising star at EAA, elected to the Executive Committee, and then appointed to serve as Chairman of the Aquifer Management and Planning Committee. His fellow board members say his commitment, passion, and reasonableness make him a valuable representative for Hays County and, just as important, to the Edwards Aquifer region. He has been a true Friend of the River, and we appreciate all his service. Being an EAA board member is a lot of work and purely voluntary, just like being a River Ranger. Thank you, Pat, for all these decades of great work!

2018: Dr. Andrew Sansom

Andrew Sansom is one of Texas’ leading conservationists. He is a former Executive Director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Executive Director of the Texas Nature Conservancy. Under his leadership at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Dr. Sansom spearheaded a number of significant programs, including: founding the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, adding over 500,000 acres to the State Parks and Wildlife Management Areas, creating two nationally recognized aquatic facilities which include hatcheries, research laboratories, educational centers, and aquariums and initiating an aggressive program to introduce urban children to nature and the outdoors.

Andrew Sansom now serves as Research Professor of Geography and Executive Director of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, where he coordinates university policy and research related to freshwater resources, manages the headwaters of the San Marcos River, administers the most extensive freshwater environmental education program in Texas; and supervises the training and coordination of more than 1000 volunteer water monitors in rivers and streams throughout the State.

But with all that Andy does, he somehow found time to help SMRF over and over and over, during the past five years, with every roadblock we came to and every difficult situation in our land conservation efforts. His advice and, at times, his personal time spent meeting with landowners, city and state officials, and funders moved our project forward. For his untiring efforts on behalf of our projects to care for the San Marcos River and his work to protect freshwater all over the state, we declare Andy a Friend of the San Marcos River.

2017: Greenbelt Alliance Trail Crew

2016: Dr. Glenn Longley

Glenn Longley was a founding member of the River Foundation and has been a steady supporter and member ever since and a constant presence in every effort to protect the Edwards Aquifer and the San Marcos Springs. Glen was in the documentary film River of Innocence way back in the early 1980s, pointing out that the aquifer has to be managed, or the springs and river would go dry for long periods. He predicted decades ago that springs would go dry because the aquifer was being over-pumped by the ever-growing population of central Texas. And it has come close, but fortunately, enough people listened that limits on pumping happened.

He has also done decades of research related to the aquifer, its species, and also hydrologic system studies. Back in ’85, he was part of the team assembled by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to draft a species recovery plan and later the ’96 San Marcos and Comal Springs Recovery Plan. Recently when the region came together in the Edwards RIP process, he was there again in their Science Subcommittee, and this led to an approved Habitat Conservation Plan to keep the springs flowing even in drought. He still serves on that committee that now monitors the implementation of the HCP.

He and his fellow Lions Club members started up their tube rental and shuttle service on a shoestring, introducing so many to the river over several decades and providing funding from this for so many civic needs, including a scholarship in the biology program at Texas State. The Lion’s Club was instrumental in funding the beginning of SMRF, along with the Heritage Association, and continues their support of our projects.

Glenn always used solid science to address aquifer policy issues, standing up firmly for a spring and river ecosystem as a resource of great value that is worth saving despite all the difficulties in Texas water laws. He has also steered countless students, young ones and also university students, into science fields with his summer science camps and his classes while running the Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center for decades.

2015: Dr. Robert Gulley

2014: Bill Bunch

2013: Melani Howard

2013: Anita Miller

2012: Ann and Larry Dupont

2011: John Thomaides and Gaylord Bose

2010: Jo Seacrest

2008: Duane and Evelyn Te Grotenhuis

2007: Jim and Jerry Kimmel

2006: Alan Holt

2004: Dr. Tom Brandt & Staff at the National Fish Hatchery and Technology Center

2003: Alphonso Carmona

Lifetime Guardian of the River

2020: Dianne Wassenich

2012: Jack Fairchild

2011: Tom and Paula Goynes

President’s Award

2012: Paul Geiger

2007: Texas Nature Conservancy

Protector of the Springs

2007: Sally and Ernest Cummings

2007: Miriam and Emmett McCoy

River Writer’s Award

2010: John Hohn

Spirit of the River

2014: Jaimy Breihan