Stream Savers Festival benefits Austin Youth River Watch program

Date of release: 10/10/03

SAN MARCOS — Texas Watch, a volunteer environmental monitoring program, will sponsor Stream Savers Festival at Barton Creek Habitat Preserve in conjunction with World Monitoring Day 2003 on October 18.

This six-hour event will feature live music by such Austin-based recording artists as the Onion Creek Crawdaddies, Love Syndicate and DJ-RJ. The Stream Savers Festival will also promote education initiatives including water monitoring training and trail walks, plus concessions, a fundraising raffle and more. All proceeds from the festival benefit the Austin Youth River Watch program (AYRW). Texas Watch is supported by Texas State University-San Marcos, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Since its inception 11 years ago, the AYRW program has provided positive role models, academic enrichment and environmental education components to approximately 500 at-risk youth. AYRW students take part in beach cleanups, biological inventories of ecosystems, UT Science Day and Big Bend field trips, and students receive compensation for their water monitoring activities.

For more information on the Stream Savers Festival, call (512) 708-9115 or visit www.texaswatch.geo.txstate.edu.

Contact: Jason Pinchback at (877) 506-1401