Summer 2011 Volunteer Spotlight:
Ken Barton, Lake Texana - Lavaca River Basin

Ken Barton, of Edna in Jackson County, has been monitoring Lake Texana consistently since September of 1993.  With nearly 18 years of volunteer water quality monitoring for Texas Stream Team, that makes him one of the longest standing monitors for the program. 

While he was introduced to the program when working in Round Rock, Ken first became a certified monitor after moving to Edna and attending a workshop in Palacios.  Upon becoming sponsored by the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, Ken plunged head-first into water quality monitoring and has not looked back since.  He finds his monitoring to be a peaceful time, a break from his normally busy routine of teaching science at Edna High School.  He holds an open invitation each month to any students at his school who might be interested in tagging along to learn about water quality monitoring.  Throughout his years of monitoring, Ken’s two sons have frequently participated to the point where his oldest son even eventually landed a job with the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority. 

Ken monitors Lake Texana at the Simmon’s Cove boat dock on a monthly basis.  He describes the water quality conditions to seem relatively stable, with dissolved oxygen the only variable fluctuating regularly.  He has noticed as the seasons and air temperature change, the dissolved oxygen becomes generally more or less abundant.  Colder water is denser, and therefore can hold more dissolved oxygen.  Given these favorable characteristics, Lake Texana is a great habitat for aquatic life and used extensively for contact recreation.  The lake is also used as a municipal water source for Corpus Christi.  During dry periods, Ken notes the water level sometimes falls below the point where he can effectively sample off of the boat dock.  Fortunately, the boat ramp adjacent to the dock was built with this in mind and in times of less water, Ken can sample from the ramp.

After earning a degree in Biology from the University of Texas at Arlington, Ken very seriously considered a career in forestry.  As fate would have it, he ended up getting his teacher certification and has been teaching science in middle and high schools ever since.  At first, Ken coached football and baseball in addition to his teaching duties.  Once he moved to Edna in 1992, he stopped coaching and now teaches Chemistry and an Integrated Physics and Chemistry course as well.  Through all the busy days of teaching school, it has never kept Ken away from his volunteering and the peacefulness of Lake Texana.  Thank you Ken Barton, a model citizen scientist and environmental steward!

For more information on visiting Lake Texana go to: www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/lake_texana

To view a list of past Volunteers of the Month, click here.

For more pictures of Texas Stream Team monitoring and environmental education activities, please visit our Flickr webpage at http://www.flickr.com/photos/txstreamteam/ or archived photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/texaswatch/.

To nominate a volunteer for recognition or to sponsor a volunteer recognition event in your area, please send an email to txstreamteam@txstate.edu or call toll lfree 877.506.1401.