Thanks Brad, for a balanced article. There are many ways that we in San Marcos could protect wild rice better than we do now, especially during low flow periods. I think all of us who use the river regularly have seen people accidentally harm this endangered species, and we could think of many ways to prevent this without closing down sections of the river completely. I believe there are very few people who would harm the rice intentionally, if they realized our river’s continued flow depends on having the rice here. We need to work harder to educate people about ways to protect it, and I believe the city will soon put together a group of stakeholders to ask for suggestions from everyone in the community. It would be forward-thinking to come up with our own suggestions, here in San Marcos, of ways to protect this rice, instead of waiting for others to give us instructions. And please remember that there are many aquatic plants in the river that are not wild rice. Wild rice is a tiny percentage of the aquatic plants. Without this rice though, we can kiss our springflows goodbye. We would end up with a dry riverbed every time it gets dry. And central Texas has a lot of dry spells.