TEMPLE, Texas — Barry Mahler of Iowa Park, Texas, was re-elected on May 7 to the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board to serve another two-year term of office. Mahler represents TSSWCB State District V, which consists of 51 counties and 41 Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the North and Central Texas region of the state.
Mahler, who has been a member of the TSSWCB since May of 2007, is an Iowa Park businessman, cotton and wheat farmer. Mahler also serves Precinct 3 on the Wichita County Commissioner’s Court and is a reporter for Farm Bureau Roundup, a weekly farm radio program.
Mahler has been a District Director on the Wichita Soil and Water Conservation District for the past 39 years. He has previously served as President of the Association of Texas Soil and Water Conservation Districts and a former Alternate Director of the National Association of Conservation Districts Board of Directors. Barry and his wife Sheri have two sons, Braden and Matthew.
TSSWCB works in conjunction with local SWCDs across Texas to encourage the wise and productive use of natural resources.
Established by the Texas Legislature in 1939, the TSSWCB is governed by seven board members, all of which are actively involved in agriculture or silviculture. Five of the board members are voted in by a delegation of their local peers, and two board members are appointed by the governor of Texas.
TSSWCB is the lead agency for planning, implementing and managing coordinated natural resource conservation programs for preventing and abating agricultural and silvicultural nonpoint sources of water pollution. TSSWCB also works to ensure that the State’s network of over 2,000 flood control dams are protecting lives and property by providing operation, maintenance and structural repair grants to local government sponsors.
— Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board