Latest / Conservation Stories / Lubbock Waters: History, Conservation, and a Vision for the Future with Dr. John Beusterien

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Lubbock Waters: History, Conservation, and a Vision for the Future with Dr. John Beusterien · Conservation Stories

• 0:04
  Speaker A: Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of Conservation Stories. I'm your host, Tillery Timmins Sims. Conservation Stories is a podcast that's brought to you by the Sand Hill Area Research association, which is a mouthful, so we always say, Sarah. And I'm excited today because we have John Busteren with us. And Dr. John is. He's a professor at Texas Tech and has a passion project that you will find on our website. It's called Lubbock Waters and I have asked John to come and join us today and give us an update. So first, once you start out by giving us a little bit of your background and how you got to tech and what you do there.
• 0:43
  Speaker B: Well, thank you very much for having me, Tillery. It's great to be here. Great to talk with you again. Great to be able to talk to Sarah and thank you to Jackalope and the Lubbock Arts Collective, too. Yeah. My name is John Bustarian. I studied English and economics in college. I later got a PhD in Spanish and moved to Lubbock in 2005. My daughter grew up here and I teach college students. But one of my favorite experiences here is when she was in fifth grade and went to talk to them about the region and all my interests in the region from the history and especially the ecology and about conservation.
• 1:24
  Speaker A: So was it kind of just in like the Spanish roots of this area, like that what got you interested? Or you've just always been interested in, like, I want to know the history of the places that I live.
• 1:36
  Speaker B: Definitely not. I've always been interested in the places where I live, but I think it was Lubbock that brought me there. When I moved here, I. I did a talk downtown in the Civic center, and I asked and there was, I saw, there was Coronado High School, and I was like, so where's the book? I want to teach about Spanish and the history of Lubbock. And there wasn't one. And it's been about. It's been, like I said, 20 years. Finally, I am part of a group of professors and we have a book coming out on that history. I've been teaching classes about that that's made me interested in history from since the Dust bowl in this area, but all the way back to the period when people lived here. And they don't even have names as tribes of people. They still don't have names. I mean, they're named by what technology they use. So it's funny, there is a history professor at Tech who's written a book about my region, which is the Great Lakes region where there's a lot of water.
• 2:34
  Speaker C: And he's telling me all about that.
• 2:37
  Speaker B: History and I'm now interested in that too.
• 2:38
  Speaker C: So I've kind of found out in.
• 2:40
  Speaker B: My twenties, I'm a literature professor, but I'm kind of finding out that I'm very interested in history too. And I do, I write and research and things related to especially Spanish speaking cultures, but broadly all kind of human history and now geological and animal history too.
• 2:59
  Speaker A: Yeah, well, this is a really, it's a more fascinating area, I think, than people give us credit for. So I've been reading a book about our area called Heaven's Harsh Tableland by Paul Carson Carlson. Carlson, yes. So, great book. And I'm learning a lot about this region, a lot about him and love to have him on the podcast to talk about that book. It's a great one. You know, I've always, I've noticed like that this area, like we're different from Amarillo and we're different from Midland and why is that? And he, he talks about those things and the people that started our areas and our towns and stuff and the difference in the cultures that they brought with them, you know. And so I'm still in the, in the beginning of the book and learning about the different tribes that came through and stopped, you know, along the way and didn't realize how much of a trading center this area was, you know, and so I, I think it's fascinating.
• 4:00
  Speaker B: Yeah, I do too. That particular book, for those of the audience that are in Lubbock, if they go down to one of my favorite places in Lubbock to Hebrews coffee, there's a book that he wrote with some other people to celebrate the centennial of Texas Tech. And it's amazing photographs of. And it's down. I mean, it's in the coffee shop there, the book. But I recommend you go and take a look at it. Yeah, he's done a deep history, which is, you know, kind of before people even arrived here. Looked at it and more, more and kind of in the 20th century he's looked at.
• 4:34
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It's a very approachable book. It's readable. It's not. I mean, I know I'm weird, I'm not probably normal, but it is kind of one of those that I will have to make myself put it down, you know, because it's not boring history. It's interesting. He makes it really interesting. He writes really well.
• 4:58
  Speaker B: Yeah. One of the things I think is fascinating about this area is we Kind of came and settled here almost later than anywhere else. I mean, being only 100 years old, Texas Tech and the city itself isn't much older than 1925. But for being one of the latest inhabited places where you have permanent habitation houses, it's the oldest place or one of the oldest in the Americas, where people have lived continuously. So it's meaning they came here more than 12,000 years ago, have lived on what I call the Llanos Staccato, the southern high plains. And they haven't moved. They've moved around because they followed where the water sources were, where the animals were, but they've stayed here. And there's a wonderful woman who's still working here. Her name's Eileen Johnson. She's in charge of the museums, and she does archeology here. She's written. It's a little bit technical, but one of my big. I see as my jobs is bringing all the great work she's doing about the history of this area, because it's not a written history, but it's an amazing history. And of the cultures that lived here, what they were doing, we still don't.
• 6:15
  Speaker C: Know anything about it.
• 6:16
  Speaker B: That's kind of why I like it. It's just a big mystery, but it's fascinating.
• 6:22
  Speaker D: Today's episode is brought to you by Evan Stone with Clear Rock Farm and Ranch, part of the Clear Rock Realty Group in Lubbock, Texas. Evan understands West Texas land, agriculture, and what it takes to buy and sell farms and ranches in our unique region. If you're ready to make your next move, trust someone who knows the lay of the land. Visit Evan at clearrockrealty.com serving Lubbock and the surrounding communities, Clear Rock Farms and Ranch, your partner on the plains.
• 6:55
  Speaker A: It's, you know, I grew up in Terry county, so south of here, there's a lot of the, like, Mound Lake, Ridge Lakes, and there's a man in our town in Brownfield, my hometown, that has an extensive collection of Indian artifacts and is just very knowledgeable, you know, on those kind of things. And I know that I've seen mammoth bones and there's. I mean, it's, it's. It is so. It is such an interesting area.
• 7:31
  Speaker B: So that's one of my favorite interesting things for people. They think of. If you go out to Lubbock Lake landmark and you see the big Columbian mammoth there, you think, oh, these are long, you know, before humans. But they were taking tools, the people living here from the bones and doing things or carving them and so that's kind of fascinating saying when you think people living alongside. It's kind of like, okay, yeah, dinosaurs, no, humans weren't around, but around all these amazing extinct animals, they were here.
• 8:03
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. You know, I. One of my first introductions to that is from Louis Lamour. I don't know if you ever read Louis Lamour, but he, he was.
• 8:15
  Speaker B: Sounds very familiar.
• 8:16
  Speaker A: Yeah. So he widely. I mean, prolific western writer, but he was a historian. He never wrote about anywhere that he did not go and see. Understand the history.
• 8:29
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's so important.
• 8:31
  Speaker A: And he would, in fact, in the preface of many of his books, he would talk about, you know, flying over the region and like the details about what he. The knowledge that he acquired. He was also a poet. Very. Anyway, he wrote a series called the Sackets. The Sackets, the Sackets. And in the Sackets.
• 8:49
  Speaker B: Oh, is that the family name?
• 8:50
  Speaker A: That's the family name, yeah. So it's multiple generations of them and. And in, in one of them, they encounter a mammoth.
• 8:58
  Speaker B: Oh, wait.
• 8:59
  Speaker C: Oh, oh, they're alive then. And they.
• 9:02
  Speaker A: Yes, okay. Yes, they encounter. And it's kind of like a mythical. Like they're so rare at that time that, you know, it was kind of a shock from. For them all to see this mammoth, you know, so it. Those are great. That's a great series. He's a great, He's a great author. And that's the thing that I like about him is that he's, you know, they're historical fictions. But the history that he incorporates is really good. He does a great job.
• 9:28
  Speaker B: Even people that grow up here or nearby here, they don't know things like the rich animal life. I mean, how many horny toads were going around Lubbock 30 years ago? But just in general, the whole rich ecosystem life. But at the same time, like, I went earlier this summer with a friend of mine who's got an article in a book about water that I wrote. He took us out to where he works. He works for the USDA in the ranch land. Where he's regulating the water is people can't go on the ranch. So it was great because my daughter was walking around and finding signs of all these early, you know, 600 to 6,000 year old artifacts still on, on the. And I'm like, just leave those, you know, because these are really, you know, and so they're very important. Yeah. And so in places that haven't. That people haven't been able to take, like your friend in Cary. But I mean, I do Know of a lot of towns here where there's amazing, amazing stuff both in people's houses and in local museums all through the know from the panhandle all the way down here.
• 10:37
  Speaker A: We have, in fact we have an, A, A stone, a grinding stone with the, you know. Yeah. That we found on, on some of my father in law's land.
• 10:47
  Speaker B: See, I think that that's fascinating because that's when I mentioned Eileen Johnson before. People generally think that it was kind of just hunting, but there were all kinds of places where there was. There was either. Yeah. She's found evidence, evidence that there was. There was also agrarian examples.
• 11:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, well, I know he mentions in his book, Paul mentions in his book. Like you know there were. I think it's in that book. I can't remember now. But anyway, like they would, there were things that, that they would plant that they could come back and get at the next season like carrots or potatoes or you know, things like that. So anyway, fascinating. I love this. I love the history and really I guess it was in studying history. Is that what led you to water and the reality of our water situation system or the things, the way water works here?
• 11:45
  Speaker B: You know, I can't put a pinpoint on any specific thing. I would say that when I got here, like I said, I wanted to find that class about the history and Spanish here, Spanish speaking cultures, Spanish speaking people. Did the people just arrive or were the people here before we, you know, when were they here and that and but the main topic that I've been. I'm a literature professor first and foremost and culture professor. And I when I first got here I was just fascinated by animals. And I would say my interest in animals and history of animals in the region brought me to water. I can't say anything specific except early on when I would even be teaching something like Don Quixote, which is this really important novel. It's like the most translated novel after the Bible. I mean it's a very well renowned novel. I taught a class on that. But we went up to Nazareth, Texas to learn about Darrell Birkenfeld's Ogallala Commons. We found out about his house and how he was capturing water, how he has a really rich harvest there on his land. And about we did went to his Playa Lake classroom and I've always combined things that people wouldn't think you could combine. And you know, I. And so I think that was probably the biggest single thing that brought me to water. I'm not really, really sure except that if I Think about it, my subconscious, it might be I come from a place where water is all over the place. And I've lived here for 20 years. And I would say. And I've taken. I like taking walks every day, and especially with the dogs that I've had while I've lived here. And I was always fascinated by the water system that flows through Lubbock, which is the largest urban waterscape in the country, that use. Well, specifically waterscape that uses reused water. And I. For many years, I always just admired it and thought it was a thing of the past. But the guy who did it, Jim Bertram, who was the director of city planning in Lubbock in the early 70s, essentially did it. And we're now friends. He lives out in Ransom Canyon. And I've written an article. Well, a chapter in a book that I have with him. And with respect, new things of water Happening. With respect to Lubbock, he's been an advisory person, and I just. I'm amazed that he's still around. And it's great.
• 14:25
  Speaker A: And I don't really know that, you know, I grew up, of course, you know, with a well, lived for many years with my own well. And then so really, about 13 years ago, we moved to Lubbock. So it was the first time I've ever not had my own well.
• 14:39
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 14:39
  Speaker A: You know, and so I've always. I know I've heard that, like, Lubbock's, like, they're planning on. For water has always been kind of ahead of the times, you know, which is not something I think you would say a whole lot for Lubbock all the time, you know.
• 14:55
  Speaker E: Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:55
  Speaker A: But it is. It is interesting. And I. I did not know until you just said that we're the largest urban center for water reuse that reuses.
• 15:07
  Speaker B: Dirty water and then puts it back into a system. The park we have, there's a. This is the first water conservation district in the country.
• 15:16
  Speaker C: And this is way back, but later on.
• 15:19
  Speaker A: So Lubbock in particular, but the southern High Plains.
• 15:22
  Speaker C: I forget what number we are. And if you guys want the details of this, it's pretty interesting. And I could figure it out.
• 15:28
  Speaker A: Right. I knew that. I knew there was. I think, well, that we were the first district in the state, but I don't think I recognized.
• 15:35
  Speaker B: I think. I think it's in the national level.
• 15:37
  Speaker A: Wow. Okay.
• 15:38
  Speaker B: And I. I mean, I think that's important for the story that I'm about to tell, because I think that might have something to do with. I mean, I found that out later. But, Jim. Well, what we had basically in the late 60s and before, we used the canyons in the. In the region basically to throw all our junk. And people still do that in some parts. And those canyons, essentially, there's no. There is no. Our major source of water is Ogallala Aquifer. Sometimes there are creeks that get water, but there's no flowing river in this area. There are no. Even the lakes are not real lakes. We have playa lakes, but what we have is Ogallala. Your pump gets water related to your well pump. We were throwing a lot of bad water in the east side. And he basically got money, first of all to clean up all the mess which were cars. And what did it was the tornado. Because we got federal funding to clean up. And he did a combined thing with the federal government, the state government, parks of recruitment and Lubbock, he actually got a bond to pass to clean up all of our canyons and the water system. He built those berms or dams and created that lake system which flows. And so when I said the longest urban water park area, I was referring to the system where he takes the water just past where it's just near where the Lubbock Lake landmark is on the other side, the expressway. And then it flows for like six miles into Dunbar Lake. That's the lake system that I'm talking about, which I've always, always thought was just a natural water flow, but really that water gets cleaner as it goes. It's a natural cleaning system. And so that by the end, it's a lot of the. Of it's been cleaned. That's a little bit of me exaggerating because I've been asking scientists in the area if the water is clean. I think a lot still has to be done.
• 17:35
  Speaker A: Sure. Right.
• 17:36
  Speaker B: But amazingly, there's a filter system that is just the flow and the land that. That helps clean that up. So I've been fascinated by that. And when I found out that the person who actually made that happen is still around, he's a great inspiration for me in terms of me living here.
• 17:53
  Speaker A: Which is one of the last questions I always am asking is who is someone that you think people should know about? And it's obviously Jim. Yes. And Daryl Birkenfeld of course, too. Yeah. Both of them very instrumental in your interest and the awareness of our water around us. But that system, I've always gone back and forth and my husband and I have speculated on why that. What is to me the most attractive part of Lubbock is that canyon that runs through there. It's, you know, it's the only place where there's some movement on the land. You know what I mean? And there's, you know, more. There's more trees there and everything. And why it's all. It was from the beginning, treated like wasteland. And we've speculated that it's because you couldn't farm it, you couldn't make an income off of it. And so, you know, you're not going to throw your trash on someplace where you need to farm, you know, and so that's kind of our speculation. And I. I think that I'm hoping as we move on through the decades that we be that that land in there becomes more important to us and we begin to utilize it better than we have. That park system, to me, is one of our best features, and it'd be great to see it be more utilized.
• 19:24
  Speaker B: Yeah, it was built as a recreation area.
• 19:28
  Speaker D: Out here on the Texas plains. Water is everything, and there's a resource that's as vital as it is fragile. Our Playa Lakes. These lakes are nature's reservoir, catching rainwater to recharge our aquifer and provide lifelines for wildlife. But now they need our help. In collaboration with the Texas Playa Lakes Conservation Initiative and the Cargill Global Water Challenge, Sarah has started the Our Legacy Is Tomorrow's Water initiative to inspire and work with landowners to restore and protect our Playa Lakes. Each playa we save helps secure a sustainable water future for the generations that will be coming after us. Whether it's improving soil health, restoring habitats, or recharging groundwater, we are committed to making a difference. Together, we can build a legacy that we can all be proud of. To learn how you can join in, visit the Playa Lakes Restoration Initiative page on the Serra website. Let's keep Texas water flowing strong for the future. Visit sara-conservation.com.
• 20:38
  Speaker B: I should just to introduce a bit of tension. In the 70s, I mean, the Lubbock Avalanche Journal published a lot of arguments.
• 20:49
  Speaker C: On why that shouldn't happen. And they mainly came from Eileen Johnson, who's been working for 50 years. Because underneath all that talking about, you know, people who have lived here much longer, it's.
• 21:03
  Speaker B: This is where. So it's where. It's where those people live for the.
• 21:06
  Speaker C: Past more than 12,000 years.
• 21:08
  Speaker B: So it's all underwater.
• 21:09
  Speaker C: And it's also where the animals came and lived. And so there is so much history underneath that which should be looked at. And there are people that I know who think it's a disgrace that we never properly got that information before we covered it up. On the other hand, it is for me, I agree with you. It's a beautiful area. But I would emphasize that it's artificial and that we need to think about that in terms of what we think is natural beauty.
• 21:45
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 21:45
  Speaker C: But I think a lot has to be done with both with that history behind it, but also making that a much better utilized place. And my main goal that I have is this Lubbock Waters, which is this.
• 21:57
  Speaker A: Which is really why we're here to talk about. We haven't even got to yet, but I'm excited to talk about that.
• 22:03
  Speaker B: Yeah. Which in a way, I mean just to get it kind of tries to celebrate both of those. I'm. I mean when my daughter grew up here, there wasn't the lazy river pool. And even that for people who live in Lubbock is not really accessible. It's more of a Big 12 university thing. And I'm more interested in kids having a place to have fun, but not even knowing when they have fun. They're learning amazing things. They're learning that you don't just turn on a tap or go to the bathroom and water comes and goes and you don't know where it goes or where it comes from. And so that's kind of part of the whole dream that I have which is, you know, I've been working on that for about five or six years. I created Lubbock Waters website before I even had done an international conference about it before I. Now I'm making movement forward about having exhibits and things like that.
• 23:02
  Speaker A: So. And for people that don't know, we have a page on our website dedicated to that project. Love a quarters and cause we. We met 2023. I think it's was the first and only time really that we met in person. We started on the phone. Yeah. But just I was super intrigued because I didn't know anything about what you were doing or what you were thinking about. And so kind of what. What do you envision out there in terms of a museum? And do you have an idea of like, can you talk about like maybe where it would be located? And is it. You're talking about something that's in addition to already. That's something that's already out there or what.
• 23:48
  Speaker C: What are your.
• 23:49
  Speaker A: What's your dream for that?
• 23:52
  Speaker B: A place where kids can go and have fun in water, with water, using water and they kind of walk away knowing more about the ecosystem of that region and conservation. When I take walks There's a near Aslan park. There is an area where there's an old trestle where the city's done some things with water there. There's a specific area when we were talking before about the canyon, I mean still if you go through that canyon, Yellow House Canyon, there are basically we still have junkyards in that area because probably for a lot of reasons I think. I mean I'm from Detroit and the river was used just as industrial ways and waste and only now are there otters and more information about that river happening. And in the same way I'm hoping that there will be more about that canyon that people know about. People will be excited going. I'm definitely not interested that the Lubbock waters be like a riverwalk at all. I'm interested in by riverwalk I mean various restaurants and places that people go to San Antonio to go to these. I'm interested in people coming to Lubbock making this actually a place on the map where people would want to go to be at this Lubbock Waters place. But I do see it. Museum is the best word that I use for it. But I see it as a community place both for people to go and bring their families, but also the best and smartest people who are working with water and involved in water. Things that are going on with Sarah about water, I see that as having like a research arm as many places like many. So there's like a lot of important libraries across the world where people can go and research. But then there's also part of those.
• 25:51
  Speaker C: Libraries where they're doing something very specific.
• 25:53
  Speaker B: And there's a group of people doing really smart things. I would like to see really smart people doing the most innovative things with water. I mean, I mean just to talk about what my dream is.
• 26:04
  Speaker C: Oh that the water. I mean and I brought, when I had that conference I brought people in from Arizona where you know, the water.
• 26:12
  Speaker B: Where it's even more arid but the.
• 26:15
  Speaker C: Water is getting even cleaner and reused quicker. I mean it's going to be happening really soon.
• 26:19
  Speaker B: And I'm interested in that this place.
• 26:21
  Speaker C: Be a kind of non profit place where even company, you know, companies or whoever is doing something city, city government or West Texas where they come and have information.
• 26:38
  Speaker A: You know, one of the things I, I've heard people say is they like, they like to go there because they don't feel safe and. Oh yeah, and I can understand that. You know, I mean I personally have my, my husband and I walk there. I mean that's if I'M going to go. Choose to walk somewhere. That's where I'm going to choose to go.
• 26:55
  Speaker B: You know, but when you say there, which. Which part of the lake system.
• 26:59
  Speaker A: Canyon.
• 26:59
  Speaker B: The whole lake system. Yeah. There are some bike roads, too. You can.
• 27:03
  Speaker A: Exactly.
• 27:03
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 27:04
  Speaker A: So, I mean, it's. It. It's made to. To walk. It really is. It's one of the few, you know, long, walkable pathways that we have, you know, But I know that one time I was at the amphitheater at a moonlight musical, and someone, the director there, gave the statistics of crime in that little area, and it just disappeared when.
• 27:35
  Speaker D: They put that amphitheater in.
• 27:37
  Speaker A: I mean, the crime rate went down so much. And that's something I thought of was like, how do we. You know, there's a lot of good people that live around there.
• 27:47
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 27:47
  Speaker A: That could utilize that. Not just, you know, bringing in people from the southwest part of Lubbock to utilize it, but there's so many, you know, families and. And people in that. In that area that, you know, it's what's in their backyard, you know, and making something that is easily accessible to them, that's safe. That's really appealing to me, too.
• 28:12
  Speaker B: No, thank you for saying that. The way I teach. I mean, I've always, for the last 20 years, not just now, have wanted to teach my classes in a way where. Well, now it would be in terms of AI doesn't matter. You can use AI, but that's not the point of my class or before it was Internet or virtual class. Doesn't matter. What does that mean? It means, like, as part of my classes, we will all go to these spaces and take a walk. So one of my last times I went with my class out to this, what I call Lubbock Waters is. Which were my dream. It's the specific location that I'm thinking of along the Jim Bertram Lake system. I brought my student, and one of my students goes, this is not where you go in Lubbock. You go to the mall. That's where I went growing up. You know, she grew up in Lubbock, and so. But she was impressed by it, you know, and very surprised by it because it's also when you talk about, you know, trees. I mean, there are no trees that naturally grow, but they do grow along the system and that sort of thing. So. And, you know, shade and lots of other things. But you're right, I do think. And this is. I don't know how to say this, and I mean, there's still sometimes master gardener Groups or people like that will go and clean up. But in general, there's a lot of trash. But then there's also a side of urban life where along the areas that I'm interested in going that are not. You can tell people have been sleeping there or doing whatever there. You wouldn't want to just send your kids to go. Or my wife wouldn't want to just take a walk there by herself or whatever.
• 29:52
  Speaker A: But I think that reclaiming those areas and, you know, finding ways for the people that are there to maybe utilize other, you know, programs or places that are provided for them by the city to go, and then the more we outnumber, you know, the good people are outnumbering the people that might cause trouble, you know, I think the better off, then they're not going to go. If there's. If there's no nothing for them to do with their kids, there's no reason for them to be there.
• 30:26
  Speaker B: I mean, I should say, just to be very clear that this is. Even though it was a while ago that we talked, this kind of vision is a very slow thing. I mean, if in 10 years, if something like, if something has been. If ground has been, you know, the shovel has been taken and this is.
• 30:44
  Speaker C: Starting to happen, I would be very happy.
• 30:46
  Speaker B: I mean, but since we've talked, it has. Has moved along, which is. Which I'm very happy about.
• 30:51
  Speaker A: That's great. That's great. You've got some. Because that's a part of it. I mean, nothing happens without money.
• 30:56
  Speaker E: Yeah. Yeah.
• 30:56
  Speaker A: It just doesn't. And, you know, finding people that you can connect to that have that same vision to make people aware of the potential for. For that And. And some of that may be, you know, good data for you may be looking at those. At what's happened with the Moonlight Musical and.
• 31:17
  Speaker B: Oh, for sure.
• 31:18
  Speaker A: Like, hey, all that. This is what we see.
• 31:21
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 31:21
  Speaker A: And know that can happen here.
• 31:22
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 31:23
  Speaker A: Yeah. So I think it's a. I love it. I've loved the idea from the beginning, and I think, you know, there's been a lot of frustration about the lack of places for people to go. And I know the splash pads have become important, you know.
• 31:37
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
• 31:38
  Speaker A: Really? And then there's a. There's a small. At the tech. The Ranching Heritage center, there's a small little river that they. The kids can. It's not even a river. It's just a little puddle that.
• 31:51
  Speaker C: Love it.
• 31:52
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 31:52
  Speaker C: I've been there. I love all that work. That's kind of similar to.
• 31:58
  Speaker B: The place I'm thinking.
• 31:59
  Speaker C: Yeah, I'm thinking of.
• 32:00
  Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's the other thing. The more that we can do and provide good things. Some people get used to thinking there's not anything here to do and there really are things to do. Sometimes you just have to dig to find them. Well, thanks, John, for joining us. And people will put a link to the, to the webpage and all that kind of stuff and put up your information. So if people are interested in learning more about the vision or how they might contribute to connect with you, I.
• 32:31
  Speaker B: Would thank you for that again. Yeah. I'm John Bustarian. I'm doing Lubbock Waters this year. I'm involved mostly at Texas Tech. It's not my full time job to do Lubbock Waters, but I have a lot of support and people helping me this year. Our goal is we've created this storyboard for an animation for the first exhibit and we plan on piloting that. Actually not for a whole year, but we're developing it this year. And that's just one exhibit which will be accompanied by other exhibits. We want to pilot it at schools in Lubbock, but also other places like museum in San Angelo and a library. And so those are some of the things that we're looking forward in the future.
• 33:22
  Speaker A: That's great, Great. Good to know. Well, thank you for being here and thank you, friends, for joining us for another episode of Conservation Stories. And we hope you've enjoyed this and that you will get a hold of John. If you've got some interest in learning more and how you can help, we will see you again on the next episode.