HRI Executive Director Larry McKinney Honored for Conservation Work

HRI Executive Director Dr. Larry McKinney was honored Thursday, Nov. 3 at the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation's Conservation and Environmental Stewardship Awards.

McKinney was honored with the group's 2016 President's Award. The Conservation and Environmental Stewardship Awards Program recognizes outstanding Coastal Bend citizens, educators, businesses, governing bodies and other entities that have made significant contributions to education and or protection of Coastal Bend natural resources, habitats and native species.

McKinney has been involved with water conservation and water quality for decades. Before serving as executive director of HRI, McKinney was director of Aquatic Resources at Texas Parks & Wildlife, overseeing the state's freshwater and saltwater bodies, along with fisheries. And he became a staunch protector of seagrass habitat. McKinney was instrumental in establishing the 32,000-acre Redfish Bay State Scientific Area between Rockport and Port Aransas, where uprooting aquatic vegetation with a boat propeller remains prohibited.

Another of his primary areas of focus involves freshwater inflows into our bays and estuaries, an issue which involves the health of every coastal ecosystem, along with the economic health of every coastal community.