José Dodier Re-Elected to Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board

TEMPLE — José Dodier of Zapata was re-elected on May 2nd to serve a successive two-year term on the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB), which he has been a member of since 2005. 

Dodier represents TSSWCB Area 3, which consists of 50 counties in the Gulf Coast and South Texas Plains regions. Area 3 encompasses 46 Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs). 

Established in 1939, TSSWCB administers Texas’ soil and water conservation law and delivers coordinated natural resource conservation programs through the State’s 216 SWCDs. Additionally, TSSWCB is the lead agency for planning, implementing, and managing programs for preventing and abating agricultural and silvicultural nonpoint sources of water pollution. TSSWCB also works to ensure that the State’s network of 2,000 flood control dams are protecting lives and property by providing operation, maintenance, and structural repair grants to local government sponsors.

The TSSWCB board of directors consists of five elected members and two gubernatorial appointees who must be actively engaged in farming or ranching. The five TSSWCB elected members are chosen in a convention type election by SWCD directors in the State District in which the TSSWCB member represents. 

A 1971 graduate of the University of North Texas, Dodier is a partner in the Don José Land & Cattle Company in Zapata County, which the Dodier family has been operating for over 80 years. The ranching enterprise is a conservation-driven cow-calf operation that produces commercial Charbray cattle. He also serves as Chairman of the Zapata SWCD, which he has been a member of since 1991.

Dodier is also a member of the Board of Directors of the South Texas Workforce Solutions. Workforce Solutions for South Texas is a local organization that implements a system of services to increase community economic development in Jim Hogg, Webb, and Zapata Counties. On the national level, Dodier is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) where he served for eight years, as well as serving on the NACD Executive Board. He is a 1971 graduate of the University of North Texas.

Dodier and his wife Janeann, have a daughter, Danielle Dodier Pena, and two grandchildren, Sofia and Ace Pena.