Meet the 2024 Board Nominees

Jon Cradit

The current president of SMGA, Jon Cradit is running for his second three-year term.

Jon was raised in Martindale, running up and down the river and swimming in it with every chance. He grew up knowing how important the river is and learned how fragile the natural system that supports it is. As a kid, he enjoyed camping with the local scout troop and eventually became a scoutmaster and a committee chair.  A graduate of Southwest Texas State with a degree in environmental management, he worked several years for Texas environmental regulatory agencies and then moved to the Edwards Aquifer Authority, where he conducted karst studies and groundwater flow research from Uvalde to Kyle.

Jon earned a state license as a Professional Geoscientist and a Registered Sanitarian. His main pastime is caving. He’s a member of the state caving organization and a Fellow of the National Caving Association. He has caved throughout the US and Mexico, enjoying the karst systems from the inside. He and his wife, Lisa, were early members of SMGA and SMRF. Jon has served as a director of SMRF and currently works as part of SMGA’s Trail Crew.

 

Austin Bodin

Austin Bodin is running for his first three-year term.

Austin is the GIS Administrator for the City of San Marcos with 11 years of experience in both the public and private sector.

Born and raised in Edmond, OK, he attended the University of Oklahoma and Texas State University, earning a B.S. in Geography in 2010 and a Master of Applied Geography in 2021. After completing his undergrad, Austin worked in the oil business in Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma as a GIS Analyst. In 2015, he moved back to San Marcos and took a job with the City of Austin, working in the Transportation Department and then in Watershed Protection, where he got some of his first exposure to water-related issues. In 2018 he took a job with the City of San Marcos as a GIS Analyst for the San Marcos Electric Utility and was then promoted to GIS Administrator of the Information Technology department in 2020.

Austin first became involved with the EAA during graduate school. He conducted research using HCP data to investigate trends in the planting and removal of submerged aquatic vegetation in the San Marcos River. In addition to his work with the EAA, Austin is a member of the San Marcos River Foundation and the Texas Rivers Protection Association.

Michael Bira

Michael R. Bira is running for his first three-year term.

Michael retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 in December 2020. Mike graduated from the University of Tampa with a BS degree in Marine Biology/Chemistry. He then earned his MS in Aquatic Biology/Limnology from Southwest Texas State University.

After college, Mike began his professional water career as an Aquatic Biologist/Field Investigator for the Texas Water Commission (now Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), performing inspections, sampling, and enforcement of domestic, municipal, industrial, and agricultural wastewater dischargers, investigating water quality complaints, and coordinating the Commission’s North Central Texas surface water monitoring program.

Mike’s tenure with USEPA as an Environmental Scientist started in 1988 at Region 6 in Dallas. As a Hazardous Waste Enforcement Coordinator, his duties included inspections of hazardous waste management facilities and coordination of Federal enforcement actions under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). In 1990, Bira gladly moved to the Water Quality Protection Division to be the Clean Lakes Program Manager, and over the years, worked in various programs, including the Nonpoint Source Program, water quality standards, nutrient criteria development, and water quality outreach/education.

As Volunteer Water Monitoring Coordinator for the region, Mike has been actively involved with citizen science programs and assisting states and communities with addressing water quality problems through education and application of the watershed protection approach. He has helped conceptualize and develop citizen water quality monitoring programs in all EPA Region 6 states (TX, OK, LA, NM, and AR).

In his role as NPS Program Manager, duties included NPS Program development and management at federal, state, and regional levels and assistance with federal financial support through state grants for watershed protection/management programs and projects, including citizen science.

Upon retirement, Mike moved to San Marcos, TX, with his amazing wife, Kristi. He immensely enjoys fishing, hunting, and shooting, and fishing some more.  He has always needed to be near or in water.  When he was very young, his Mom worried that he might grow gills. In his 30’s he finally realized he could never actually be a fish, so he took up hunting.  He eats a lot better now.