News & Updates
Texas is making billions from oil and gas drilling, but counties say rural roads are being destroyed
Texas leads the nation in both oil and natural gas production. In the 2017 budget year, the oil production tax brought the state more than $2 billion in revenue, while the natural gas production tax brought in a little less than $1 billion. But none of that tax money...
Hill Country groups wanting more local land-use control
As the second fastest-growing county in the country according to U.S. Census Bureau data, Comal County, like others in the Hill Country, is coming face to face with industries that want to set up shop on land that is becoming more and more precious. Annalisa Peace,...
New Braunfels Utilities seeks community support for Headwaters project
Along the fault line that separates the Texas Hill Country from the Texas Coastal Plain, the largest freshwater spring system in Texas emerges from the ground in New Braunfels. New Braunfels Utility owns the 16-acre spot in the northwest part of town where the spring...
April HCA Director’s Notes
April is truly one of the most photogenic time of year for the Hill Country. As the seasons change, it’s wonderful to see new life emerging as nature seems to come alive again in the greening grasses and the pops of color here and there from wildflowers. Photos tell...
State-Owned Bexar County Ranch at the Center of Latest Warbler Fight
Rancho Sierra, a 2,317-acre property northwest of San Antonio, has everything – rugged hills, a ranch house, springs and seeps that form the headwaters of two creeks, and Mount Smith, the tallest point in Bexar County. It also has, according to surveys, an abundance...
Rare Central Texas songbird to fly off endangered species list
The population of the black-capped vireo, a rare Texas songbird, has recovered to such an extent that it will be moved off the endangered species list, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials are expected to announce today. The lifting of habitat protections for the...
Blanco River Flood Mitigation Project San Marcos Community Meeting To Be Held
City Engineers will host a public meeting on Wednesday, April 18 in Room 2 of the San Marcos Activity Center, 501 E. Hopkins, at 6 p.m. to gather comments on proposed infrastructure projects that are being considered for flood mitigation on the Blanco River. “The goal...
Securing Texas’ water future, one lawn at a time
Texas’ frequent and inescapable droughts haven’t seemed to slow its growth. As people flock to our state, it follows that more of our limited water will be used on lawns. Studies have found that homeowners tend to overwater their lawns by two to three times the needed...
What happens to Texas when water is more valuable than oil?
Only a state as big as Texas could have to deal with the simultaneous crises of both rampant floods and devastating drought. The destruction of Hurricane Harvey and the massive infrastructure needs that it exposed along the Gulf Coast soaked up most of our attention...