News & Updates
With midterms ahead, is water on the ballot?
With midterm elections just around the corner, Texas voters must consider immigration, abortion access and gun violence. But when prompted, many worry about water, too. Eighty-four percent of Texas voters want the Legislature to create a fund to update aging water...
Central Texas home to all 5 of state’s dark-sky communities
Central Texas lies within the main corridor of North American bird migration with flocks of aviators flying south for the winter and vice versa for the summer. But despite the innate directional awareness, some birds can get confused or harmed by lights shining in our...
Hill Country Alliance Leadership Summit provides information, knowledge, and a path forward
Last week Deborah and I attended the Hill Country Alliance’s Leadership Summit in Dripping Springs. We’ve been following the Alliance for many years and, especially in the last ten years, have come to rely on them as the source for information about the health and...
Ex-slave’s relatives battle to save farm
To Texas transportation officials, expanding U.S. 183 is a chance to alleviate congestion south of Austin. But to the Alexander family, it’s a threat to the land they’ve vowed for generations to protect. Daniel Alexander was enslaved when he secured a promise in 1847...
To save water in Texas, these nonprofits are paying farmers to leave it in reservoirs
As Texas faces an increasingly fraught environmental future from climate change, a new approach to conservation is growing. Drought conditions have created a two-pronged problem for Texas aquifers, natural bodies of water that move through porous rock underneath the...
‘The Olympics of astronomy’: Travis County gears up for 2024 solar eclipse
Travis County officials are gearing up for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in 2024, as a total solar eclipse is expected to pass over the Central Texas region. A total solar eclipse will pass over the Hill Country region on April 8, 2024, from 1:32-1:41 p.m. The...
Dry riverbeds, dead fish, tapped-out wells: Drought takes toll in Hill Country
Kathleen Tobin Krueger stood on a low cliff last week, looking down on her family’s ranchland. Below her lay an expansive field laden with smooth white rocks, trees with exposed roots growing between them. There should be a full, flowing river here — there usually is...
National Park Service releases video series on Texas White House
On Sunday, August 21st, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park will launch Texas White House: Past, Present, and Future, a series of short educational videos on the history and importance of the Texas White House and LBJ Ranch. Videos will be released daily via...
Drought Stage 3 declared by Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District
With at least two months of a hot Texas summer left, the Blanco County water situation is becoming a serious concern. Water levels continue to decline in District Monitor Wells. Some well owners have had to lower pumps. Blanco County rainfall for 2022 is currently...