News & Updates
Walkability and the culture wars
An unfortunate recent article by Aaron Gordon for Vice is titled, "Walking Places Is Part of the Culture Wars Now." It's centered around a discussion of recent survey results from Pew Research, which appear to show that a majority of Americans prefer a neighborhood...
Hill Country communities can pursue Dark Sky designation following new state law
Across the more remote pockets of Hill Country, several communities are looking to attract tourism dollars and increase the quality of life for residents by utilizing a precious, shrinking natural resource—darkness—or rather, the absence of artificial light. With the...
Austin City Council approves housing contracts, Colony Park developments
Here’s what we’re following ahead of the Austin City Council meeting Thursday. Housing and support services contracts: approved Council is expected to amend an agreement with Foundation for the Homeless to provide housing for families with children for an additional...
5 principles for resilient groundwater management in Texas
Although Texas has a solid foundation for managing groundwater, this foundation is cracking under the combined pressures of increasing demand and decreasing supply. These pressures are pitting rural areas against urban areas and landowners against each other, with...
Zoning and “Bigness”
Back in April, Daniel Herriges at Strong Towns wrote an excellent article called “Pretextual Planning is Absolutely Everywhere.” What does that mean? Essentially, the article is about zoning rules that are written into the code not because the requirement itself is...
EPA recognizes Austin Water for efforts to restore ecosystems
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Austin Water in this year’s Outstanding Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Development Competition. Austin Water’s Wildlands Conservation Division received First Place in the People’s Choice Category for a...
Boerne mayor bracing for impact of approaching San Antonio sprawl
That continued explosive development northwest of San Antonio comes at a cost. And Boerne, a quaint town grappling with its own growing pains, could pay a steep price. “Candidly, most of the growth that’s going on is outside of the city limits of Boerne. There are no...
Feral pigs release 1.1 million cars-worth of planet-warming carbon dioxide every year
As Twitter user Willie McNabb tried to warn in 2019, the threat of feral hogs is real—whether their numbers range from 30 to 50 in the backyard or millions across America. The pigs have damaged virtually every ecosystem they have invaded, often with the help of...
Solarization on the Water Quality Protection Lands and how you can do this at home
On the Water Quality Protection Lands, we’ve been experimenting with soil solarization to control invasive grasses in summer (June-August). This process uses solar radiation to heat the roots and seed of herbaceous plants to such high temperatures that they are no...