News
Highland Lakes residents speak at recent LCRA board meeting as agency continues work on new commercial dredging ordinance
By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula - Published October 27, 2021 Highland Lakes residents who spoke during a recent Lower Colorado River Authority board meeting urged directors to be cautious while creating a new commercial dredging ordinance. At its Nov. 17 meeting, the LCRA...
Bee Cave seeking to become Dark Sky Community
The city of Bee Cave will apply to become a Dark Sky Community, a move that would further efforts to preserve the night sky in the Hill Country region by placing restrictions on lights inside city limits. To become a Dark Sky Community, cities must apply through the...
2021 Hill Country photo contest winners announced & 2022 Calendar for sale!
The Texas Hill Country is a unique region filled with diverse wildlife, clear springs, sprawling rural landscapes, historic towns, and some of the starriest night skies in the country. With a rapidly growing population and increasing development coming into the...
River otters are on the rise in Texas
With their thick, glistening manes, proclivity for play, and taste for crawfish, members of a growing southeastern species are flocking to Texas. And no, we’re not talking about recent graduates of Louisiana State University. North American river otters, which were...
Biedermann declines reelection in District 73
After nearly six years in the Texas House of Representatives, Fredericksburg Rep. Kyle Biedermann on Wednesday announced he would not seek a fourth term representing District 73. His statement, posted on his Facebook page just after 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, hinted...
Republicans say Texas’ new political maps are “race blind.” To some voters of color, that translates as political invisibility.
As they devised political maps to maximize their hold on power for another decade, Texas Republicans laid the foundation for a crucial argument they may need in defending their handiwork against multiple legal challenges claiming they are discriminating against Texans...
Farm families and mental health
Farm families face unique stressors, including financial challenges and family-farming relationships that blur the line between their business and personal lives. These stressors can affect the entire family and may lead to physical illness, depression, substance...
Texas is watering down federal infrastructure funds
A ticking time bomb lies at the bottom of the Llano River, near a small town called Junction. In 2018, major flooding across the watershed overwhelmed the region’s water infrastructure as high waters brought with them silt, dirt and debris. Nearly three years later,...
Developers going big in surging town
It’s a trend in Texas’ fastest-growing county: growing pains. The population of Dripping Springs, a bedroom community west of Austin in Hays County, boomed over 175 percent in the last six years to nearly 7,500 people, census figures show. Now it needs to upgrade...
2021 Hill Country photo contest winners announced & 2022 Calendar for sale!
This past year has continued to challenge us as a region, a state, and a country in ways that no one could have anticipated, from once-in-a-lifetime snowstorms to an unusually rainy summer. Through it all the Texas Hill Country has given us a steady stream of comfort,...
Developer aims to create ‘legacy’ music venue with massive 20,000-seat amphitheater in Southwest Austin
Developers hope to add a crown jewel to the Austin area's already bustling live music scene: a 20,000-seat amphitheater at the center of a 71-acre entertainment and residential project near Bee Cave. International Development Management Co. aims to open the first...
Freshwater mussels in Guadalupe River could go on endangered list because waters they live in have changed
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed placing six Texas freshwater mussels on the endangered species list and designating nearly 2,000 miles of Texas rivers as critical habitat for them. The Guadalupe River Basin — one of four river basins highlighted by the...
Accolades pour in for Comal county conservationist Jensie Madden, who died Sept. 24 in Fischer
Longtime Fischer resident and San Antonio native Jensie Simms Madden, 74, a “founding sister” of the Comal County Conservation Alliance whose fierce advocacy extended to many other prominent environmental organizations in Comal County, died unexpectedly on Sept. 24...
Loss of a fish affirms fears about growth
A tiny, rare fish found only in a small section of the San Marcos River has gone the way of the dodo. The extinction of the San Marcos gambusia affirms the fears of scientists and environmentalists that mounting development and rapid population growth in Hays County...
City approves incentive package for Spurs training center and research campus at La Cantera
The San Antonio City Council approved an agreement with the San Antonio Spurs organization Thursday to contribute up to $17 million in tax rebates for a proposed new development and practice facility on the far Northwest Side. The Chapter 380 Economic Development...
Greenway system is a jewel, fund it in bond
The Howard W. Peak Greenway system is a jewel, connecting San Antonians to nature in the heart of our city. Bike, walk or run on these 82 miles of developed trails and you will encounter deer, foxes, the occasional ambling armadillo, and an array of butterflies and...
1,400-acre development near Hamilton Pool ignites push to protect salamander
Austin's Save Our Springs Alliance and a group of environmental scientists have filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Pedernales River springs salamander as "endangered" or "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act. The...
Residents struggle to coexist with quarries
Growing up in the Texas Hill Country, Mark Friesenhahn often would run barefoot through the countryside with his younger brother — but only if their father, “a 150-pound, mean little banty rooster German, full of the culture and work ethic,” hadn’t assigned them a...
Opinion: Unconscionable if lawmakers were to ignore water infrastructure
Less than a year ago, at the end of a particularly vicious peak in the pandemic, half of Texas was without drinking water. Some neighborhoods went dry for weeks. COVID-19 in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri was a public health emergency that should never be repeated....
Blast Zone: Quarries are expanding in the Texas Hill Country, and rivers, streams and once-pristine landscapes are paying the price. Regulators can’t keep up.
Flat Creek had always been translucent, flowing clear and cold through Kathleen Wilson’s 15-acre spread in the Texas Hill Country. Then something changed. The dust was the first sign. “That was really the first noticeable thing, was the whole surface was covered with...
Indigenous Cultures Institute seeks community input
Residents and community members will have the opportunity to get involved and voice their ideas regarding the Indigenous Cultures Institute’s plans to build an Indigenous Cultures Center for Hays County. On Oct. 11, the Indigenous Cultures Institute will hold a press...
Results from Well Visits – Trinity Aquifers
This summer the Watershed Association teamed up with the Comal Trinity Groundwater Conservation District and the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District and visited over 60 private wells in northern Comal County and western Hays County. Many thanks to all...
Fun outdoor activities to put on your Texas Hill Country itinerary
Social distancing’s easy — and fun — in the Texas Hill Country. The region’s sweeping panoramas merge countrified charm and sophisticated appeal, making it unlike anywhere else in our vast state. Since we’re avoiding indoor events due to the ongoing pandemic, outdoor...
Looking to get outside this fall? How about stargazing under Hill Country’s darkest skies.
How much of the Milky Way galaxy can you see from your front door? For those looking to escape to the great outdoors as the weather cools off in the fall, Central Texas has several designated International Dark Sky parks that offer views of the night sky with less...
San Antonians can travel for 40 straight miles with new trail extension
San Antonians can now travel almost 40 miles straight without ever exiting a trail. An eagerly awaited connection between the Leon Creek and Salado Creek Trails officially opened this past Friday, Oct. 1. A newly minted trailhead at Eisenhower Park links the two sides...
Little Cypress Creek/Krause Springs Study stakeholder meeting
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University and the Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District will hold a public meeting on October 12, 2021 to receive community input and participation on a study that seeks to better understand...
Dripping Springs proclaims October as Hill Country Night Sky Month
At a recent City Council meeting, the Council proclaimed October as Hill Country Night Sky Month in Dripping Springs. Dripping Springs joins The Hill Country Alliance (HCA) and many other communities in our area that are dedicated to the preservation of the region’s...
Mansfield concrete plant plans were shot down. Is battle back on after Texas ruling?
Anyone unfamiliar with the heated debates over the impact of concrete batch plants on Texas’ environment could be forgiven for glancing over Item No. 38 on the Sept. 22 meeting agenda. The proposal to amend a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality air pollution...
Commentary: This session, make water a priority
More than half of all Texans lost water during last February’s deadly winter storm. It was a warning of trouble to come. Our state’s water infrastructure is the backbone of our economy, and it is aging and fragile. Just one week before the storm knocked out water and...
San Antonio’s newest trail connects Eisenhower Park to the Rim, and it’s opening soon
While at the entrance of Eisenhower Park, it's hard to miss the huge fence with a sign that reads, "Leon Creek Greenway: Coming 2021." Brandon Ross, manager for the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trails System, tells MySA the new 2-mile paved trail that will connect...