News
The state of Texas water infrastructure
Earlier this month, during a special session of the Texas Legislature, the Texas Capitol flooded. After the water stopped cascading down the pink granite walls inside the Capitol extension, the Legislature resumed its deliberations. The August flood was preceded by...
Ranch fever: Pandemic drives city slickers to seek out room to roam
The allure of wide-open spaces is drawing people to snatch up rural land in Texas at a record pace. Ranch sales in the state nearly doubled between the second quarter of 2021 and the previous year, according to data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Center. While the...
Wild rice sues to stop oil pipeline
In 2018, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the 1855 Treaty Authority, an organization that upholds treaty rights for Chippewa bands, enacted legal personhood for manoomin -- wild rice. Manoomin, which translates to “good berry” in Ojibwe, is a sacred food for...
Comal County seeks grants for conservation purchases
Preserving Comal County’s wide-open spaces hasn’t been at the top of the county’s to-do list, but commissioners took steps in that direction last week. Last Thursday, they selected Moriarty & Associates LLC to pursue funding for county land acquisitions for...
40 million people rely on the Colorado River. It’s drying up fast.
On a 110-degree day several years ago, surrounded by piles of sand and rock in the desert outside Las Vegas, I stepped into a yellow cage large enough to fit three standing adults and was lowered 600 feet through a black hole into the ground. There, at the bottom,...
Texas Water Utilities provide a snapshot of financial conditions and prospects for addressing Texas water infrastructure needs in 2021 and 2022
Recently, Water Opinions LLC teamed up with the Texas Water Infrastructure Network (TXWIN) for the second annual assessment of current and future Texas water infrastructure projects, financing, and other issues facing Texas water utilities. TXWIN distributed the...
Deal to preserve Honey Creek moves forward with Texas Parks and Wildlife approval
A land deal that could forever preserve a pristine Hill Country stream north of San Antonio moved forward with approval from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department commissioners. Commissioners on Thursday unanimously voted in favor of a land deal involving the...
Family’s ranching heritage at stake in inheritance tax battle
At 84 years old, Melville Steubing has been involved in ranching since he could walk. And his family’s ranching heritage runs even deeper. From the first year his German immigrant ancestors set foot on Texas ground in the 1840s until today, there has never been a time...
Droughts push more people to migrate than floods
After a year of extreme weather, people in the drylands of northern California and the hurricane-drenched bayous of southern Louisiana are brooding on the same question: should we leave? New global research suggests that one of these “water shock” scenarios is more...
From the toilet to the sink: water recycling battles scarcity
Would you take a swig of water from your faucet if it originally came from the sewer? Treating wastewater to put it back into public use can help against water crises around the world, according to the United Nations, though the practice has to overcome the "yuck"...
Wimberley ISD: Blue Hole Primary School puts focus on conserving water
A Wimberley elementary school is teaching students about water conservation with a hands-on approach. Blue Hole Primary School was the first “One Water” school in Texas, the school was designed to reduce water usage. Read more from Nabil Remadna with KXAN...
Six Texas freshwater mussels proposed for Endangered Species Act Protection
AUSTIN, Texas— Following litigation by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to protect six species of Texas freshwater mussels under the Endangered Species Act. The Service also proposed designating 1,944 river miles...
Look out Napa Valley, Texas Hill Country named among best wine regions in U.S.
Where is the best place to swirl, sniff and sip wine in the United States? If you guessed Napa Valley, you haven’t been paying attention. The popular Northern California destination did not make the top 10 in the 2021 USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice awards for best...
TWA announces Justin Dreibelbis as new Chief Executive Officer
Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) is pleased to announce the hiring of Justin Dreibelbis as Chief Executive Officer. Tom Vandivier, immediate Past President of TWA, organized the Search Committee that selected Dreibelbis. According to Vandivier, “During the search...
Black Gap Wildlife Management Area designated as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary
BREWSTER COUNTY – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is proud to announce that Black Gap Wildlife Management Area (WMA) has been designated as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). Black Gap WMA is the second...
AgriLife, Hill Country Alliance, and Gillespie County partners host Kolaches and Conservation event
(August 20, 2021) — On Tuesday, September 14th, the Gillespie County AgriLife Extension and partners will host the annual “Kolaches and Conservation” event at the Extension Office from 8:30 am – 10:30 am. This informal event encourages landowners who have questions...
Texas Parks and Wildlife votes preservation over development for Honey Creek Ranch
The future of a Comal County freshwater creek is looking fresher today. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission voted Thursday to acquire and prevent development at Honey Creek, one of the most iconic streams in the Texas Hill Country. The commission, which has worked...
If you live within the Guadalupe Blanco watershed and have had problems with flooding, we need to hear from you.
Do you live in the Guadalupe River’s flood planning region? If so, we want to hear from you! Help the Guadalupe Regional Flood Planning Group identify areas with potential flood risk by filling out this interactive survey map by September 3. Your feedback is crucial...
Travis County goes Lights Out for migratory birds
Lights Out Texas is a campaign of education, awareness, and action that focuses on turning out lights at night during the spring and fall migrations to help protect the billions of migratory birds that fly over Texas annually. The goal of Lights Out Texas is to reduce...
Urban Riparian demonstration site in Seguin approved for three more years
For the past three years, the Urban Riparian and Stream Restoration Program has been conducting research at a demonstration site along Geronimo Creek located within the Irma Lewis Seguin Outdoor Learning Center in Seguin, Texas. The project, which is funded by a...
Leopold Live! Chapter 2: Bluebird Boxes Recap
Lights, camera, Leopold Live! Last month we premiered our second episode of Leopold Live!: Chapter 2 with our incredible partners at Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve, and we truly enjoyed connecting with you again as we continue with the series. Our usual hosts, Dr....
First-ever water shortage declared for Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir
Federal officials have declared a shortage in Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the country that serves tens of millions of residents in the West and northern Mexico, amid a historic decades long "megadrought" in the region. The Bureau of Reclamation announced the...
Young Life camp to withdraw permit for wastewater discharge into Hill Country river
People in the Hill Country say they have fought for months to keep the pristine Sabinal River waters clean. Last May, the Young Life camp at LoneHollow Ranch applied for a permit that would have allowed them to discharge up to 60,000 gallons of wastewater a day into...
County to turn off lights in summer and fall to protect songbirds
The Travis County Commissioners Court passed a resolution Tuesday that will mandate county buildings to turn off all nonessential lights from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. during key migration periods for migrating songbirds. The Lights Off initiative will be in effect annually from...
The well fixer’s warning
The well fixer and I were standing at the edge of an almond orchard in the exhausted middle of California. It was late July, and so many wells on the farms of Madera County were coming up dry that he was running out of parts to fix them. In this latest round of...
4 charming Hill Country spots named among Texas’ best small towns by Travel + Leisure
Travel + Leisure magazine has given its seal of approval to four Hill Country communities as being among eight of the best small towns in Texas. In a list published July 28, the magazine lauds Bandera, Dripping Springs, Johnson City, and Wimberley, offering vignettes...
How discharged wastewater is feeding massive Hill Country algae blooms
Green mats coat what once were clear, scenic creeks and rivers, the result of algae blooms that are frustrating those who live in the Texas Hill Country. Effluent is wastewater with its pollutants removed, also known as treated wastewater. When effluent is discharged...
Why a Chinese billionaire bought 140,000 acres of land in Texas
On June 7, Texas governor Greg Abbott sat down at a desk in the state capitol and, flanked by a half-dozen lawmakers, put pen to paper for a ceremonial signing of the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act. “As far as I know this is the first law of its kind by any...
Texas Hill Country harvests No. 3 ranking among American wine regions
Sorry, Napa Valley. Apologies, Sonoma Valley. The Hill Country crushes both of those heavily hyped California destinations (like a grape) in a new ranking of the best wine regions. The Hill Country lands at No. 3 in the 2021 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice awards for...
How this Texas town became one of America’s fastest-growing cities
In the not-too-distant past, motorists driving along a stretch of Interstate 35 just northeast of San Antonio were met with vast fields of wildflowers and grazing cows in grassy pastures. Today, the cattle are gone, replaced with clusters of sleek apartments, gated...