News
Turning off half of city lights at night could cut bird mortality by up to 60 percent
Like an insect attracted to a bug zapper, artificial light is harming migratory birds by throwing them off course and causing deadly collisions. Now, a new study highlights just how beneficial switching off the lights can be. The work, published in the Proceedings of...
Texas matters: the state of climate change denial
Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, the sea is rising, animal ranges have shifted and there are more intense heart waves. Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for...
Test results show significant declines in blue-green algae toxicity in Lake Travis
New test results from Lake Travis indicate a significant decline in the toxicity of blue-green algae, and for the first time since the spring, only trace amounts of the toxins were present, according to a June 22 update from the Lower Colorado River Authority. Algae...
Texas leaders made a big mistake ignoring water this session. But not all hope is lost.
Last weekend I paddled on the Blanco River with my family. We swam in spring-fed swimming holes, fly fished and lounged in shallow sections of the river, which was flowing nicely thanks to recent rains that ended drought conditions across Texas. Read more from Vanessa...
Hill Country Alliance Limited Edition Design – Meet the Artist: Olivia Gray
The Hill Country Alliance is proud to announce the release of a limited edition Hill Country creation, designed by local artist Olivia Gray. Olivia Gray resides in Wimberley and is a junior at Southwestern University in Georgetown. She is working on a double major in...
The Florida Wildlife Corridor is nearly 18 million acres of natural wonder. The state just took a significant step to keep it alive
Wedged between Florida's two coasts are some of the richest ecosystems in the US, teeming with native wildlife that prefers to be hidden from human view. The animals' natural lives for the most part remain a secret to Floridians. To catch glimpses of them in the wild,...
Study warns Texas must address future of groundwater policy
Long-term water security is essential for the future of Texas, and the state acutely needs a common law system that can balance world-scale agricultural activity, industrial development and urban growth while also protecting private property rights, according to new...
Reboot: The Texas Land Trends Data Explorer
In Texas, rural lands define our state’s identity. Whether it be for the agricultural products produced, natural resources and wildlife habitat maintained, or expanses of wide-open spaces left untouched for their intrinsic beauty, our state’s undeveloped acreage plays...
Design of portion of Dry Comal Creek Hike and Bike Trail underway in New Braunfels
New Braunfels City Council approved an agreement with San Antonio-based civil engineering firm Bain Medina Bain, Inc. during the June 14 council meeting for the final design of a portion of the Dry Comal Creek Hike and Bike Trail. The agreement allows for an...
Behold the splendid and fragile beauty of the Hill Country’s keystone river
From April through October, I swim in the Blanco. It is one of the greatest pleasures I know. It’s a pleasure I share with growing crowds of both locals and visitors who converge on the river’s cypress-lined banks at places like Blanco State Park in Blanco; Blue Hole...
Jacob’s Well Is A Source Of Life For The Wimberley Valley. What Would Happen If It Were To Stop Flowing For Good?
Jacob’s Well is more than just a swimming hole. It’s also a message bearer: It lets people know how much groundwater is in the aquifer beneath them. And this year — for the fourth time in its recorded history — the water at Jacob’s Well stopped flowing for a couple...
New law to allow more Texas cities to become Dark Sky communities
A new Texas law will make it easier for communities to pursue International Dark Sky designations. Texas Senate Bill 1090, authored by state Sen. Dawn Buckingham (R-Lakeway) and state Rep. Andrew Murr (R-Kerrville), was signed into law on Monday, June 14, by Gov. Greg...
Hays County OKs Cape’s Dam Agreement
The Hays County Commissioners Court approved an interlocal agreement and memorandum of understanding with the City of San Marcos regarding the Cape’s Dam Complex. The approved MOU provides a framework for collaboration and cost-sharing in regard to the proposed...
Austin plans new tactic against dog-killing algae: Starve it out
Up until a few years ago, Austinites didn’t much worry about poisonous blue-green algae sickening them and killing their dogs. Then in 2018, flooding upstream of Austin sent massive amounts of runoff down the Colorado River and into area lakes. That runoff contained...
Barton Creek Habitat Preserve conservation to continue ‘in perpetuity’ following Austin acquisition
A 10-0 vote by Austin City Council on June 3 ensured the permanent preservation nearly 4,100 acres of land home to one of the area's unique wildlife habitats and key sources of drinking water. Council via consent June 3 approved the purchase of a conservation easement...
San Antonio, Hill Country Drought Officially Over
The National Weather Service reports all of Bexar and surrounding counties and the Hill Country are no longer in drought conditions as of the end of May. Forecasters said drought conditions started spreading west to east into Bexar County in October of last year. Read...
Solutions to Blanco wastewater discharge seeing new light
The impact of the election May 1 on Blanco citizens and their Wimberley Valley neighbors downstream along the Blanco River was immediately apparent at the city’s May 11 council meeting under new mayor Rachel Lumpee, joined by new council member Connie Barron. A...
SAWS board gets briefing on sewage line options for development near protected land
A San Antonio Water System plan to avoid routing sewage lines across environmentally sensitive land is not only less controversial than the original proposal but also less expensive, according to SAWS officials. The utility’s board received the briefing Tuesday on a...
New Braunfels one step closer to hike-and-bike trail
New Braunfels is one step closer to a new hike-and-bike trail. On May 20, the New Braunfels Economic Development Board approved a $375,000 deal with San Antonio-based engineering firm Bain Medina Bain to finalize design on a portion of the Dry Comal Creek Hike and...
Pretty and powerful: six wildflowers that benefit Texas ecosystems
April showers bring May flowers, which may be the better part of spring for Texans-a charismatic display to distract us from the inevitable heat ahead. Alas, they are more than their displays: with over 2,500 species, native Texas wildflowers provide critical habitats...
Marble Falls rock crushing plant canceled; lawsuit settled
A lawsuit between Marble Falls-area plaintiffs and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Asphalt Inc. (now doing business as Lone Star Paving) was put to rest May 23 once all involved parties signed off on a settlement agreement. The lawsuit, filed in 2017...
Director’s Notes – June 2021: Introducing the newest additions to the HCA team
Dear Hill Country Neighbors, Our people make our work possible. From paid staff to local volunteers, board members, and partners across the region, it is the people of the Hill Country that inspire our most creative solutions. In that vein, it is with great pride and...
Texas could give landowners more say in eminent domain negotiations under bill sent to Greg Abbott’s desk
The Texas Legislature approved a bill early Thursday that will revise eminent domain negotiations between landowners and companies — such as railroads, pipeline and utility companies — that are seeking to condemn land, requiring that landowners be given the terms of...
After the storm: Legislative solutions to Texas’ water infrastructure emergency
My Austin apartment has always been drafty, hard to heat when it's cold out, and hard to cool in the summer. But on February 17th, our third day without power, when I ventured into the kitchen for some bread my roommate and I could eat for breakfast, I found ice in...
San Pedro Ranch receives Texas Leopold Conservation Award
San Pedro Ranch, located near Carrizo Springs, will be awarded the state’s highest honor for private land conservation, and a $10,000 award, at the Lone Star Steward Virtual Awards Banquet on May 27. Anyone can join the livestreamed banquet and can find more...
Expanding opportunities for natural resource conservation in Texas
Texas is home to a variety of unique, productive, and biologically thriving landscapes from the Piney Woods in the east to the arid mountain vistas in the west. Each year, these lands are the root of hundreds of thousands of jobs that help generate billions of dollars...
Hays County POSAC seeking new project submissions
The Hays County Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission (POSAC), which was created in 2020 and recently restarted, is seeking additional project submissions that would be funded by Proposition A, a Parks & Open Space Bond, approved by voters in the November...
No swimming at Hamilton Pool this summer due to falling rocks from winter storm
Hamilton Pool, one of the most beautiful watering holes in Central Texas, will not allow swimmers this summer or for the foreseeable future due to falling rocks. Travis County Parks has also closed the section of the trail that runs underneath the overhanging cliff....
Outdoors for all: Access to nature is a human right
A FEW YEARS AGO, pediatrician and clinical scientist Nooshin Razani treated a four-year-old girl whose family had recently fled Yemen and settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. The family had received news the night before that members of the father’s family had been...
Texas groundwater supplies are shrinking, and that’s a threat to us all
My great-grandfather founded our family’s Hill Country ranch in 1887. For nearly 100 years, spring water flowed through the seeps and creeks of our land, year-round, and almost without exception. The water began to dry up a little more than 30 years ago as more people...