News
Hill Country Alliance’s inaugural Night Sky Month kicks off October with a Harvest Moon
This October features a full moon on its first day, known as the Harvest Moon, and another on its last, a Blue Moon—as in “once in a,” because two full moons in one month doesn’t happen every year. The Hill Country Alliance (HCA) invites people to go outside on these...
Gracias and do look up!
The Comal County Conservation Alliance (CCCA) wishes to express thanks to 61+ generous folks who reached toward open space protection with BIG GIVE gifts to enhance the Land Conservation Fund! For those wishing they had or who failed to reach out on that day, you can...
A pipeline poisons the wells in Hill Country
From the moment Kinder Morgan and its business partners announced that their 430-mile Permian Highway Pipeline would cross the Texas Hill Country, landowners, environmentalists, elected officials and groundwater protection agencies along or near the route have fought...
Great Springs Project envisions a network of trails from Austin to San Antonio
Twenty-seven years ago, Deborah Morin watched as the hills, streams, caves, and springs of the Hill Country outside of Austin were being gobbled up by construction... Almost three decades later, Morin, a San Antonio native, is at the head of a nonprofit working to do...
Texas moves ahead on discharging oil wastewater, even as EPA balks
Environmental officials in Texas and other western states are moving ahead on plans to allow oil and gas companies to treat drilling wastewater and discharge it into rivers and streams, even as the Trump administration balks at endorsing the practice amid widespread...
Q&A + Water: Robert Mace
In this issue’s Q&A, Texas+Water Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Todd Votteler, interviews Dr. Robert Mace, Executive Director and Chief Water Policy Officer for The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University. In addition to his position at the...
Shhh… This just might be the prettiest body of water in Texas
I’m a spring-fed freshwater swimming nut. Rivers and creeks are my thing, as long as they’re unspoiled, untamed, and unchlorinated—the clearer, the better. The sweetest water I’ve ever seen was on a ranch near the headwaters of the West Fork of the Nueces, out in the...
Texas Living Waters Project unveils 2020 Texas Water Conservation Scorecard
Texas water conservation practices have not improved in the last four years. June 23rd, 2020 - Austin, TX - The Texas Living Waters Project released the 2020 Texas Water Conservation Scorecard, an in-depth analysis and ranking of the water conservation efforts of more...
Black women come together to form Black Hikers Week
After witnessing the power and pride experienced as a result of Black Birders Week, Social Media Influencers and members of the black hiking community Zenovia Stephens (Huntsville, AL), Debbie Njai (St. Louis, MO), and Nailah Blades Wylie (Sandy, UT) joined together...
Revealed: millions of Americans can’t afford water as bills rise 80% in a decade
In the first nationwide research of its kind, our findings reveal the painful impact of America’s expanding water poverty crisis as aging infrastructure, environmental clean-ups, changing demographics and the climate emergency fuel exponential price hikes in almost...
TESPA files new lawsuit against Permian Highway Pipeline, Kinder Morgan
The Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association (TESPA), acting on behalf of Blanco County landowners whose water was impacted in a spill of drilling fluid, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Permian Highway Pipeline and Kinder Morgan. The case...
What’s next for Black AF in STEM?
Last week, Black researchers and avian enthusiasts flocked to social media to participate in the first ever Black Birders Week (May 31-June 5). “Growing up, there weren’t many outlets showing diversity, so I was only able to be inspired by white conservationists and...
What’s at stake when we pave over, fragment and otherwise fail to protect Texas farmland from the disruptions of development?
Millions of acres of America’s agricultural land were developed or converted to uses that threaten farming between 2001 and 2016, according to “Farms Under Threat: The State of the States,” a new report by American Farmland Trust. The report’s Agricultural Land...
Sierra Club urges court to halt construction on parts of Permian Highway fracked gas pipeline
Late Friday evening, the Sierra Club filed a motion for preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the Permian Highway Pipeline. In late April, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit arguing that the Army Corps failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act...
New Vista Ridge pipeline water could delay start of water restrictions
"Because we are using less of the Edwards’ water, that maybe takes some stress off the Edwards. Maybe it drops less quickly," Gus says. "And maybe we’re a little less likely to hit the trigger. It does help us out in that regard." That's what aquifer officials hope...
SAWS flushing half of Vista Ridge water as cost overrun nears $80M
The San Antonio Water System is flushing some of the most expensive water in Texas down a Northside creek as it struggles to finish a connection pipeline that has run nearly $80 million over early cost estimates. Originally set to be finished in mid-April,...
Armed with Eminent Domain, pipeline projects continue to burden landowners during the pandemic
Pipeline giant Kinder Morgan is cutting a 400-mile line across the middle of Texas, digging up vast swaths of private land for its planned Permian Highway Pipeline. The project is ceaseless, continuing through the coronavirus pandemic. Landowner Heath Frantzen said...
As coronavirus cases rise, so does Austin-area contingency planning
As Texas saw its eighth consecutive day of record COVID-19 hospitalizations Friday, Austin-area officials began preparing for the possibility — considered remote but growing — that a field hospital might be needed to handle overflow patients. The Austin Convention...
Harriet Tubman, an unsung naturalist, used owl calls as a signal on the Underground Railroad
Many people are aware of Harriet Tubman's work on the Underground Railroad and as a scout, spy, guerrilla soldier, and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War. Fewer know of her prowess as a naturalist. At the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in...
Southside residents succeed in push to bring air monitor to area
The monitor’s installation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) came seven months after a meeting with a half-dozen Southside residents and TCEQ officials. State Rep. Leo Pacheco (D-San Antonio) organized the face-to-face session at Palo Alto...
San Antonio Council OKs zoning change over Edwards Aquifer property
City Council on Thursday approved a zoning change that paves the way for new development over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone on the Northwest Side. The change will affect 22 acres close to the intersection of Jones Maltsberger and Redland roads. The land is part of...
Senate approves Great American Outdoors Act
The U.S. Senate today voted 73-25 to approve the Great American Outdoors Act, which would fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and make critical investments in our national park system. “Today the Senate delivered a historic win for the conservation of...
City seeks applicants for 3 slots on SAWS Board
The City is seeking applicants for the San Antonio Water System’s board of trustees to replace the board’s three longest-serving members. The City is seeking to fill positions left by SAWS board Chair Heriberto “Berto” Guerra Jr., Assistant Secretary Pat Merritt, and...
E.P.A. limits states’ power to oppose pipelines and other energy projects
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced that it had limited states’ ability to block the construction of energy infrastructure projects, part of the Trump administration’s goal of promoting gas pipelines, coal terminals and other fossil fuel...
Solicitation for regional flood planning group members
Flooding has always been a constant threat in Texas. It impacts people and property every year. But now the state is taking action. For the first time ever, Texas is launching a statewide, comprehensive effort to fight flood that integrates mapping, planning, and...
Should we care about conservation during a pandemic?
Now, more than ever, we need nature and the benefits it provides. COVID-19 has both revealed and exacerbated deep inequities in access to green space. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be at home, away from the frontlines, appreciate the mental and physical...
Water connects us all
Water connects us all, from watersheds to oceans, to wetlands. In the summer of 2019, students from Taiwan, the Kumeyaay Nation, and southern California participated in an environmental summit hosted by the National Wildlife Federation and the Ministry of Education...
Young North Carolinians could benefit from reviving Depression-era program
Manley Fuller, vice president of conservation policy for the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, says from 1933 until 1942, the [Civilian Conservation Corps] relief program employed more than 14,000 young people... Fuller also notes North Carolina's park system, which...
7.7 million young people are unemployed. We need a new ‘Tree Army.’
Nearly 7.7 million American workers younger than 30 are now unemployed and three million dropped out of the labor force in the past month. Combined that’s nearly one in three young workers, by far the highest rate since the country started tracking unemployment by age...
‘Black Birders Week’ promotes diversity and takes on racism in the outdoors
“We all have this shared experience where we have to worry about going into the field,” says Earyn McGee, a herpetology Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona and Black Birders Week co-organizer. Prejudice might drive police or private property owners to be...