News
Wimberley residents want to buy Mount Edith to protect it from developers
Hill Country residents are worried developers will scar the area’s scenic hill tops, and one town has decided to do something about it. Mostly pickups, SUVS and bikers drive down the scenic main drag of the little town of Wimberley, about an hour’s drive from San...
Creatures of the deep karst
Groundwater—the water that is stored beneath the Earth’s surface in soil and rock—makes up more than 95 percent of the Earth’s liquid fresh water. The subsurface aquatic realm is also the world’s largest freshwater habitat. Although organisms that live only in...
The public should have a say before anyone cuts a pipeline through the Texas Hill Country
A few weeks ago, construction on the Mopac Expressway near Slaughter Lane in Austin came to an abrupt halt when the workers encountered a larger than normal karst feature. Karst features are essentially holes in the limestone underneath our feet that channel water...
Baby Boomers are leaving behind a trail of luxury ranches
Decades ago, a generation of America’s wealthiest, raised on television shows like “Howdy Doody” and “The Lone Ranger,” headed west with dreams of owning some of the country’s most prestigious ranches. Now, as those John Wayne- loving baby boomers age out of the...
Water wars pit rural and urban Texas against each other
You know you’re getting close to Harrold Witcher’s place when you pass the water tower in Carson, a community of 22 people in northeast Texas just south of the Oklahoma border. A mere 20 minutes from the Red River, this is a part of the state that’s predicated on...
Here’s how America uses its land
There are many statistical measures that show how productive the U.S. is. Its economy is the largest in the world and grew at a rate of 4.1 percent last quarter, its fastest pace since 2014. The unemployment rate is near the lowest mark in a half century. What can be...
IN DEPTH: Hays County, Travis Audubon demand full, public environmental review in legal challenge to Permian Highway Pipeline
Local opponents of the Permian Highway pipeline have taken a second major legal action to try to push the company developing the project into conducting a full and public environmental review. Hays County, Travis Audubon Society and several private plaintiffs filed a...
It’s not too early to plan for the Great American total solar eclipse of 2024
Wednesday (Aug. 21) marked the two-year anniversary of the Great American Solar Eclipse, and if you are eager to view the next celestial sensation to cross the North American skies, get ready for another eclipse treat on April 8, 2024. According to a study led by...
RV park planned near Hamilton Pool worries some Austin-area neighbors
Just outside of Austin, where the Pedernales River winds lazily through the Hill Country before pouring into the Colorado, a series of parks and preserves showcase and protect large swaths of rugged Texas wilderness. The Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center harbors a...
New Texas nonprofit offers novel approach for preserving coastal lands, combating global warming
Herff Cornelius and his family have ranched in the Texas Gulf Coast for five generations, four in Matagorda County, but he is struggling to keep the tradition going. Growing up, he was one of nine siblings. Even though he was the only boy, his sisters did as much on...
Hill Country Commission awards more landowners major damages in pipeline case
A court-appointed panel has awarded a total of more than $3 million to four landowners caught up in condemnation proceedings with Kinder Morgan over the proposed Permian Highway Pipeline. The awards, the largest of which was $1.3 million, paint a stark contrast to...
A challenge awaits all of us
Ernie Wittwer is a resident of New Braunfels. He is a volunteer for the Comal County Conservation Alliance (CCCA), believing that the wonderful natural features of the area should be preserved. He is retired after a career in public service. Those of us who live in...
Meeting on proposed wastewater plant set
A public meeting has been scheduled for Aug. 26 in Bandera on an application for a wastewater treatment permit for a Christian youth camp planned near Tarpley that has generated enough protests from area property owners and concerned citizens to get the proposed...
Hill Country caves reveal secrets to the biology of cave-dwelling animals
Along U.S. Highway 281 headed north to the Comal County line, drivers can see shopping centers and housing developments that look indistinguishable from suburbia elsewhere in the country. But hundreds of feet below the highway, inside the Edwards Aquifer and some...
After negotiations, energy companies opt against placing wind farms in Val Verde County
VAL VERDE COUNTY, Texas - In the wide-open spaces of Val Verde County lies the Devils River, one of the last pristine, wild rivers in Texas. Recently, it was at the center of a monthslong negotiation. "Absolutely. It's a major win for us and for future generations of...
Officials advise keeping pets out of Lady Bird Lake
Additional testing has revealed increasing levels of neurotoxins in algae at a greater number of locations. Samples were taken on Monday, August 12, 2019, at Auditorium Shores, at Red Bud Isle and at Barton Creek. Samples at Barton Creek were taken just below the...
Guadalupe lakes to be emptied
The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority will drain its four remaining lakes on the Guadalupe next month, citing the imminent public danger posed by the decrepit condition of spill gates in its 90-year-old dams. The lakes will be dewatered one by one beginning Sept. 16....
Kinder Morgan ordered to pay another $2.7 million in Hill Country pipeline dispute
Houston pipeline operator Kinder Morgan has been ordered to pay another $2.7 million in a widening eminent domain dispute out in the Texas Hill Country. A three-member panel of the Blanco County Special Commissioners ordered Kinder Morgan to pay three landowners more...
CCCA is bringing nature and wellness to NB
Those struggling with anxiety, depression or feeling down have an opportunity to get a dose of self care thanks to nature. The Comal County Conservation Alliance (CCCA) is presenting a community program “Health & Nature How Nature Cures” on Aug. 13, from 6 to 8...
Invasive zebra mussels found in Lakes Lyndon B. Johnson, Pflugerville in Central Texas
AUSTIN – Established, reproducing populations of invasive zebra mussels have been discovered at two new lakes in Central Texas, Lake Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) in the Colorado River basin northwest of Austin and Lake Pflugerville northeast of Austin. Texas Parks and...
Perseid meteor shower will peak in night skies
All year long as Earth revolves around the sun, it passes through streams of cosmic debris. The resulting meteor showers can light up night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you might be able to catch a glimpse. The next shower you might be able to see is...
Hill Country landowner vindicated by commission: Kinder Morgan ordered to pay fair market value for land
Blanco County, TX - Hill Country landowner Matthew Walsh is breathing easier today after a three-panel special commission of real estate professionals ordered pipeline developer Kinder Morgan to pay damages to his land in the amount of $233,500. This award comes...
Meadows Center releases report for management, preservation of Jacob’s Well
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, in collaboration with the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, has released a report evaluating a potential groundwater management zone to preserve flows to Jacob’s Well in the...
What’s in the way of this Texas pipeline? A cute songbird
The golden-cheeked warbler, an endangered songbird native to Central Texas, always seems to be flitting around controversy. It proved to be a roadblock derailing the Texas Department of Transportation’s plans to build a toll road in 2016. Prominent politicians in...
Historic One Water campus project is officially underway
Wimberley, Texas, July 29, 2019— Wimberley ISD Board of Trustees celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for the District's future primary campus on the corner of Ranch Road 12 and Winters Mill Parkway on Monday, July 29. The new, approximately 90,600-square-foot...
Scientists have big hopes for Uvalde Pool study
Ron Green, a scientist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, and his team of hydro-geologists are busy collecting data on and creating a lumped parameter model for the Uvalde Pool, a major reservoir of underground water centered over central Uvalde County...
Sink Creek Project Awarded U.S. Forest Service Grant
The City of San Marcos will receive a $423,500 grant from the United States Forest Service to fund the land purchase of the Sink Creek Community Forest Tract. This is the first Community Forest and Open Space Program grant awarded to a project in Texas. The City...
Sporting goods tax could exclusively go to funding Texas parks and historical sites
Parks around the State of Texas could start receiving some extra money in the fall. In 1993, legislation was passed in order to more adequately fund the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Up to 94 percent of all of the taxes collected from the purchase of sporting...
Binational summit on health of the Rio Grande
Key players in Rio Grande conservation from Mexico and the United States congregated on Friday at the USO Building in Marfa. The binational coalition of scientists, academics, environmental activists and government employees was a rare sight. A gathering of this...
MoPac construction at Slaughter and La Crosse faces delays over environmental concerns
Construction along a stretch of MoPac Boulevard is facing delays after crews discovered dozens of fissures and holes in the ground along the freeway that help recharge the Edwards Aquifer and Barton Springs. The discovery of 72 so-called karst features has forced the...