News
New Edwards Aquifer facility designed to protect endangered species
A new facility to research and protect some endangered species that are native to central Texas opened Thursday. The new Edwards Aquifer habitat conservation plan buildings will house a handful of endangered species that include the San Marcos salamander, the comal...
Gay Ruby Dahlstrom Preserve now open to the public
The project the late Gay Ruby Dahlstrom worked for almost a decade over is now complete and open to the public as a nature preserve and conservation easement. Hays County, the Hill Country Conservancy and the Dahlstrom family announced the opening of the Gay Ruby...
HEADS UP PEC CUSTOMERS! Time to Vote!
The Pedernales Electric Co-op is having its annual election. Attend the Annual Meeting this Saturday, June 22 at Horseshoe Bay Resort to cast your ballot in person (online and mail-in voting has ended). Remember- the PEC Board sets important policy and shapes the Hill...
City Council opposes pipeline; calls for review of potential impact to aquifers
Joining several other Central Texas communities, the Austin City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution opposing a natural gas pipeline that energy company Kinder Morgan is routing through the Hill Country. The 430-mile pipeline is proposed to travel...
Letter to the Editor, the challenges of growth
by Ernie Witter, New Braunfels, TX, with the Comal Country Conservation Alliance Letter to the Editor of the Herald-Zietung Published June 11, 2019 Recent articles in the Herald-Zietung pointed out the continued growth of New Braunfels. As the second fastest growing...
Letter to the Editor, Legislature approves funding for parks
by Jensie Madden, Comal County, TX, with the Comal County Conservation Alliance Letter to the Editor of New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung Published June 11, 2019 As the 86th session of the Texas Legislature draws to a close, I am celebrating the passage of legislation to...
Trial portion of hearing on proposed Comal quarry concludes
The hearing on the merits against Vulcan Construction Materials ended early Tuesday afternoon. Approximately 80 people attended the two-day hearing, including Comal County residents currently living near the proposed quarry site, many of whom would share a fence line...
Unpave the parking lot and create paradise: A story of Headwaters at the Comal River
Remember the Joni Mitchell song “They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot”? Well, imagine you are on the Governing Board of the New Braunfels Utility and the staff proposes a plan to parcel off sections of a valuable 16 acres tract of land – once the fleet,...
Texas struggles to keep pace as thirst for water intensifies
DALLAS (AP) — About 1,000 people arrive in Texas each day, drawn by jobs, newly built homes and other opportunities. But in a state where prolonged drought is a regular occurrence, officials are struggling to ensure they can sate everyone’s thirst. Water experts are...
New manmade lake to bring clean, quality water to Rockwall county
Last spring, the North Texas Municipal Water District broke ground on the first major manmade lake Texas has seen in nearly three decades – Bois d’Arc Lake. Recently, the Rockwall County Commissioners Court welcomed an update from NTMWD on the project. Bois d’Arc Lake...
Plan to dim Field of Dreams light pollution
Following years of complaints from residents living near the Lake Travis Youth Association’s “Field of Dreams” about bright lights shining into their homes, the association has come up with a 10-year, $1.2 million plan that will address neighbors’ concerns while still...
Hill Country Alliance gathers concerned citizens
A get-together introducing the resources of the Hill Country Alliance to concerned area citizens was led by the HCA’s executive director Katherine Romans who discussed Hill Country conservation issues included multiple presentations along with audience participation...
House bill opens tap for WCID3 despite opposition
On May 22, HB 1806 was voted through by the Texas Senate, clearing the way for the San Antonio Water System to sell 1,500 acre feet of water across county lines from Bexar into Kendall. Despite vigorous and organized opposition by local leaders - including Cow Creek...
Hill Country landowners fight for land in proposed gas pipeline’s path
Hill Country landowners flooded a Travis County courtroom Tuesday hoping to thwart the construction of a natural gas pipeline they say poses safety risks and drives down the values of their multi-million dollar properties. Sitting shoulder to shoulder and wearing...
Reduce electricity waste with proper outdoor lighting
We all know the stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas. But keeping the night skies dark so we can continue to enjoy the stars requires some extra effort and mindfulness. Outdoor lighting has important applications, such as keeping our outdoor...
Bat-killing fungus detected in 21 Texas counties and in Bracken Cave, north of San Antonio
A fungus that kills hibernating bats has spread and is now detected in 21 Texas counties, including Bexar, and Comal County’s Bracken Cave, which houses the world’s largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats. That’s double what it was in previous years, said Jonah...
Eminent domain reform died in the Texas Legislature this session
Texas state lawmakers looking to reform the eminent domain process were unable to find common ground this session, despite hundreds of hours of negotiation. State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst's Senate Bill 421 sought to better protect property owners when private companies...
The flight of the Texas fireflies
In a state with more than its share of biting, stinging, and creeping and crawling insects and arachnids with little or no charm to any but their own species, fireflies (or lightning bugs as they are variously known here) have long enjoyed a special place in our...
Landowners, pipeline company meet in court today
Attorneys for Hill Country landowners along with the city of Kyle and Hays County have prepared for a fight this morning with lawyers for Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline and the Texas Railroad Commission over the route of the proposed natural gas pipeline and whether the...
How eminent domain is blighting farmers in path of gas pipeline
In July 2015, Neal Laferriere and his wife, Beth, purchased a home in Summers county, West Virginia. The first time they visited the property after purchasing it, they found stakes outlining what they would later find out to be the route for a gas pipeline. About two...
100 years later, Medina Lake dam still a marvel
The Medina Lake dam is a huge block of concrete, lodged in a canyon, which impounds a waterway flowing along the border of Bandera and Medina counties. But that description hardly does justice to the enduring edifice on the Medina River, say those behind Saturday's...
Hays County, Kyle, landowner lawsuit against railroad commission questions pipeline oversight
Two years ago, Heinz Stefan Roesch bought a roughly 30-acre property along RR 1623, outside of the city of Blanco. His whole family is from the Hill Country, he said, and he had been saving all his life to buy something just like it. Last fall, he started hearing...
One man’s half-century project to heal a Hill Country landscape created a legacy reaching far beyond his fenceline
In 1969, a San Antonio fried-chicken tycoon was struck by a life-changing idea: He would find, buy, and heal “the sorriest piece of land in the Hill Country.” Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Bamberger Ranch Preserve sprawls across 5,500 acres of grassy hills...
Texas House passes bill to spend more than $3 billion to help pay for flood control projects
Nearly two years after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the Texas coast, the Texas House approved legislation Thursday that would pull more than $3 billion from the state's rainy day fund to help pay for flood control projects statewide. The House version of Senate Bill 7 is...
Opinion: Through grandmother’s house it goes – Kinder Morgan’s pipeline, that is
Pipeline giant Kinder Morgan would very much like to route a pipeline over the aquifer and through the woods, grandmother’s house be damned. Or condemned, as the case may be. We are talking about KM’s planned Permian Highway Pipeline, a 430-mile-long, 42-inch-diameter...
Centuries-old irrigation system shows how to manage scarce water
It’s spring again, the time of year—for the 300th time in some instances—when New Mexico communities come together to clean the acequias, irrigation channels that carry snowmelt from the mountains to newly tilled farm fields. Each annual cleaning is one more...
Cave explorers discover new 600-foot passage in Natural Bridge Caverns
After six hours of trekking through cappuccino-colored muck last week, a team of cavers entered a previously unexplored 600-foot-long passage inside Natural Bridge Caverns. The passage, located 145 feet underground, is full of mineral-rich pools of water bordered by...
Local official opposes state water bill in Austin hearing
Last week Boerne’s Milan Michalec, chairman of Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District, was in Austin speaking against House Bill 1806. Authored by Senator Donna Campbell, HB 1806 was the subject of a public hearing in the Agriculture, Water and Rural Affairs...
Lake Dunlap to completely drain after dam failure
Water continues to pour out of lake Dunlap, draining the lake after a spill gate failed early Tuesday morning. Officials say the lake, located in the northern portion of Guadalupe County on the Guadalupe River, will have completely drained by day’s end. “The lake...
May Director’s Notes: Get to Know Ted Flato
Dear Hill Country Neighbors, Spring is the time for neighbors to reach across fence lines, celebrate the good rains we’ve been enjoying, and get together to speak with a common voice for the Hill Country. From the Pedernales Potluck (a bi-annual landowner gathering...