News
Cibolo Nature Center & Farm founder receives conservation award
Boerne, TX - Carolyn Chipman Evans, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Cibolo Nature Center & Farm (CNC&F) in Boerne, is a recipient of the 2019 Texas Women in Conservation Terry Hershey Award presented by Audubon Texas. Evans will receive the award at...
Water emerges as ‘the new oil’ in $32.5 million sale of vast Permian Basin ranch
Toby Darden stomped on the ATV's gas pedal, carving through blustery winds to reach the far northern corner of his 37,000-acre West Texas ranch. He wanted to show off the crown jewel. This wasn't the spectacular views of the Davis Mountains or the herds of aoudad rams...
Public meetings on eminent domain a good start
AUSTIN — There is an information vacuum when it comes to private companies using eminent domain in Texas. Even though eminent domain is a governmental power that is supposed to be used only for the public good, private entities who use eminent domain have very few...
Bill would bar new billboards from some Hays County roads
Legislation filed in the Texas House would prohibit new billboards along segments of three Hays County highways. Local elected officials say billboards disrupt the scenic Hill Country views that attract tourists and homeowners alike in the fast-growing region. The...
Confluence Park Awarded Country’s Highest Architectural Honor
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has recognized Confluence Park with a "2019 Institute Honor Award for Architecture"! The award is one of the highest honors in the architecture profession, celebrating the best contemporary architecture which highlights the...
State parks a boon to Texas economy according to new report
Parks generated nearly $900 million in sales in 2018 AUSTIN — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation today released a new report about the strong and growing economic role state parks have on the Texas economy. The research showed the parks generated more than $891...
Flows of the Llano still strong
The Llano River continues to flow strongly past the gage in Llano; the latest reading is 442 cfs, well above the median flow of 157 cfs. Over the three months since last fall’s rains, the Llano has flowed at a 3-month average of 4,111 cfs, greater than the...
State lawmakers aim to lock in funding for Texas parks, historic sites
For nearly a decade, the Texas parks department has hoped to turn a 4,400-acre swath of pristine forest in North Texas into what some hope could be the "metroplex's playground." About 80 miles west of downtown Fort Worth, the already-named Palo Pinto Mountains State...
Devils River SNA designated as first International Dark Sky Sanctuary in Texas, sixth in world
DEL RIO-- Devils River State Natural Area has been designated an International Dark Sky Sanctuary by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), making it the only Dark Sky Sanctuary in Texas. As the sixth International Dark Sky Sanctuary to receive the title,...
Trinity Glen Rose District studies impacts of new pumping from the Trinity aquifer
Over the past year, the Trinity Glen Rose District (TGR) has been working with a groundwater modeling consultant to take a look at how some projected new pumping from the Trinity Aquifer, exempt from TGR regulations, might impact the water source over time. The...
Central Texas pipeline reignites fight over land rights
A fight over a pipeline is never only about the pipeline. It’s about the environment, property rights, public safety and a community’s sense of itself. Just such a fight is now brewing in the Texas Hill Country, where company Kinder Morgan plans to lay a part of its...
Kolkhurst, Cyrier file bills to constitutionally dedicate funds for state and local parks
AUSTIN – At a press conference at the Texas Capitol, State Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) and State Representative John Cyrier (R-Lockhart) today announced that they have filed companion legislation (SB 526 and HB 1214) to constitutionally dedicate revenue from...
Desalination has a waste problem
The waste product from desalination is growing too large to ignore, argues a paper from a United Nations think tank that provides the first estimate of global brine production from desalination. Producing fresh water in the driest parts of the world by removing the...
Could groundwater pumping cause the ground to sink? It’s possible, scientists say
For the last several years, scientists have warned of the sinking ground beneath cities along the Gulf Coast. Known as subsidence, it’s a strange phenomenon that gradually deflates the surface of the ground as groundwater is pumped from beneath. The threat has been...
Cow Creek leader reveals suspicions of WCID creation
Milan Michalec, president of the board of the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District, will address Boerne’s City Council on Tuesday night to question the propriety of WCID No. 3. Michalec describes shortfalls in the process as “egregious” and “secretive,” and...
Permit for popular Float Fest on San Marcos River denied
The Guadalupe County Commissioners Court voted on Thursday to deny a permit for Float Fest, just days after a study commissioned by organizers of the annual music festival showed it generated $12.3 million in total economic impact last year. Without a permit, which is...
After Hurricane Harvey, Texas senator eyes using state’s savings for flood control
Before the next Hurricane Harvey strikes and thousands of homes are damaged or destroyed, some Texas lawmakers want to make sure communities statewide are better prepared for floods. On Tuesday, state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, filed legislation to establish...
Bills seek more protection for Texas landowners in eminent domain cases
A byproduct of the booming Texas economy and energy sector -- the increasing number of pipelines and transmission lines crisscrossing the state -- has left many property owners at the mercy of private companies that have authority to condemn land, two state lawmakers...
Kinder Morgan sets public meeting
Pipeline company says rerouting around Gillespie not an option Kinder Morgan, the pipeline company looking to cross Gillespie County and the Hill Country, will host a public meeting from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 at the Gillespie County Fair Grounds. The open house...
Why aren’t Texas politicians standing up for Texas landowners?
In 2009 the Bureau of Land Management published a series of surveys in the Federal Register that laid claim to small strips of land between the medial line of the Red River—the invisible line down the middle of the waterway that constitutes the border between Texas...
Technology and renewables are key to battling climate change
As the long-term effects of climate change impacts natural resources, one study says it might also dig into the pocketbooks of energy consumers. With energy costs rising due to rising global temperatures, more entities are turning to renewable technologies to help...
Liberty Hill wastewater treatment plant accused of dumping chemicals into river
LEANDER, Texas — The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is investigating after getting a complaint about foam and a bleach odor being discharged from the Liberty Hill Wastewater Treatment Plant outfall into the San Gabriel River. Chemicals discharged Thursday...
Climate change could turn Earth’s aquifers into a time bomb
Groundwater is one of the most important resources on Earth. People use around 77 billion gallons of groundwater every day, nearly all of it originating in bodies of permeable rock known as aquifers. A new scientific study shows that if climate change wreaks havoc on...
Differing opinions on source of river algae during Liberty Hill town hall
LIBERTY HILL — An angry crowd faced off Tuesday night against city of Liberty Hill officials and engineers with their concerns that wastewater released into the South San Gabriel River by the city’s treatment plant was still causing algae in the river. Many people at...
Game ranch fined for pesticide misuse in Hill Country bat cave incident
The Texas Department of Agriculture slapped a $1,200 fine on the Star S Ranch near Mason this week for two violations of pesticide drift at the Eckert James River Bat Cave last summer. The six-month investigation found the Star S Ranch, which shares a fence line with...
Nationally renowned educational and environmental strategist joins Cibolo Nature Center & Farm team
January 22, 2018- BOERNE, Texas – Margaret Lamar has joined the Cibolo Nature Center & Farm(CNC&F) as the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). In this position, she will lead and collaborate on key initiatives focusing on programming, fundraising, and conservation. ...
Don’t blow it: Unregulated wind farms encroach on pristine Texas wilderness
The Devils River Conservancy, is spearheading the “Don’t Blow It” campaign to advocate for thoughtful regulation of wind energy development — an industry quickly expanding in rural Texas, largely without rules and with serious negative implications for Texans. While...
GEAA fights Bulverde wastewater permits
Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance (GEAA) will host a “strategy meeting” for ideas about how to fight a local developer’s attempt to release 300,000 gallons-per-day of treated sewage into Indian Creek, a tributary of Cibolo Creek in Comal County. The meeting regarding...
Conley to resign from CAMPO
Will Conley, the current chair of Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO),announced he plans to resign. According to CAMPO, Conley will stay on as chair until the group can find his replacement. Conley was appointed to the CAMPO board by the Hays...
Commentary: Austin’s Water Forward plan is a bold step into the future
It might be difficult to imagine a lack of water after all of the recent rain and flooding, but we know from history that there is one thing we can always count on in Texas: there will be another drought. During times of drought, supplies are already stretched razor...