News
Legislature to tackle adding groundwater conservation district in southwestern Travis County
Across Texas, 100 locally-governed groundwater conservation districts are tasked with regulating groundwater, protecting the groundwater supply and researching conservation methods within their boundaries. However, southwestern Travis County is one of the only areas...
Captive deer must retain tags
The captive deer breeder industry has spent a fortune over the last four legislative sessions proposing laws to bulldoze prudent regulation of their industry in an attempt to squeeze more dollars out of Texas bucks. Texans collectively own all wildlife in the state....
Groundwater bills put some officials, residents on edge
Hays County officials are concerned recent legislation filed at the state Capitol could put groundwater oversight within the county at risk for the second time in as many legislative sessions. In 2015, Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, authored legislation that...
Three Bills Aim to Ensure Clean Water Recharges the Edwards Aquifer
State Sen. José Menéndez (D-26) and State Reps. Donna Howard (D-48), and Tracy O. King (D-80) have filed bills that many believe are needed to protect the quality of the water in the Edwards Aquifer. Senate Bill 1796 (Menéndez)/House Bill 3036 (King) and House Bill...
Mason Pioneers Attend Texas Water Day at the Capitol
On March 22nd, past, present and future Pioneers of Mason High School attended Texas Water Day at the state Capitol. Pioneers Board of Directors member and President and CEO of the Texas Water Foundation, Carole Baker, invited the students to be a part of Texas Water...
Operators take action to darken skies around McDonald Observatory
Dark skies are surrounding the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory at Fort Davis. And that’s a good thing. The Permian Basin Petroleum Association, in collaboration with the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, recently issued its recommended lighting...
West Travis County utility agency to Hamilton Pool Road developer: No water service for added project
Although Travis County Commissioners Court approved a preliminary plan March 7 for the first phase of Provence, a proposed neighborhood in the 17024 block of Hamilton Pool Road of the unincorporated portion of the county, the West Travis County Public Utility Agency...
How state agency-funded research often tilts toward development
When state transportation officials two years ago dismissed the possibility that endangered songbirds lived in a strip of southwest Travis County earmarked for a major highway, they relied on a familiar tool — environmental researchthey had commissioned. That road,...
ButterBike visits Junction
Each spring millions of monarch butterflies leave the mountains of Central Mexico, where they survived the winter, to begin their annual migration north. This spring they are accompanied by cyclist Sara Dykman (age 32) from Kansas who is biking 10,000 miles from the...
Conversations on Water Heating up at 85th Legislative Session
We’ve been tracking the latest in water news from the pink dome in Austin. This compilation of some of the most recent developments include conversations around a Hays County ranch looking to skirt groundwater pumping restrictions, a proposed law that would...
Commentary | South Texas to Trump: If you want our land to build a wall, come and take it
On Jan. 25, President Donald Trump ordered “the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border.” His pledge to “build the wall” and make Mexico pay for it, was a big applause line on the campaign trail. In Texas, however, many are concerned about...
New USGS assessment provides fresh insights into nation’s brackish groundwater inventory
A new nationwide assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the nation’s brackish groundwater could help stretch limited freshwater supplies. This study, the first of its kind in more than 50 years, found that the amount of brackish groundwater underlying...
Are Your Streetlights Killing You?
“Not only is blue-rich white LED street lighting five times more disruptive to our sleep cycle than conventional street lighting, according to the report, but recent large surveys have documented that brighter residential nighttime lighting is associated with reduced...
Water woes: Texas lawmakers must protect our precious streams, creeks, rivers and watering holes
It's hard to imagine a Hill Country bereft of winding rivers, fast-running streams, lazy creeks and deep, green swimming holes. Where would Mystic, Waldemar and Flaming Arrow campers go to canoe, swim and lounge? If the Blanco River no longer traveled through its...
Commentary: Investing in nature is a better way to meet America’s needs
Ask Texans about their favorite landscape and you’re likely to get more than a dozen different answers. That’s because Texas, second only to Alaska in land size, has a rich array of landscapes to choose from. Our state offers nearly every major habitat type on earth....
The Stars at Night
A satellite map of light pollution in the United States shows the country split down the middle, with nearly everything to the east full of light and broad swaths of the west still dark. The Interstate 35 corridor forms the boundary between the two; immediately west...
TPWD Announces 2016-17 Season CWD Monitoring Results
Texas records first cases of disease in free-ranging whitetail, elk AUSTIN – Texas recorded a couple of unwanted firsts for chronic wasting disease (CWD) during statewide surveillance efforts for the 2016-17 collection year, including detections in a free-ranging...
Austin environmental report: SH 45 SW construction could harm cave, aquifer
The environment in Austin remains preserved and protected despite its tremendous growth over the past few decades, said Chuck Lesniak, the city’s environmental officer, in the annual State of Our Environment report published on Thursday. The city’s environmental...
A milestone in Edwards recharge protection
Thursday, the San Antonio City Council considers purchase of a conservation easement on the 2,800-acre Middle Verde Ranch in Medina County. If approved, this will effectively mark the final expenditure from the $90 million Edwards Aquifer Protection Program fund...
Proposal for urban gondola system in Austin will not move forward
The plan to build a gondola cable car system in Austin, in what would have been the largest system of its type in the world, is not moving forward. In a list of shared conclusions released by Capital Metro, the transit agency says gondolas are best suited to “niche”...
Vista Ridge pipeline water suppliers still fighting in court
With construction of the Vista Ridge pipeline set to begin in a month, two water suppliers at the core of the deal are back in court fighting over payments and contracts.
In Hays County, water fight springs anew
Two years after expanding the reach of an Austin-area groundwater district to regulate pumping in Hays County, lawmakers are considering measures that would water down oversight. The measures appear to favor Greg LaMantia — a politically connected South Texas beer...
UGRA Releases “Be Flood Aware” Video
The Board of Directors of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA) previewed the recently completed Kerr County flood awareness video “Be Flood Aware” at their regular meeting on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. In order to promote flood danger awareness, UGRA joined...
Jacob’s Well: An Endangered Species?
In 1996 David Baker, an area landowner, formed a 501(c)3 called Wimberley Valley Watershed Association to preserve the area for future generations. The preservation efforts have been significant, acquiring land around the well to allow for less development and for...
Texas Water Symposium planned for April 27 in Fredericksburg: Invasive Species Impacts On Water Resources, Economics and Ecosystems
The final Texas Water Symposium of the 2016-2017 series has been set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 27th at the Texas Tech Hill Country University Center, Fredericksburg, Texas. The Texas Water Symposium is free and open to the public. Download event flyer Join our...
Hill Country Land Trust Video: Hill Country Woodlands
The Hill Country Land Trust has released their fifth video in a series of videos on land management topics. Hill Country Woodlands explores the challenges of restoring and maintaining healthy woodlands. This video examines examples of declining and healthy woodland...
Applications being accepted for the Texas Master Naturalist Hill Country Chapter Class of 2017
Beginning April 1, Texas Master Naturalist Hill Country chapter will be accepting applications for the class of 2017. Texas Master Naturalists (TXMN) is a corps of trained volunteers who provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management...
Sengelmann: Water is not a commodity to be pumped to depletion
A recent commentary in the Express-News by Simon Sequeira, the CEO of Quadvest Water & Sewer Utility in Magnolia, attempts to blame all of the state’s water issues on groundwater conservation districts, or GCDs. The commentary (“The next generation of water wars;...
Growth in San Antonio area counties still near the top in U.S.
Three northern neighbors of Bexar County continue to draw new residents at a pace that ranks them in the nation’s 10 fastest growing larger counties, according to U.S. Census estimates released Thursday. Kendall, Comal and Hays counties have made the top 10 list in...
State program makes conservation pay for farm, ranch owners
Floodwaters frequently prompt family members and an armada of cowboys for hire to round up their cows and move them to higher ground. Historic flooding on the Brazos last summer made much of the ranch accessible only by boat for weeks. “You’d have to be crazy to want...