News
RIP Lone Star Rail
After months of fighting for its relevancy with politicians, bureaucrats and drivers on I-35, Lone Star Rail has passed away. It was 13. Throughout its lifetime, Lone Star Rail showed glimmers of promise, tantalizing Texans from San Antonio to Austin with the prospect...
How Micro-Flora & Fauna Contribute To Water Quality
They may be small, but micro flora and fauna play a significant role in the ecosystem of Texas waterways. At the Texas Water Symposium on Thursday, September 1 in Kerrville, a panel of educators, researchers and ecologists shared their insights on the impact of human...
Cook: The lure and challenge of the Texas Hill Country
Our Texas Hill Country lifestyle: dark quiet night skies filled with stars, the privacy afforded by having some space between you and your neighbors, less worry about crime and air pollution, and just a slower pace all the way around. These are some of the reasons...
HCA Director’s Notes: September 2016
The first two months of my official tenure as Executive Director at HCA have gone by in a blur. The outpouring of support from you—our readers, partners, media and friends—means so much to all of us at HCA. It is your work, care and contribution that make everything...
Texas experiences wettest August in 100 years
If you think August was a wet month in Texas, pick up your prize. Preliminary totals indicate that August averaged about 5.69 inches of rain statewide, in a tie with 1914 for the wettest August on record, according to figures from the State Climatologist office at...
Lands that I love
Our streams, woods, grasslands, and lakes are at greater risk than at any time in our history, but the stories of three places—a ranch in the Hill Country, a forest in East Texas, and a prairie outside Fort Worth—prove that ordinary people can find inventive ways to...
2016 Soil for Water Talk Series
Soil for Water will be hosting three free talks this fall teaching practical management techniques. Come learn how to improve the condition of your land, store more water on-site, increase biodiversity and productivity, and reduce the effects of drought and flooding....
TESPA continues focus on Hill Country groundwater threats
The Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association (TESPA), originally formed as a response to Electro Purification development proposal near Wimberley, is continuing their focus on Hill Country groundwater issues by addressing new threats to area groundwater supply....
Bankruptcy sheds more light on Abengoa’s Vista Ridge dealings
Spanish conglomerate Abengoa routed nearly $119 million in borrowed funds for the Vista Ridge pipeline project through a nonprofit water supply corporation, according to bankruptcy court filings. Exactly why that money was funneled through the nonprofit Central Texas...
State to hear Flying L versus Bandera County water case
“It is hard to spend tax dollars on lawyer’s fees…[but] when one property owner deems their rights supersede another property owner’s…local control is needed,” City of Bandera Mayor John Hegemier said, on the issue of the Flying L Guest Ranch versus the Bandera County...
2016 Bennett Trust Women in Wildlife Conference, Oct. 3-4
Women landowner numbers are growing. Simultaneously, interest in wildlife operations is increasing. An upcoming two-day conference will bring the two together in the Edwards Plateau region. “Women in Wildlife Conservation – Resources to Set a Stewardship Path,” hosted...
TPWD’s Wildlife Diversity Program accepting grant proposals for conservation related grants
TPWD’s Wildlife Diversity Program is accepting proposals for grants ranging from $2,500-$30,000 for coalition building, conservation education, nature engagement, citizen science data mining, and SGCN research. 2-page applications are due by 5:00 pm on September 30,...
Court voids heart of Texas Highway Beautification Act
A state appeals court has overturned a law that allowed Texas officials to regulate signs along highways and interstates, saying key sections of the 1972 Texas Highway Beautification Act violate free speech rights. Limits on outdoor advertising, the legacy of efforts...
NOAA launches America’s first national water forecast model
NOAA and its partners have developed a new forecasting tool to simulate how water moves throughout the nation’s rivers and streams, paving the way for the biggest improvement in flood forecasting the country has ever seen. Launched August 16th and run on NOAA’s...
Colorado towns work to preserve a diminishing resources: darkness
Four out of five Americans live in places where they can no longer see the Milky Way. But here, the tiny neighboring ranching and railroad towns of Westcliffe (population 568) and Silver Cliff (population 587) have decided to tap into the dwindling natural resource of...
TPWD Proposes New CWD Zones; Public Is Invited To Comment
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is seeking public comment on proposed rules establishing chronic wasting disease (CWD) zones and restricting movement of live deer authorized under TPWD permits to or from properties within those zones. The proposed rules...
Council Reviews ‘Rough Draft’ Priorities for $850 Million Bond
Wednesday marked one of many more steps in a lengthy and at times complicated process that reignites a deceptively simple, yet age-old question: How should we divvy up our money? City of San Antonio staff revealed preliminary 2017 Municipal Bond project estimates and...
Lone Star rail on life support after CAMPO vote
The Lone Star rail project, after one last Hail Mary with Union Pacific, is approaching the end of the line. And after state and federal regulators cross and dot a few t’s and i’s, it is likely that the Lone Star Rail District, which has been attempting for 13 years...
GEAA: Night sky and impervious cover protections removed from SA Tomorrow Plan
Dear GEAA members and friends, Last week the San Antonio Planning Commission voted 5-4 to exclude recommendations for impervious cover limits and dark skies protections from the proposed Sustainability Plan. Read more here. As a stakeholder participant who...
San Antonio City Council urged to restore natural resource provisions into SA Tomorrow Plan
Last week, the San Antonio Planning Commission removed two important provisions from the SA Tomorrow Plan, one for impervious cover and one for night sky protection. The SA Tomorrow Plan, more than a year in the making, will be the city’s prevailing document setting...
What Happens to the U.S. Midwest When the Water’s Gone?
"For the past 60 years, the Ogallala has been pumped out faster than raindrops and snowmelt can seep back into the ground to replenish it, thanks largely to irrigation machinery like the one sleeping nearby. As a result, in parts of western Kansas, the aquifer has...
Commentary: Texas Hill Country is on the Edge of Night
“Without leadership from our rapidly urbanizing cities, we stand to lose all of the groundwork we’ve laid to protect night skies in the Hill Country,” said Katherine Romans, Hill Country Alliance executive director. “San Antonio was on the right track in including the...
Water Forward: Planning for the Next 100 Years, August 3 in Austin
The next installment of the Imagine Austin Speaker Series will focus on developing a water plan to take us through the next century. Austin Water Director, Greg Meszaros and Integrated Water Resource Plan Community Task Force Chair and HCA board member, Sharlene...
Commentary: Let’s base Hays County water policy on science, not guesswork
Hays County Pct. 3 Commissioner Will Conley writes that he will ask the county judge and fellow commissioners to help fund an initiative to “develop the science and monitoring that we need to make informed decisions” about groundwater pumping from the Edwards and...
Efforts to reduce feral hog numbers show promise
While using a toxin that could help put a dent in the worldwide feral hog plague still has hurdles to clear, preliminary studies are showing promise, according to wildlife biologist John Kinsey. “This is not the end-all, be-all control measure, but it can become...
Drought conditions slowly returning to South Texas
Aside from yesterday's one-one-hundredth of an inch of rain, San Antonio hasn't seen a significant amount of measurable rainfall since early June. That lack of rain is starting to take its toll on the area water supply, possibly bringing back drought conditions. It...
Salt Lick owner breaks ground on unique conservation development in Driftwood
"In contrast to large master-planned communities that tout man-made amenities like golf courses and swimming pools, “these are the only amenities,” he says of the 9 miles of nature trails and scenic views from bluffs overlooking Onion Creek." Toward a Regional Plan...
Proposed wastewater expansion raises concerns in Dripping Springs
The City of Dripping Springs has requested a permit to discharge treated sewage into Onion Creek. Residents, downstream municipalities, and the local aquifer protection districts are concerned by the potential contamination of this pristine creek, local drinking...
How Fair Oaks Ranch residents and CCGCD put a stop to a high-density development
Boerne based Hill Country Weekly gives us a great human interest story that includes the details what can happen when water and politics mix. Kendall County’s Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District is featured as it applies its rules to help residents of Fair...
Five Factors Driving Economic Growth in Small Cities
One of the challenges of urban economic development is that most conferences and case studies profile efforts in large, internationally-known cities. While large cities tend to captivate America’s attention, there are small cities lurking in their shadows – and these...