News
Hill Country Alliance receives laptop computers from Padgett Stratemann & Co.
The Hill Country Alliance is the proud recipient of three gently used laptops through a computer donation program run by the San Antonio-based Padgett Stratemann & Company. Padgett Stratemann is a locally owned CPA firm, and their not-for-profit Computer Equipment...
Pride, Passion and Vision in the Texas Hill Country
In this guest post on the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation blog, Christy Muse explores some of the most fundamental threats landowners in the Hill Country face. In a region where private property rights are often held up as the rule of the land, we are...
NWF Names San Antonio First Monarch Butterfly Champion City
Mayor Ivy Taylor signed the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Mayor’s Monarch Pledge this week, making San Antonio the first city in the country to become a Monarch Champion in the national campaign to encourage mayors and local governments to increase Monarch...
Q&A with Meredith Miller
The Texas Tribune has published an excellent Q and A piece with Meredith Miller on the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment’s citizen science Texas Stream Team. In addition to her other numerous duties at the Meadows Center, Meredith oversees the many citizen...
Texas Master Naturalist Program Seeks Applicants
Twenty chapters of the Texas Master Naturalist program are conducting training classes in the spring of 2016 for volunteers wanting to learn about natural resource and conservation management. The Texas Master Naturalist program consists of 46 chapters across the...
TWDB to hold hearing on emergency flood funding
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) will hold a stakeholder meeting to discuss the utilization of emergency flood funding recently transferred to the TWDB at the direction of Governor Greg Abbott. The hearing will be held on December 14, 2015, at 1:00 p.m., in...
Conservation Easement Workshop Presentations
The October 23rd Conservation Easement Workshop in Johnson City was a great success. Thank you to the Hill Country Land Trust, our wonderful sponsors and all who participated. Speaker presentations from the event are available below. Subscribe to HCA's newsletter for...
Zero Runoff Should Be Our Goal
“Water is a precious resource and yet we allow it to flow away. In fact, in many cases we actually encourage it to go down the drain! We have done an amazing job of drilling, piping, and moving water to accommodate our desired lifestyle.” Read more from these...
What we can learn from Foodies
“The sustainable food movement contains lessons that could apply to many other social movements.” This story featured in Next City is titled “What Urbanists Can Learn From Foodies” but anyone with an eye on shifting our culture to more healthy practices for the...
Green Spaces Alliance Hires New Executive Director
Gail Gallegos has been selected as the next Executive Director of Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas. With thirteen years of experience in the Natural Areas division of San Antonio's Parks and Recreation Department, Gail has overseen the design, development and...
Horseshoe Bay, Texas, Named International Dark Sky Community
In recognition of its exemplary efforts to preserve its naturally dark nighttime conditions, the International Dark-Sky Association announced today that it has designated the City of Horseshoe Bay, Texas, as an International Dark Sky Community. The city is only the...
San Antonio City Council Approves New Water Rate Structure
City Council has unanimously approved increased water rates and rate structure, a strong display of confidence in the water utility’s ongoing efforts to diversify the city’s water supply and to encourage greater water conservation. The recent vote follows two years of...
SWIFT round two application period to open on Dec. 1
The Texas Water Development Board will open the application period for the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) financial assistance program on December 1, 2015. This will be the second round of financial assistance made available through the SWIFT...
Rally to save the trees of Oak Hill, this Saturday
Oak Hill, Austin, TX: More than two hundred great oak trees stand to be damaged or lost if TxDOT moves ahead with the Oak Hill Parkway project as currently designed. An independent tree survey by Oak Hill resident Gerry Powell has documented and photographed 288 oak...
New study maps Earth’s hidden groundwater for the first time
A new study has, for the first time, estimated the total volume of groundwater present on the Earth. The results show that we're using up the water supply quicker than it can be naturally replaced, while future research will seek to determine exactly how long it will...
Austin Water Proposing permanent once-per-week watering restrictions
"Building on lessons learned during the drought, Austin Water is proposing to move to a permanent once-per-week watering schedule. Watering restrictions are our biggest water savings measure and the one-day-per-week restrictions, along with positive community...
Is the Vista Ridge Groundwater Reliable? Who’s calling for it?
Thursday the San Antonio City Council will vote on a new SAWS rate structure being proposed in part to pay for Vista Ridge. “The controversial Vista Ridge water pipeline, if completed, will pump 50,000 acre-feet/year of Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer groundwater from a well...
America’s $900 Million Parks Problem
At the end of September, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has supported the creation and maintenance of greenways, trails and other outdoor spaces across the U.S. since its inception in the ’60s, expired. LWCF helps along everything from national parks to...
Registration NOW OPEN for the 2016 Texas Land Conservation Conference
The Texas Land Trust Council is excited to celebrate a milestone, the 20th Anniversary of the Texas Land Trust Conference is set for March 2 – 4, 2016 in Austin. This is an excellent program for everyone interested in land and water conservation in Texas, personally...
Saltcedar not the suck-up it once was thought to be
FORT STOCKTON -- Saltcedar, an introduced species choking many Texas waterways, long has been a prime suspect in dwindling streamflows, but a Texas A&M AgriLife team has found that Tamarix, the plant in question, may have been accused falsely of that specific...
Public Hearing and Council Agenda item about San Antonio’s water policy Thursday evening
San Antonio City Council will discuss the findings of the highly publicized water policy report this Thursday November the 12th during City Council which begins at 9am. Agenda item number four will be a briefing on the San Antonio Water Policy Study commissioned by...
National Retailers Initiate #OptOutside Campaign
Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and with it comes one of the busiest shopping days of the year- Black Friday. This year, several national retailers have decided to close on the Friday following Thanksgiving and are encouraging shoppers to "opt outside" instead of...
The Rain Barrel Art Auction has been extended to December 1
There is still time to get your bid in for your favorite artist-painted rain barrel. The Rain Barrel Art auction has been extended until December 1st! Beautify your garden with a one-of-a-kind artist-painted rain barrel and help raise funds for Hill Country...
Settlement reached in Wimberley wastewater discharge permit application
On Tuesday, September 29, 2015, the City of Wimberley, the Blanco River Cypress Creek Water Association, the Paradise Valley Property Owners Association, Rocky River Ranch, and KKP3237, LLC reached a settlement agreement in the contested proceeding on the City’s...
An Evening of Art and Science, November 14 in Johnson City
If you’ve been wanting to check out the Hill Country Science Mill – Saturday is a great opportunity! The Hill Country Science Mill in Johnson City invites you to "An Evening of Art and Science," November 14 from 6:30-9:30 pm. A one of the features of the event will...
UBarU Camp and Retreat Center Named Dark Sky Park
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) has named the UBarU Camp and Retreat Center in Texas an International Dark Sky Park. “The designation of UBarU is another great stride forward in the protection of dark skies in the Texas Hill County,” said IDA Executive...
Mason Residents Resist Unwelcome Wind Project
Adding a wind farm to its Lone Star energy portfolio in the scenic Texas Hill Country is proving to be much tougher than setting up shop on the high Texas plains for Enel Green Power North America. Folks in Mason, where construction of the wind project is proposed,...
Highly Anticipated Water Report Released
City officials, community leaders, and any interested citizen can now download the final version of a controversial Water Policy Report from the Texas A&M University’s Institute of Renewable Natural Resources that analyzes projects and policies related to water...
Texas Water Symposium: Stories about Water, November 12 in Kerrville
Join us November 12 at Schreiner University for the next Texas Water Symposium. The topic of this very special water symposium will be Stories about Water: Narratives that Remind us of our Personal and Collective Connections to Water. The symposium will be moderated...
The 6th Annual Rainwater Revival is this Saturday – Rain or Shine!
The Rainwater Revival is back in Dripping Springs for its 6th anniversary to be held on Saturday, Nov 7, at Dripping Springs Ranch Park. The popular, annual event is part festival, part educational series, and always a celebration of the ease, sweet taste, and wisdom...