News
Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District – Press Release 4/11/2023
April 10th Regular Board Meeting The Directors received an update from the District’s staff regarding current hydrologic conditions. The average water level was 22.51’ below the March average. This is the lowest March level on record. The levels of the District’s 43...
Good SITES design leads to happy campers at Shield Ranch
The SITES Gold Campsite at Shield Ranch, located just 22 miles from downtown Austin, Texas, serves as the new home for Camp El Ranchito, a scholarship-based overnight camp. El Ranchito started in 2007 as a primitive campsite with the mission to connect children with...
Sentinel Landscape program uses conservation to protect Camp Bullis, other military sites
Now with the help of the Sentinel Landscape designation, efforts are underway to help area landowners preserve nearly 1 million acres around the camp, protect water and wildlife, and reduce noise and light pollution. “The challenge is how do we work across this vast...
Number of city dwellers lacking safe water to double by 2050
The number of people lacking access to safe drinking water in cities around the world will double by 2050, research has found, amid warnings of an imminent water crisis that is likely to “spiral out of control”. Nearly 1 billion people in cities around the world face...
Water fund can help Texas fix aging pipes, pay for new water sources
Texans will find relief in a state Senate bill that tackles our aging and neglected water infrastructure. Even with its limitations, the proposed legislation could be the first major overhaul of the Texas water system in a decade. Senate Bill 28 would allow Texas to...
Despite ongoing drought, Hill Country Alliance announces second annual Spring Water Revival month
DRIPPING SPRINGS - Spring is in full force - native grasses are tall and green, trees have erupted in fresh leaves, and bluebonnets are gracing roadsides across the region. These blooms rely on long-awaited rains - and despite the vibrant floral displays, rainfall...
Lots to lose
From Paved Paradise, which will be published next month by Penguin Press. The need for a perfect parking space has shaped the country’s physical landscape. It has become the organizing principle of American architecture, making our designs bigger, uglier, and farther...
Opinion: Turn off the lights! Birds are depending on us.
Deep in the heart of Texas, the stars at night burn big and bright, but if you're hoping to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way over Austin, you are probably out of luck. As the region continues to experience rapid growth, Austinites are robbed of the spectacular night...
Opinion: Smart water strategies are crucial to Texas’ prosperity
In 2021, Texas gained an astounding new 300,000 Texans. Demographers expect our state to grow by more than four million people each decade through 2070, reaching a population of more than 50 million. Not only are people coming to the Lone Star State, but large...
367 acres of ‘vital’ land donated for conservancy in Hill Country
A Central Texas nonprofit announced Thursday it received a 367-acre land donation in Hill Country to be saved and protected from development. Scott Shannon of Scott Shannon Ranch donated a conservation easement, roughly the size of Zilker Park, along U.S. Highway 290...
Hill Country Alliance 17th annual photo contest: Home in the Hill Country
DRIPPING SPRINGS - The Texas Hill Country – famous for its pristine streams, blooming wildflowers, star-filled night skies, and tucked-away small towns – is home to over 3.8 million people and growing fast. Home to three of the fastest growing counties in the country,...
Permit asks to dump 600,000 gallons of sewage a day into creek feeding Comal River, Edwards Aquifer
Local environmental groups have raised concerns after a landowner filed a permit application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to dump 600,000 gallons of treated sewage a day into a creek that feeds into the Comal River. The application - which was...
One of Texas’ largest unbroken areas of urban wilderness will be preserved by Hays County
Over 1,000 acres of biodiverse habitat in the Texas Hill Country will be shielded from future development under a new conservation agreement that is part of a network of protected conservation lands. That network will be the state’s largest unbroken parcel of urban...
How one Texas town is rethinking the American lawn
Lewisville, at first glance, is a typical Texas suburb. Wedged in the northwest corner of the Dallas metroplex, the 113,000-person city encompasses a little triangle bordered by a six-lane state toll road and an interstate highway. A small downtown with shops and...
Meadows Center executive director authors groundwater sustainability book
As Texas comes out of its 13th driest year on record, water and managing the state’s finite water supply is a pressing concern. A new book authored by Robert E. Mace, executive director for The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University,...
Preserve Texas lands for generations to come
Each year Texas loses nearly 250,000 acres of land to development. Rural work areas that form the wide open spaces that define Texas character are evaporating at an alarming rate. These lands are not only meant to be enjoyed by Texans, but they work every day to...
How the ongoing drought impacts the Hill Country
In 2022, San Antonio received only a third of its average annual rainfall. Kerrville received 12.38 inches, 60% below its normal average. Popular swimming holes from Jacobs Well in Wimberley to the Guadalupe River near Center Point dried up. The Pedernales, Llano...
You have all the parking you need—and it’s hiding in plain sight
Communities far and wide believe that they have a parking problem. This concern generally ranks as a top problem voiced in public meetings and shows up in master plans and visioning documents. Lack of parking creeps in as an excuse for declining or stagnant economic...
Urban gardens are good for ecosystems and humans
Traditionally, it has been assumed that cultivating food leads to a loss of biodiversity and negative impacts on an ecosystem. A new study from researchers at multiple universities, including The University of Texas at Austin, defies this assumption, showing that...
Massive influx of visitors expected for 2024 solar eclipse
The Highland Lakes area should expect a massive influx of visitors for a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, and significant preparations are necessary to accommodate them, according to Hill Country Alliance Night Sky Program Manager Dawn Davies. Davies gave a...
Drought hits hard in the Hill Country
The Frio River is flowing again — in places. “The water is clean, and the water is good right now,” said Brett Rimkus, who operates the concessions at Garner State Park in Concan, 90 miles west of San Antonio. “If you want to get in the water, it is great. The river...
Black and Hispanic Texans say they don’t trust the quality of their water
Black and Hispanic people and those living in low-income Texas communities are highly concerned about the quality of their drinking water, a new survey shows. Commissioned by the nonprofit organization Texas Water Trade, the survey included responses from 650...
The lost reservoir inside our water infrastructure
Water is shaping up to be a priority during the 88th Legislature. Texas weathered its fourth-most intense drought on record last year and entered 2023 with half the state still in drought. Spurred by this precarious situation, a group of House lawmakers recently...
Department of Defense announces 2023 REPI Challenge funding recipients
The Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape Partnership (CBSL) has received a $5.1 million award from the US Department of Defense (DOD) to protect groundwater supplies in the Texas Hill Country. Funds from DOD’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Challenge...
Guadalupe runs dry with rainfall scarce
Despite the recent rain across the region, the Guadalupe River and a popular watering hole are in a sorry state. January usually sees 2 inches of rainfall in the San Antonio area. But it hasn’t even been close this year. The region has received just 0.47 inches of...
Environmental advocates push feds to investigate Texas’ enforcement of water quality
The Environmental Protection Agency says an informal investigation is underway after more than two dozen environmental advocacy groups submitted a petition against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The petition alleges that state regulators are not doing...
TxDOT central I-35 expansion project puts businesses at risk of displacement, loss of 625 jobs
The Texas Department of Transportation released the environmental impact statement (EIS) draft for its proposed Interstate 35 Capital Express Central project. The draft provides Central Texans their first look at how many residences and businesses could be impacted by...
Texas heat-related deaths reached a two-decade high in 2022 amid extreme temperatures
Heat-related deaths in Texas last year reached a new high for this century amid a sharp rise in migrant deaths and soaring temperatures enhanced by climate change, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of state data going back to 1999. In 2022, Texas saw its...
Rural Central Texas’ plentiful trees make power outages a frustrating fact of life after storms
By the glow of a flashlight, Stacy McAlpine and her 10-year-old granddaughter played Go Fish and other card games as they snuggled up next to a propane fireplace. Thirty miles south in Robertson County, Elizabeth Smith and her husband cooked freeze-dried camp food...
New bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers wants to highlight the state’s fragile water infrastructure
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers plans to spend part of its time in Austin this year highlighting the state’s increasingly fragile water infrastructure. Texas Water Foundation, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on creating a sustainable water system in Texas,...