News
Guarding San Antonio’s Eternal Water Future
“The path to a secure water future – and thus, our economic prosperity – was largely written when this area was first settled over the Edwards Aquifer centuries ago. Sound planning will be necessary to ensure clean and abundant water for generations to come and to...
ASR and Texas water resources: A tool whose time has come?
With booming water demands and shrinking supplies, water resource managers in Central Texas and beyond are increasingly considering ASR -- aquifer storage and recovery -- as a tool for generating reliable groundwater supplies. While ASR is becoming more common...
Milan J. Michalec elected President of the Cow Creek GCD
CCGCD installs new director; reassigns board positions May 29, 2014 By Carline Schwartz, News Editor, The Boerne Star Three Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District directors were officially sworn in by Kendall County Clerk Darlene Herrin during a regular meeting...
Award-winning rainwater capture system crowning achievement of retiring Bandera High teacher
Congratulations to Brad Flink, who’s RWH project was honored by the Texas Water Development Board with its Texas Rain Catcher Award. HCA’s Rainwater Revival grant program provided support to document this project and create a model for other campuses. The stormwater...
Meet Andrew Murr
Andrew Murr will face a Libertarian challenger in November to represent District 53 in the Texas House of Representatives. This District includes Bandera, Crockett, Edwards, Kerr, Kimble, Llano, Mason, Medina, Menard, Real, Schleicher, Sutton counties. Texas House of...
Managers Discuss Hill Country’s Water Resources and the Drought
Livestock Weekly May 22, 2014 By Colleen Schreiber SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity Aquifer and the Upper Guadalupe River are major components of the hill country’s available water supply. While these water resources typically do not receive as much attention as the more...
Thinking about becoming a Master Naturalist?
The Hill Country Master Naturalists are now recruiting for their Fall Class. With a mission to “develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within...
EPA Releases EnviroAtlas Ecosystem Mapping Tool
May 27, 2014 WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released EnviroAtlas, a web-based interactive tool that integrates over 300 separate data layers, helps decision makers understand the implications of planning and policy decisions on our...
Lawn alternatives gain popularity but ‘carpet grass’ remains norm
By Elena Tucker, Features Writer The Boerne Star Part one of a two-part series At a glance, Boerne shows up as an emerald dot on a NASA map of lawns. The area’s cultivated green St. Augustine or “carpet” grass also figures as a fraction of Duke University data in...
Support for Low Impact Development
May 27, 2014 Central Texas Land/Water Sustainability Forum. No one doubts that conventional land development impacts our creeks and lakes. Urban land development with buildings, roads, and other impervious surfaces allow less rain to soak into the ground, so the...
Wildscape proves to be sustainable landscape alternative
“As the drought deepens, as water rationing becomes the norm, as human population booms and as indicator wildlife populations drastically decline, people are stuck wondering what kind of world we will leave to the next generations,” Read more from George Cates of...
Western Hill Country Ranch honored by TPWD
Congratulations to Ruthie and Johnnie Russell for being recognized by TPWD as a Lone Star Land Steward. The Russell’s chose to enact a conservation easement on their property because of growing pressure of land fragmentation. “Ranchettes make it difficult to conserve...
Environmental and economic protection through water supply development
May 22, 2014 Tom Hegemier, Central Texas Land Water Sustainability Forum Recent rainfall in Austin delivered more water to the Gulf, but little to lakes Travis and Buchanan, the area’s water supply reservoirs. With near average rainfall the last two years and the...
Electric Project Open House Draws Large Crowd
*MAY 27 UPDATE: Top 10 FAQs on transmission line routing cases before the PUC LCRA is requesting input using its Project Questionnaire. Persons wishing to offer input regarding the project are encouraged to compete and return the form by May 30, 2014, as requested by...
Seeing Stars in Dripping Springs
As Texas booms, the state is less and less able to brag that the stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas. In the big cities and the sprawling suburbs, and even in Far West Texas near the McDonald Observatory, light pollution is increasingly...
Comfort Heritage Foundation Recognizes David K. Langford
Comfort Heritage Foundation Recognizes David K. Langford for His Local Stewardship and the Book, Hillingdon Ranch: Four Season, Six Generations May 20, 2014 Comfort, TX - The Comfort Heritage Foundation announced the nominations for their annual awards for outstanding...
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Awarded Grant to Support Landowners in the Pedernales River Watershed
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) was recently awarded $100,000 in grants to protect the Texas state fish, Guadalupe Bass, in the Pedernales River basin. TPWD will be working with the Hill Country Alliance to identify willing landowners for habitat...
Judge’s Corner: Judge makes his stance on groundwater
Water is not only a property right, it is essential to the health and welfare of all Texas citizens. For that reason, groundwater conservation districts are authorized by Texas law to protect this resource of our great state. There are now 100 such districts...
San Marcos to offer rebates for rainwater harvest systems
The City of San Marcos Public Works Department is implementing a new program to help its customers conserve water. Through this program water customers can receive rebates for purchasing and installing rain barrels and large rainwater tank systems. Private home...
Landowners in Gillespie, Blanco and Kendall Counties
An open house will be held this Thursday, May 15th regarding a new LCRA electric substation and transmission line project in the Blumenthal area east of Fredericksburg. The meeting will be held at the Stonewall Chamber of Commerce from 5:30 – 7:30. Learn more and let...
Keep Rivers Flowing
“Innovative Strategies to Protect and Restore Rivers,” is a 3-part webinar series designed to inform people about strategies to ensure the future health of Texas’ rivers, bays and estuaries. If you missed session one, presentations delivered by Myron Hess, Andy Sansom...
Fair Oaks Ranch project raises water concerns in Comal County
The Reserve at Fair Oaks Ranch is exactly the kind of proposed development that Rep. Doug Miller long has cited in calls to create a groundwater conservation district in Comal County - “What is happening in Fair Oaks is a prime example of what I'm trying to prevent —...
Enlightening New Report on Texas Water Planning
A report issued by the non-profit Texas Center for Policy Studies (TCPS) finds that the current water planning process in Texas tends to over-estimate future water demand and under-estimate the potential for making better use of existing supplies. “This report shows...
Bandera High School Among TWDB’s Texas Rain Catcher Award Winners
May 6, 2014 The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) announced today that Bandera High School is among the winners of its annual Texas Rain Catcher Award, a rainwater harvesting competition and recognition program. The award recognizes excellence in the application of...
Wind farm and transmission line updates from SOSHE
Final CREZ lines have been completed, a public meeting will be held in Stonewall May 15th regarding the Blumenthal Substation and new transmission line, The first major wind farm in Central Texas is now online in Mills County. Learn more from the most recent Save Our...
Water Development Board’s ombudsman will help towns navigate the process
Senator Troy Fraser and Carolos Rubinstein visited Fredericksburg last week to introduce TWDB’s new “rural ombudsman” Doug Shaw. “We hope underground aquifer storage becomes commonplace, as it is less intrusive than new reservoirs and it suffers less evaporation….But...
Hill Country Alliance Adds New Staff to Focus on Water Policy and Landowner Outreach Programs
May 6, 2014 The Hill Country Alliance is pleased to welcome two new full-time staff members, Charlie Flatten and Katherine Romans, who will respectively manage the organization’s water policy and landowner outreach programs. The Hill Country Alliance (HCA) is a...
Texas Riparian & Stream Ecosystem Workshop
The Texas Water Resources Institute’s Texas Riparian and Stream Ecosystem Education Program will host a workshop from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. May 13 in Kerrville for area residents interested in land and water stewardship in the Upper Guadalupe watershed. Learn More
Strong Towns Curbside Chat Thursday, May 8th, 6–7:30pm at the LBJ Museum in San Marcos
Meet Chuck Marohn, President of Strong Towns for a candid talk and conversation about the future of America’s cities, towns and neighborhoods. “The current approach to growth emphasizes investments in new infrastructure to serve or induce new development. This...
Bringing back the Milky Way
Learn now to save energy and money by using “Better Lights for Starry Nights” (April 30, 2014) A dark night sky full of big bright stars is important here in the Hill Country, just like clean rivers, scenic vistas and natural landscapes. Little by little,...