Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape Partnership

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Landowners stand in a grassy field dotted with live oaks

The Lone Star State’s First Sentinel Landscape

The Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape Partnership is a locally led, collaborative group focused on conserving natural resources, strengthening military readiness, and bolstering agricultural productivity around Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis.

Camp Bullis is located in northern Bexar County on the Edwards Aquifer Recharge and Contributing Zones. Here, Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) provides training opportunities for 266 mission partners; this includes supporting Department of Defense (DoD) enlisted and officer medical training, military intelligence, special forces, pre-deployment, national, and international training requirements.

Camp Bullis army training base

Camp Bullis Military Training Reservation is a U.S. Army training camp comprising more than 27,000 acres in Bexar County, Texas, just northwest of San Antonio. – Joint Base San Antonio

With rapid population growth emanating from San Antonio and the I-35 corridor, the Texas Hill Country and Camp Bullis are facing a mounting number of challenges affecting the long-term resilience of the region’s natural resources. New development contributes to the loss of agricultural lands and increased light pollution, impacting nighttime military training. Growing demands on existing water supply have led to the loss of spring flow and aquifer drawdowns, impacting drinking water supplies for Camp Bullis, rural landowners, towns, and cities.

These and other challenges have attracted a myriad of partners to come together to create a collective vision for how to invest in protecting the natural resources that define the region as it grows. Since 2021, HCA has coordinated this collaborative effort, engaging dozens of partner organizations to collaborate towards shared goals.

Collaborative work will especially focus on supporting private landowners with technical and financial resources that align with their stewardship goals. Thoughtful land stewardship provides rippling benefits, not only for the private landowner, but for society and future generations. Good land stewardship enhances water quality and quantity, mitigates floods and drought, supports agricultural productivity, and improves wildlife habitat.

The partnership will seek public and private funding to support a variety of on-the-ground stewardship needs, including: improving soil health and infiltration; managing hillside erosion and creek-bank stability; and increasing native plant diversity and abundance. Landowners within the multi-county focal area will then have the opportunity to apply for funding to support a variety of practices, from grazing management and prescribed fire, to creating erosion-control features, and drill seeding grasses.

The Partnership will also work to address regional challenges and opportunities, including: reducing light pollution that impairs nighttime training capabilities at Camp Bullis; mitigating wildfire risks to the military installation and nearby communities; and enhancing access to outdoor recreational opportunities.

Learn More

Video: Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape

Learn more about Texas’s first Sentinel Landscape in this 14-minute recording from the 2022 Texas Groundwater Summit.

Video: A New Frontier in Public-Private Land Conservation and Stewardship

In this 7-minute recording from the 2021 Hill Country Leadership Summit, HCA’s Land Program Director Daniel Oppenheimer presents a new project to advance collaborative conservation in the southern Hill Country.

Partners

This work is made possible through ongoing collaboration between more than 50 partners across the region. If you have questions or would like to learn more, contact Daniel@hillcountryalliance.org.

 

  • Alamo Area Council of Governments
  • Bandera County River Authority & Groundwater District
  • City of San Antonio
  • Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District
  • Edwards Aquifer Authority
  • Kendall County Soil & Water Conservation District
  • Oaks & Prairies Joint Venture
  • San Antonio River Authority
  • Trinity Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District

 

  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M University – Natural Resources Institute
  • Texas Department of Agriculture
  • Texas Division of Emergency Management
  • Texas Military Department
  • Texas Military Preparedness Commission
  • Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
  • Texas State Soil & Water Conservation Board
  • Texas State University – Meadows Center for Water & the Environment
  • University of Oklahoma
  • University of Texas – San Antonio

 

  • U.S. Department of Defense — Joint Base San Antonio, Camp Stanley, Air Force Civil Engineer Center, US Army Corps of Engineers, & Regional Environmental and Energy Office
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture — Natural Resources Conservation Service
  • U.S. Department of Interior – US Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service RTCA, and US Geological Survey
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency

 

  • Alamo Resource Conservation & Development Area
  • Bat Conservation International
  • Bexar Audubon Society
  • Cibolo Center for Conservation
  • Cibolo Conservancy
  • Comal County Conservation Alliance
  • Comal County Friends of the Night Skies
  • Compatible Lands Foundation
  • Edwards Aquifer Conservancy
  • Green Spaces Alliance
  • Great Springs Project
  • Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance
  • Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust
  • Headwaters at the Comal
  • Hill Country Alliance
  • Hill Country Conservancy
  • Kendall County Friends of the Night Skies
  • National Cave and Karst Research Institute
  • San Antonio Board of Realtors
  • San Antonio Chamber of Commerce
  • San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
  • Texas Chapter – Society for Ecological Restoration
  • Texas Chapter – International Dark Sky Association
  • Texas Agricultural Land Trust
  • Texas Wildlife Association
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • Trust for Public Land

Maps and Photos

Land Cover

This map of land cover within the Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape Boundary shows largely undeveloped shrub and evergreen forests facing encroaching development from San Antonio.

Landowner Stewardship

Collaborative work will especially focus on supporting private landowners with resources that align with their stewardship goals.

“Thoughtful land stewardship provides rippling benefits, not only for the private landowner, but for society and future generations,” – Daniel Oppenheimer, Hill Country Alliance Land Program Manager and Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape Coordinator.

Military Training

Camp Bullis Military Training Reservation is a U.S. Army training camp comprising more than 27,000 acres in Bexar County, Texas, just northwest of San Antonio.

Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape Boundary

This map highlights the multi-county area surrounding Camp Bullis where our partnership will provide technical assistance and financial resources to help landowners meet their stewardship goals.

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