Our Work
Land
HCA’s Land Program seeks to increase private land stewardship and permanent land conservation across the Hill Country, and works with regional land trusts to educate owners about conservation easements, track conservation metrics, and consider conservation priorities.
Water
HCA’s Water Program assists grassroots groups that champion water stewardship in their communities, advocates for policies that protect groundwater and surface water, and promotes resilient water supplies through the advancement of One Water projects.
Night Sky
HCA’s Night Skies Program helps Hill Country counties and cities minimize the impacts of light pollution through education and outreach, the establishment of outdoor lighting policies, and the recognition and celebration of certified Dark Sky Places in our region.
Communities
HCA’s Communities Program builds connections across county lines, supporting rural leaders in protecting the unique character of their communities while promoting innovative approaches to building healthy, vibrant communities throughout the Texas Hill Country.
The Latest
Preserving the night sky in Austin
Most evenings in Central Texas, the sky transforms into the legendary violet crown before falling into darkness. Although humans wait for the beauty of the sunset, it is the darkness that animals need, according to Cliff Kaplan of the Hill Country Alliance. “All of...
Resilience along a river
It’s a crisp November after-noon and landowner Suzanne Davis is admiring native bald cypress seedlings while cutting back invasive Brazilian verbena along her stretch of the Blanco River. Davis and her husband, Edward, live in Wimberley, where, four years ago, the...
Taking on wildlife disease
The Pennsylvania Wildlife Futures Program, a collaboration between the School of Veterinary Medicine and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, will leverage Penn Vet’s expertise to address wildlife health problems. When wildlife biologist Matthew Schnupp began his career,...
Taking a look at trends for our land
It should be no surprise that our growing population has put pressure on the land in Comal County. As the second fastest growing county in the nation, we have witnessed the conversion of many acres from open land to developed land. Our experience has been put into the...
Texas Can’t Quit the Aoudad
Allen Smith decided long ago what to do about the aoudads that wander onto his family’s land. “The first four I saw, I shot,” he tells me. From 5,000 feet up, in Smith’s Cessna Skymaster, the choices other Texans have made for their land roll out below—the network of...
NRI publishes Status Update and Trends of Texas Working Lands 1997-2017
The new Texas Land Trends report Status Update and Trends of Texas Working Lands 1997–2017, produced by NRI, has now been published. Land-trends reports have informed private and public landowners and decision-makers for more than two decades. “With this report, we...