The mission of the Hill Country Alliance is to bring together a diverse coalition of partners to preserve the open spaces, starry night skies, clean and abundant waters, and unique character of the Texas Hill Country.
Our Work
Land
The Texas Hill Country region covers over 11 million acres in 17 counties of mostly privately held land.
Water
Thirteen Texas rivers begin in the Hill Country and provide water for millions of downstream neighbors.
Night Sky
The Hill Country sits on the edge of night and as development pushes westward, we are losing our view of the night sky.
Community
90% of Hill Country lands are in unincorporated areas where there is little authority to plan for growth.
Collaboration
HCA serves as the backbone organization and fiscal sponsor of the Texas Hill Country Conservation Network.
Latest News
Kinder Morgan wins Texas court challenge, removing obstacle to $2 billion gas pipeline
Kinder Morgan can begin work on a $2 billion natural gas pipeline without having the Texas energy regulator approve its proposed route, a state judge ruled on Tuesday. The decision removes a challenge to the state’s licensing process that lets gas pipeline companies...
Texas parks are broke. But there’s good news: voters can rescue them.
Money intended for state parks and historic sites should actually be spent on state parks and historic sites, right? It took lawmakers a little more than a quarter century to reach that conclusion. Since 1993, sales tax collected from the purchase of sporting goods...
Commentary: Why you should care about groundwater pumping in Hays County
Barton Springs, the Austin’s beloved spring-fed swimming pool, is the crown jewel of the city – the soul of this soulful town. Almost a million people cooled off in the springs in 2018, and more than a million swimmers are expected to return in 2019....In recent...
June Director’s Notes: Hill Country Conservation gets a national spotlight
In this month’s notes, we wanted to highlight how HCA and our partners have been working to elevate the profile of conservation in the Hill Country to a national level. Partnering with individual landowners, city and county governments, academic institutions and...
Wiring The Hill Country: new internet providers take on rural areas
David McCullough’s phone rang. It was Home Town Donuts in Johnson City, and their internet service was down. He raced through his house to find his laptop, which would allow him to diagnose the issue, but not before cracking four metatarsal bones in his foot. He...
Dripping Springs neighbors petition to ‘Save Hamilton Pool’ from RV park development
A petition circulating online is calling for an end to a proposal to put an RV park near The Hamilton Pool Preserve. "Our kids have grown up here. Our daughter had birthday parties down at Hamilton pool," said Stagecoach Ranch resident Bob Adkins. People who live...
Scientists have big hopes for Uvalde pool study
Ron Green, a scientist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, and his team of hydro-geologists are busy collecting data on and creating a lumped parameter model for the Uvalde Pool, a major reservoir of underground water centered over central Uvalde County...
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