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
Branch Towers and T-Mobile Curtail Plans to Build Cell Tower
Thanks to some quick community organizing and excellent volunteer leadership from residents of Vanderpool, plans to build a new cell tower on the banks of the Sabinal River have been shifted to instead utilize an existing cell tower. With the help of HCA, Vanderpool...
HCA board member Kathleen Tobin Krueger to take over Edwards Aquifer Authority board seat
Dalondo Moultrie | Herald-Zeitung | New Braunfels resident Kathleen Tobin Krueger, a former mayor pro tem, was scheduled yesterday to be appointed to a vacated seat on the Edwards Aquifer Authority board of directors. Krueger is taking over for Craig Massouh, who was...
Abbott signs bill limiting annexation powers of cities
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday signed into law Senate Bill 6, which requires cities in large counties to receive voter approval before annexing new areas, one of his top 20 priorities for the special legislative session. “I’m proud to sign legislation ending forced...
In South Texas, Threat of Border Wall Unites Naturalists and Politicians
Last month, Marianna Wright, the executive director of the privately owned National Butterfly Center here, discovered survey stakes on the property marking out a 150-foot-wide swath of land. Ms. Wright later encountered a work crew cutting down trees and brush along a...
Infill Development Could Make or Break San Antonio
San Antonio is changing. Just a few years ago the city saw the odd infill project here and there among the rehabs of historic homes in King William or Monte Vista. These days, infill projects are everywhere in the collar neighborhoods – the ring of historic streetcar...
Volunteers clean up South Llano River
On Friday, August 4th intrepid volunteers from the Texas Master Naturalist Program met with the Llano River Watershed Alliance, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), and Hill Country Alliance to clean up a portion of the South Llano River south of Junction,...