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
First-ever water shortage declared for Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir
Federal officials have declared a shortage in Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the country that serves tens of millions of residents in the West and northern Mexico, amid a historic decades long "megadrought" in the region. The Bureau of Reclamation announced the...
Young Life camp to withdraw permit for wastewater discharge into Hill Country river
People in the Hill Country say they have fought for months to keep the pristine Sabinal River waters clean. Last May, the Young Life camp at LoneHollow Ranch applied for a permit that would have allowed them to discharge up to 60,000 gallons of wastewater a day into...
County to turn off lights in summer and fall to protect songbirds
The Travis County Commissioners Court passed a resolution Tuesday that will mandate county buildings to turn off all nonessential lights from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. during key migration periods for migrating songbirds. The Lights Off initiative will be in effect annually from...
The well fixer’s warning
The well fixer and I were standing at the edge of an almond orchard in the exhausted middle of California. It was late July, and so many wells on the farms of Madera County were coming up dry that he was running out of parts to fix them. In this latest round of...
4 charming Hill Country spots named among Texas’ best small towns by Travel + Leisure
Travel + Leisure magazine has given its seal of approval to four Hill Country communities as being among eight of the best small towns in Texas. In a list published July 28, the magazine lauds Bandera, Dripping Springs, Johnson City, and Wimberley, offering vignettes...
How discharged wastewater is feeding massive Hill Country algae blooms
Green mats coat what once were clear, scenic creeks and rivers, the result of algae blooms that are frustrating those who live in the Texas Hill Country. Effluent is wastewater with its pollutants removed, also known as treated wastewater. When effluent is discharged...
Why a Chinese billionaire bought 140,000 acres of land in Texas
On June 7, Texas governor Greg Abbott sat down at a desk in the state capitol and, flanked by a half-dozen lawmakers, put pen to paper for a ceremonial signing of the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act. “As far as I know this is the first law of its kind by any...
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