Hill Country Alliance Press Releases
February 22, 2010
2010 Hill Country Alliance Photo Contest begins March 1st
The Texas Hill Country is a photographer’s paradise. Creeks are once again flowing, and the forecast calls for a green spring with plenty of wildflowers. Now is the time to dust off your camera and head outside to capture the beauty and mystique of this special region. Read full media release here.
February 18, 2010
Water Symposium Essay Contest – Inform your schools!
Schreiner University and the Water Symposium project announce a student essay contest for elementary, middle and high school students. “Kids, Water and Science: Perspectives from our Future”. Read full release here.
February 2, 2010
Langford Selected for Inaugural Keystone Award
for Lifetime Contributions to Land and Wildlife Conservation David K. Langford is a steadfast conservationist, well-respected regionally and nationally. In recognition of his lifetime of service conserving our agricultural heritage and protecting native wildlife, wildlife habitat, and natural lands in Texas, Langford will receive the inaugural Keystone Award at a reception held at Becker Vineyards in Stonewall, Texas, from 5:00 to 7:00pm, Friday, February 26th. Read full release here.
January 7, 2010
Texas Water Symposium January 28th in Junction
Join us for the second in the 2009-10 series of discussions and forums about Texas water issues. The symposium’s topic will be “Climate Change and Impacts on Floods, Weather and Drought in Texas: What Controversy?” - Read media release here.
December 2, 2009
Hill Country Photography Exhibit opens this weekend at Cibolo Nature Center
The holidays are the perfect time to get outdoors and enjoy the splendor of the Hill Country region. Just northwest of San Antonio in Boerne, the Cibolo Nature Center is 100 acres of trails and wilderness waiting for you and your family to explore. This season as you visit the preserve you’ll be treated to something special. The Hill Country Alliance, a nonprofit organization in Central Texas, is placing winning photographs of its 2009 Hill Country Photography contest on display in the visitor’s center. See full media release here.
November 19, 2009
"Sustaining the Hill Country - Now and for future generations", forum Scheduled February 26th and 27th in Fredericksburg
Central Texas is all about the Hill Country — rolling vistas, dramatic bluffs, seeps and springs, and diverse wildlife. But the character of the Hill Country is changing due to explosive growth. On February 26th and 27th, 2010, the Bexar Audubon Society, Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas, the Hill Country Alliance, the Texas Wildlife Association, and the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service will focus on this challenge at the 7th Farm & Range Forum, “Sustaining the Hill Country — Now and for Future Generations.” - Details.
November 2, 2009
Texas Water Symposia
Third annual water symposium series starts Nov. 12 The first symposium in the annual series of symposia dealing with the issues of water use and conservation in Texas will be Thursday, Nov. 12 at the University of Texas-San Antonio campus. Read full media release here.
September 10, 2009
2009 Photo Contest Winners
Photographers from across the Hill Country took the theme of Hill Country Alliance’s Third Annual Photo Contest seriously: Celebrating the Treasure of the Hill Country is now possible with a look through the beautiful photographs in the 2010 Hill Country Alliance calendar. “Our desire is for this contest and the calendar to increase awareness of the need to care for the treasures of the Hill Country with regional planning and conservation,” says Christy Muse, HCA executive director. Read full media release here.
August 17, 2009
The Reality of Drought
The ongoing drought has kept water not only in the local headlines, but regionally throughout the Hill Country from San Antonio to Austin. As the drought persists, water availability, which by definition of State water planners is “the maximum amount of water available during the drought of record, regardless of whether the supply is physically or legally available”, is being reduced. Read full media release here.
August 6, 2009
Water Supply Drying Up: It's not just about the drought
Water supplies are dangerously low in the Hill Country, but Raymond Slade, hydrologist, says it’s not just because of the drought. Slade has been analyzing droughts, floods, and water quality issues for almost 40 years. He says the drought is severe, but in the last 100 years there have been three or four periods with equal or less precipitation. Slade says stream flows and spring flows are extremely low, but not near record lows. Read full media release here.
July 6, 2009
Wind Turbines and Transmission Lines carry anxiety across the Hill Country
Once you’ve visited Enchanted Rock, you never forget the scenic beauty and power of this natural wonder. What would a farm of 400-foot-tall wind turbines do to the unique vista adorned by the dome profile of this pink granite marvel? Junction is known as the “Land of the Living Waters” and is named for the rivers coming together there: the North and South Llano Rivers. The Johnson Fork Creek, that feeds into the rivers, provides amazing canoeing and kayaking experiences. Young boys fishing the creek boast about catching 50 pound catfish. How will this wild, beautiful area, change if high voltage transmission lines cross the creek in four places? Read full media release here.
June 1, 2009
Colleen Gardner new director for Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation Dist. Place 2
Hill Country Alliance board member Colleen Gardner has been appointed director of Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District Place 2. Gardner, Bamberger Ranch Preserve executive director, is well-known for conservation education at the ranch. With her business expertise and environmental resource management knowledge, Gardner brings both fiscal savvy and experience in water matters to the GCD appointment. See full release here.
David Baker new director for Hays-Trinity Groundwater Conservation District Place 4
Hill Country Alliance board member David Baker has been elected director of Hays-Trinity Groundwater Conservation District Place 4. Baker is well known for his work to protect and preserve Jacob’s Well. Serving as executive director of the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association (WVWA) for over 10 years, he’s raised over five million dollars for watershed protection and led the organization to preserve 55 acres of land surrounding the spring. See full release here.
May 19, 2009
Deadline for Photo Contest Draws Near
Herb Smith didn’t expect to win when he entered the 2007 Hill Country Alliance (HCA) Photo Contest. “I entered just hoping I’d get an image in the calendar,” Smith recalls. He was “very pleasantly surprised” to win the first year he entered. Smith turned around and won the 2008 contest. “The second year, I was blown away.” Download full release here.
April 7, 2009
$500 bonus added to Hill Country Alliance Photo Contest
The Texas Hill Country Nature Photography Alliance (THCNPA) is a group of ranchers offering up their ranches to guests for nature photography and tourism. Most of the ranches have several established photography sites with food and water to attract wildlife, with one or more professionally established photo blinds carefully situated for optimal photographic opportunities. Many also offer overnight accommodations, allowing guests the chance to enjoy magnificent hill country scenery, and special encounters with critters, in privacy. For the second year, THCNPA is offering $500 prize that may be split by the HCA Photo Contest winner(s) of either category 2 - “Working the Land: gardening, agriculture, ranching, farming; or category 4 - “Natural treasures: wildlife, plants, springs, parks, rivers, special places in nature,” provided the winning photo(s) were created on one of the Alliance member properties. Read more here
March 18, 2009
Rething Growth Workshop
Hill Country Alliance Co-sponsors “Rethinking Growth” The Economic Benefits of Conservation-Based Development Austin. The Hill Country is facing critical issues that many desirable locations across the country are facing. How do we conserve the natural resources vital to our region and preserve the heritage that make the Hill Country unique while accommodating population growth in an economically viable way? Randall Arendt, a land-use planner, site designer, author, lecturer and an advocate of conservation planning, is the most sought after speaker on these topics. Arendt is presenting a one-day event to offer solutions for the critical issues that come with rapid growth. Read more here.
March 5, 2009
Final Water Symposia
Schreiner University will host the fourth and final in this year's series of symposia and forums about water issues in Texas at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 12th, in the Floyd & Kathleen Cailloux Campus Activity Center on the Schreiner campus. The topic will be "Forging Partnerships to Address Complex Water Issues in Texas: Obstacles, Perspectives and Solutions."
Read more here.
February 16, 2009
Two Hill Country Treasures on 'Most Endangered Places' List
Instead of letting Hamilton Pool become a mud hole, Hill Country Alliance board member Nell Penridge made it her mission to find a way to save Hamilton Pool. With the help of Hill Country Alliance and Hamilton Pool Road Scenic Corridor Coalition, she applied to Preservation Texas for designation. Preservation Texas then included Hamilton Pool Preserve on its 2009 Most Endangered Places List, because of devastation to the pool from major silt and erosion runoff from subdivision development upstream. Read more here.
Read the Lake Travis View's story on Hamilton Pool's placement on the list here.
February 15, 2009
2009 Hill Country Alliance Photo Contest
Celebrating the Treasures of the Hill Country
Austin (February 11, 2009) – Get your cameras ready to capture the treasures of the Hill Country. It is time to enter your best photographs in the Hill Country Alliance’s (HCA) third annual photo contest. “We hold this contest each year to help raise awareness of the beauty, heritage and the natural resources that make the Hill Country unique,” says Christy Muse, HCA executive director. “We want to encourage residents, landowners and elected officials to take care of this very special part of Texas.” The contest officially opens March 1st. Read more here.
January 20, 2009
Next Texas Water Symposium to be in Fredericksburg
The first Texas Water Symposium of the new year will be 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Admiral Nimitz Ballroom in Fredericksburg. The topic under discussion will be “History of the Rule of Capture and its Role and Status in Shaping Water Policy and Planning in Texas.” Gregory M. Ellis, attorney and executive director of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts, will argue that the Rule of Capture does not grant a vested property right in groundwater and that groundwater conservation districts are the only method of preserving our aquifers; Ed McCarthy, an attorney practicing primarily in water and water-related matters, will argue that groundwater conservation districts may not confiscate private property rights. Read more here or click here to download a copy of the full release.
December 2, 2008
Hill Country Photography Exhibit opens this weekend at Westcave Preserve
Roughly 40 miles outside of Austin in Southwest Travis County, Westcave Preserve is an oasis in the Texas Hill Country. The 75-acre site lies at the meeting point of two Texas ecosystems: grasslands scattered with wildflower meadows, and a lush, sheltered canyon with towering limestone walls and a 40-foot waterfall tumbling over fern-covered travertine columns into an emerald pool. The Hill Country Alliance will place the 12 winning photographs of its 2008 Hill Country Photography contest on display at the Westcave Preserve. Read more here or click here to download the full press release with pictures.
November 10, 2008
Lighting strikes twice in Hill Country Contest
As one of the fastest growing areas in the nation, the Hill Country faces many unique problems. Each year, the Hill Country Alliance holds a contest to find the best pictures taken of the Hill Country. The alliance chose the best 12 pictures from a pool of more than 400 entrants to appear in their annual calendar and represent the alliance’s mission of regional planning, preservation and conservation. This year’s first-place winner, Herb Smith, also took home the top prize in last year’s contest.
Click here to download the full press release.
November 6, 2008
UTSA to host second Texas Water Symposium
The second in the annual series of symposia on Texas water issues will be at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 13, in Auditorium Room, number MB 0.104 on the ground floor of the Main Building at The University of Texas-San Antonio. Free parking will be available and refreshments donated by UTSA will follow the meeting.
Read more...
September 23, 2008
What do we expect the Hill Country to be like in 20 Years? Why are Texas’ Springs vanishing?
Don't miss the Texas Water Symposia this Thursday evening in Boerne.
The first of four Texas Water Symposia will be held Thursday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Boerne Convention Center. Texas Tech University, Schreiner University, San Antonio Public Radio and the Hill Country Alliance have teamed up to present this series of free educational public events about water issues, sustainability and the relationship between science and policy when it comes to water resource planning for future generations.
Read more...
