Game ranch fined for pesticide misuse in Hill Country bat cave incident

January 24, 2019
News

The Texas Department of Agriculture slapped a $1,200 fine on the Star S Ranch near Mason this week for two violations of pesticide drift at the Eckert James River Bat Cave last summer. The six-month investigation found the Star S Ranch, which shares a fence line with the bat cave, had used a Permethrin-based pesticide inappropriately. The 14,000-acre exotic game ranch applied the pesticide with a fogger and in a way that allowed it to make contact with people. Both acts constitute using the…

Nationally renowned educational and environmental strategist joins Cibolo Nature Center & Farm team

January 24, 2019
News

January 22, 2018- BOERNE, Texas – Margaret Lamar has joined the Cibolo Nature Center & Farm(CNC&F) as the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). In this position, she will lead and collaborate on key initiatives focusing on programming, fundraising, and conservation. Margaret will be responsible for creating and maintaining an organization-wide strategy, including execution and assessment, to build collaborative initiatives through partnerships and community engagement. “I’m thrilled to be part of the 30-year tradition of the Cibolo Nature Center & Farm to…

Don’t blow it: Unregulated wind farms encroach on pristine Texas wilderness

January 24, 2019
News

The Devils River Conservancy, is spearheading the “Don’t Blow It” campaign to advocate for thoughtful regulation of wind energy development — an industry quickly expanding in rural Texas, largely without rules and with serious negative implications for Texans. While the campaign is in full support of renewable energy solutions, “Don’t Blow It” by placing renewable energy in locations that negatively impact ecologically and culturally sensitive and pristine areas, military operations and border security, as well as the communities that depend…

GEAA fights Bulverde wastewater permits

January 23, 2019
News

Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance (GEAA) will host a “strategy meeting” for ideas about how to fight a local developer’s attempt to release 300,000 gallons-per-day of treated sewage into Indian Creek, a tributary of Cibolo Creek in Comal County. The meeting regarding TCEQ Permit # WQ0015092001 for the Goldsmith Tract Development, development is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23 at GVTC Auditorium 36101 FM 3159, New Braunfels. TCEQ has scheduled a public meeting regarding the Indian Creek permit for 7…

Conley to resign from CAMPO

January 23, 2019
County Authority

Will Conley, the current chair of Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO),announced he plans to resign. According to CAMPO, Conley will stay on as chair until the group can find his replacement. Conley was appointed to the CAMPO board by the Hays County Commissioners Court in 2008 and has served as the group’s chair for the past six years. He was the first person outside of Travis County to be elected to lead the 43-year old regional transportation board. Conley,…

Commentary: Austin’s Water Forward plan is a bold step into the future

January 23, 2019
News

It might be difficult to imagine a lack of water after all of the recent rain and flooding, but we know from history that there is one thing we can always count on in Texas: there will be another drought. During times of drought, supplies are already stretched razor thin, so what will happen when our state’s population more than doubles in the coming decades? Millions of Texans could be left high and dry. Water supply is not an issue…

Will exotics wipe out whitetails?

January 23, 2019
Land Stewardship

Exotic deer were brought into the Texas Hill County in the 1930s. Exotic numbers began to increase rapidly in the 1950’s, with the birth of the hunting industry. Exotic surveys by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began in the 1960’s. At that time, there were 13 species and about 13,000 animals. The last survey was in 1996. At that time, there were 190,000 animals and 76 species. According to the Texas Exotic Association there are now over 250,000 exotics. The…

January Director’s Notes: A Letter from HCA’s New Board President, Matt Lara

January 18, 2019
Director's Notes

Thank you to board members past and present, friends, and supporters who joined us to toast the New Year in San Antonio! Dear Hill Country Neighbors, It is a privilege to serve as the new Board President of the Hill Country Alliance (HCA) and to work with my fellow board members on the common commitment of preserving open spaces, water supply, water quality, and the unique character of the Texas Hill Country. I first became involved with HCA in 2013…

Are pipeline land takings in the public interest if oil, gas headed overseas?

January 17, 2019
Legislature and Regulation

Pipeline companies in Texas and other states have long had the power to take land under the eminent domain principle that projects to transport energy to heat homes, generate electricity and produce fuels are in the public interest. But what if the public is in Europe, South America or Asia? As natural gas and crude oil produced in Texas are increasingly exported, environmentalists, property rights advocates and legal specialists are promoting a novel legal argument to block pipelines, asserting that…

New push for eminent domain reform expected at Texas legislature

January 16, 2019
Legislature and Regulation

If you want to cook up a battle over private property rights in Texas, here’s the recipe: Take a handful of sprawling cities and growing populations that are expanding into once-rural areas, add a booming oil and gas industry with a desperate need for new pipelines to move record-high volumes of hydrocarbons, and sprinkle in the new electric lines needed to power both of those trends. In recent years, as companies and governments build more roads, power lines and pipelines…