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Monthly Archives: December 2013

December 2013 News Archive

December 29, 2013 Saving Rural Roads: One-Man Mission Turns to Island-wide Effort Think of our scenic Hill Country roads as you read this story of rural character preservation from Martha’s Vineyard, Vineyard Gazette. December 23, 2013 HCA welcomes Randall Arendt back to Central Texas January 24th Join Randall along with local planning professionals for a day full of conservation development and low impact development education. Our region is growing and developing at an alarming rate, this workshop will take a…

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2013 County Authority News

October 9, 2013 The Future of San Antonio: Water and Energy Needs Meet Land Use Planning In her recent contribution to the Rivard Report, Amy Hardberger explains, “The success of the city depends on a plan that includes all aspects of planning including water and energy needs within a land use context. A city cannot predict demand of resources before first determining who it will service, which is dependent on land use decisions.” This is true over the entire Hill…

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2013 Low Impact & Sustainable Development

December 19, 2013 Forget Golf Courses: Subdivisions Draw Residents With Farms When you picture a housing development in the suburbs, you might imagine golf courses, swimming pools, rows of identical houses. But now, there's a new model springing up across the country that taps into the local food movement: Farms — complete with livestock, vegetables and fruit trees — are serving as the latest suburban amenity. Read more from NPR. November 13, 2013 National Association of Realtors survey says smart…

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2013 Public Lands News

November 26, 2013 The Future of Texas State Parks? It’s All About the Money Texas Parks and Wildlife is the only state agency with a dedicated sales tax. Under state law, a portion of the sales tax on sporting goods is meant to go for parks. But lawmakers consistently divert some of that money to balance the state budget. Read more from StateImpact. November 19, 2013 Keeper of the Dome Now leading one of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s top…

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2013 Native Landscape News

December 10, 2013 Why prairies matter and lawns don’t As native landscapes disappear, wildlife disappears, and important ecological processes that insure outcomes such as clean drinking water, climate change buffers, and flood control also disappear. Read more from Healthylandandethic.com. September 6, 2013 Native plants have advantages over imports that are good for the pocketbook and the environment With drought gripping much of the state over the past several years, adding native plants to the garden makes sense for both environmental…

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2013 Local/Sustainable Agriculture News

December 19, 2013 Forget Golf Courses: Subdivisions Draw Residents With Farms When you picture a housing development in the suburbs, you might imagine golf courses, swimming pools, rows of identical houses. But now, there's a new model springing up across the country that taps into the local food movement: Farms — complete with livestock, vegetables and fruit trees — are serving as the latest suburban amenity. Read more from NPR. August 16, 2013 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Viticulture and Fruit…

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2013 Land Stewardship News

February 18, 2013 Farm Bill Update: The Agriculture Act of 2014 and Conservation With the enactment of the Agriculture Act of 2014, known to most of us as the Farm Bill, landowners have more certainty about the availability of federal funds for conservation on farm and ranch lands. The Farm Bill provides up to $57 billion dollars over the next five years to support a variety of rural land conservation activities, including the dedication of conservation easements, and eliminates some…

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2013 Water Catchment News

September 23, 2013 Llano River Watershed Protection progress and water news from Junction Workgroups will tackle: Invasive Species, Riparian Protection, Water Quality, Upland Management and Water Supply issues. Learn more in the September Newsletter for the Upper Llano River Watershed Protection Planning process. Learn More April 4, 2013 Collaboration News on the Upper Llano River Watershed The second newsletter of the Upper Llano River Watershed Protection Plan is a great summary of events and progress. The Llano is so important…

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2013 Water Quality News

December 18, 2013 The Examiner speaks of direct discharge as a Hill Country “Land Heist.” “Terrell Graham and his wife’s family have owned their ranch in the Texas Hill Country for over 100 years. It’s remained a working farm and cattle ranch, and now Texas state government is stealing their land so private developers can discharge treated sewage from 1,500 new homes into the Lux family’s dry creek bed.” Link to this alarming article by Terry Hall here. Direct discharge…

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2013 Water Planning News

  December 5, 2013 A new path forward for TWDB On Sept. 1, 2013, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) began serving the citizens of Texas under a new management structure with three full-time Board members. Between that time and the successful passage of Proposition 6 on Nov. 5, both the new Board members and agency staff have been hard at work preparing to implement the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas and to respond to other new legislation. Read…

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