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Yearly Archives: 2021

Hill Country Alliance Limited Edition Design – Meet The Artist: Olivia Gray

Hill Country Alliance Limited Edition Design – Meet the Artist: Olivia Gray

This spring, the Hill Country Alliance is proud to announce the release of a limited edition Hill Country creation, designed by local artist Olivia Gray. Olivia Gray resides in Wimberley and is a junior at Southwestern University in Georgetown. She is working on a double major in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts. The drawing she submitted to the Hill Country Alliance is her pen-and-ink representation of the natural wonders of the Texas Hill Country. “My design for Hill Country Alliance…

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Hays County OKs Cape’s Dam Agreement

Hays County OKs Cape’s Dam Agreement

The Hays County Commissioners Court approved an interlocal agreement and memorandum of understanding with the City of San Marcos regarding the Cape’s Dam Complex. The approved MOU provides a framework for collaboration and cost-sharing in regard to the proposed rehabilitation of the Cape’s Dam Complex. Read more from Nick Castillo with San Marcos Daily Record here. 

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Austin Plans New Tactic Against Dog-killing Algae: Starve It Out

Austin plans new tactic against dog-killing algae: Starve it out

Up until a few years ago, Austinites didn’t much worry about poisonous blue-green algae sickening them and killing their dogs. Then in 2018, flooding upstream of Austin sent massive amounts of runoff down the Colorado River and into area lakes. That runoff contained agricultural and residential fertilizers, septic waste and other things that injected a supercharged dose of phosphorus into the water. Read more from Mose Buchele with Texas Public Radio here. 

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Barton Creek Habitat Preserve Conservation To Continue ‘in Perpetuity’ Following Austin Acquisition

Barton Creek Habitat Preserve conservation to continue ‘in perpetuity’ following Austin acquisition

A 10-0 vote by Austin City Council on June 3 ensured the permanent preservation nearly 4,100 acres of land home to one of the area's unique wildlife habitats and key sources of drinking water. Council via consent June 3 approved the purchase of a conservation easement on the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve, located near Hwy. 71 southeast of Bee Cave, from longtime owners and stewards The Nature Conservancy for up to $2.8 million. The Barton Creek preserve now represents one…

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Solutions To Blanco Wastewater Discharge Seeing New Light

Solutions to Blanco wastewater discharge seeing new light

The impact of the election May 1 on Blanco citizens and their Wimberley Valley neighbors downstream along the Blanco River was immediately apparent at the city’s May 11 council meeting under new mayor Rachel Lumpee, joined by new council member Connie Barron. A council previously struggling to address its first municipal utility district (MUD) achieved a number of water and wastewater planning objectives for Blanco that will directly benefit Hays County. The Blanco City Council adopted a MUD policy that…

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SAWS Board Gets Briefing On Sewage Line Options For Development Near Protected Land

SAWS board gets briefing on sewage line options for development near protected land

A San Antonio Water System plan to avoid routing sewage lines across environmentally sensitive land is not only less controversial than the original proposal but also less expensive, according to SAWS officials. The utility’s board received the briefing Tuesday on a set of sewage development plans that have been carefully watched by local environmentalists over the past several weeks. SAWS originally planned to route between 84,000 and 100,800 gallons of raw sewage across two properties that had been enrolled in the…

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New Braunfels One Step Closer To Hike-and-bike Trail

New Braunfels one step closer to hike-and-bike trail

New Braunfels is one step closer to a new hike-and-bike trail. On May 20, the New Braunfels Economic Development Board approved a $375,000 deal with San Antonio-based engineering firm Bain Medina Bain to finalize design on a portion of the Dry Comal Creek Hike and Bike Trail. According to the Herald-Zeitung, the deal includes "civil, survey, environmental, wayfinding, materials testing and landscape architecture" for the new trail. Dry Comal Creek Hike and Bike Trail is part of the of the Dry…

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Pretty And Powerful: Six Wildflowers That Benefit Texas Ecosystems

Pretty and powerful: six wildflowers that benefit Texas ecosystems

April showers bring May flowers, which may be the better part of spring for Texans-a charismatic display to distract us from the inevitable heat ahead. Alas, they are more than their displays: with over 2,500 species, native Texas wildflowers provide critical habitats for an array of pollinators, help protect the soil from erosion and create the best views for lone star road trips. Their beauty is showcased along winding highways, sprinkled through the piney woods, blanketed throughout the hill country…

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Marble Falls Rock Crushing Plant Canceled; Lawsuit Settled

Marble Falls rock crushing plant canceled; lawsuit settled

A lawsuit between Marble Falls-area plaintiffs and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Asphalt Inc. (now doing business as Lone Star Paving) was put to rest May 23 once all involved parties signed off on a settlement agreement. The lawsuit, filed in 2017 over a proposed rock crushing plant, hit a dead end after landowners sold the property where the plant would be built. “The sale of the property has mooted the primary basis of the lawsuit in as…

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