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Landowner Alliances

Texas Could Give Landowners More Say In Eminent Domain Negotiations Under Bill Sent To Greg Abbott’s Desk

Texas could give landowners more say in eminent domain negotiations under bill sent to Greg Abbott’s desk

The Texas Legislature approved a bill early Thursday that will revise eminent domain negotiations between landowners and companies — such as railroads, pipeline and utility companies — that are seeking to condemn land, requiring that landowners be given the terms of the contract up front, as well as more information about the eminent domain process. After six years of heated negotiations between groups that represent landowners and the groups that represent big pipeline, utility, railroad, and oil and gas companies,…

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Expanding Opportunities For Natural Resource Conservation In Texas

Expanding opportunities for natural resource conservation in Texas

Texas is home to a variety of unique, productive, and biologically thriving landscapes from the Piney Woods in the east to the arid mountain vistas in the west. Each year, these lands are the root of hundreds of thousands of jobs that help generate billions of dollars in revenue to the state economy. Our land resources also provide a wealth and variety of ecological services, including wildlife habitat, flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, and clean water. The same landscapes that so…

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Easing Into Watershed Protection With Taxes And Bonds Featuring Lon Shell, Frank Davis, And Phillip Covington

Easing into watershed protection with taxes and bonds featuring Lon Shell, Frank Davis, and Phillip Covington

Episode Notes  In this episode, Leslie Bobby of Southern Regional Extension Forestry talks to Frank Davis and Commissioner Lon Shell, important water management players in Texas's Hill Country region, an area marked by considerable growth and development in recent years. They discuss how communities around San Antonio are using taxes and those around Austin are using bonds to ensure they have clean water for generations to come. About the Podcast How the River Flows highlights how our region’s communities are…

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Young Life Members Should Pressure Their Organization To Be Stewards Of The Environment

Young Life members should pressure their organization to be stewards of the environment

Texas State is home to a well-attended chapter of Young Life, a Colorado-based Christian organization comprising mainly high school and college students. Texas State Young Life members spend a lot of time together, including camping together at LoneHollow Ranch in Vanderpool, Texas, where members enjoyed a Spring Break retreat last month. LoneHollow Ranch is a beautiful, newly-acquired camping complex situated on over a thousand acres of land by the Sabinal River — a river that Young Life Texas has recently requested a Texas Pollutant Discharge…

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It’s (past) Time To Save Our Rural Land Heritage

It’s (past) time to save our rural land heritage

On Tuesday, May 11, 2021, from 6:00 – 7:00pm, the Comal County Conservation Alliance (CCCA) will host an evening program on “Saving our Rural Land Heritage.” Guest speakers are David K. Langford of the Hillingdon Ranch in Kendall County, and Rob and Teresa Ohlrich Johnson of the JO Ranch in Comal County. They will tell their stories about their families’ use of conservation easements as a tool to preserve their families’ land and ranching heritage along with the natural and…

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An Audacious And Timely Conservation Challenge

An audacious and timely conservation challenge

We should all applaud President Biden's executive order calling for conservation of 30% of the U.S. land base by 2030. This bold "30x30" vision is firmly rooted in science, given that protected land is key to a healthy and secure future for all Americans. It provides pure drinking water, healthy food, clean air, habitat for wildlife, and places for people to reflect, recreate, hunt and fish. Conserved land also provides protection from natural disasters, such as floods and droughts, and…

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Judge Strikes Down Air Quality Permit For Proposed 1,500-acre Limestone Quarry In Comal County

Judge strikes down air quality permit for proposed 1,500-acre limestone quarry in Comal County

Opponents of a proposed 1,500-acre open-pit limestone quarry between New Braunfels and Bulverde scored a “monumental” victory on Friday when an Austin judge struck down an air-quality permit Alabama-based Vulcan Construction Materials needed to proceed with the controversial project. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) granted the permit in 2019 after two years of heated legal wrangling between Vulcan, the nation’s largest producer of construction aggregates, and an alliance of Comal County citizens, community groups and Comal ISD. Read more…

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County Asks Leg For More Regs On Miners

County asks Leg for more regs on miners

Kerr County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution asking the Texas Legislature to place more regulations on mining operations. The resolution states that although mining operations - also known as aggregate production operations - have attempted to be "good neighbors," they can be detrimental to beauty, air and water quality, and can adversely affect property values and quality of life, if they're near neighborhoods. "The Kerr County Commissioners Court encourages existing and potential APOs to adopt best-management practices to minimize adverse health…

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Biden Should Use Private Partnerships To Save US Lands

Biden should use private partnerships to save US lands

Conserving land is an essential element of any effort to battle climate change, a fact highlighted by the 30x30 plan supported by President Biden. Fulfilling a campaign pledge, one of Biden’s first actions as president was to sign an executive order that established the goal of conserving a third of America’s land and ocean waters by 2030. Meeting that goal will not be easy, but it can be achieved if we harness both private and government resources and ensure more Americans can participate…

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“One Thing After Another”: Rural Texans Faced The Same Storm — With Unique Hardships

“One thing after another”: Rural Texans faced the same storm — with unique hardships

As humanitarian aid workers in Armenia and South Sudan, Jerry and Meaghan Kenney have huddled around wood stoves to keep warm and bathed with buckets for lack of water. But the couple didn’t expect they’d need such survival skills to get through the winter storm at their home outside Hudson, in deep East Texas. The Kenneys, who have a 1-year-old and 3-year-old, had only intermittent power and water last week, and remain under a boil water notice. Read more from…

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