How 45 million hunters and anglers are aiming to bypass Hollywood

How 45 million hunters and anglers are aiming to bypass Hollywood

The ideological fault lines running between the coasts and the American heartland, turning red and blue to code words, are manifesting in everything from politics and religion to television and films. For many middle Americans who are so often portrayed as uneducated rubes by coastal content companies, there’s a move afoot to leave media giants behind and chart their own path forward… “There are more than 45 million Americans who hunt and fish,” says Liberatore, “that’s more people than live…

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Springs that form Headwaters of San Antonio River protected forever

Springs that form Headwaters of San Antonio River protected forever

The springs that form the headwaters of the San Antonio river will be forever protected from development, thanks to an agreement involving the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word and Green Spaces Alliance. On Friday, leaders of the Headwaters Preserve at Incarnate Word told the Rivard Report they had placed the 53-acre preserve north of downtown under a conservation easement. A conservation easement is a restrictive covenant that permanently bars construction, paving over natural surfaces, mining, or drilling on…

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Hays County Parks & Open Space Advisory Commission makes recommendations to Court

Hays County Parks & Open Space Advisory Commission makes recommendations to Court

Press Release: Hays County Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission (POSAC) – For Immediate Release: July 31, 2020 The Hays County Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission (POSAC) made its recommendations to the Hays County Commissioners Court on July 28 for a potential bond package in the range of $75 to $80 Million to fund new parks, trails, open spaces, natural areas, habitat, water quality and flood mitigation lands in Hays County. Over the past five months, POSAC received 18 projects proposals from…

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Hays County aims at enhancing connectivity, recreation options with Cape’s Pond Project

Hays County aims at enhancing connectivity, recreation options with Cape’s Pond Project

Hays County is aiming at enhancing and expanding regional connectivity and recreation options for county residents with the acquisition of 28.7 acres of property near the San Marcos River… Hays County General Counsel Mark Kennedy said in a press release that the project was discussed as a “key land acquisition to provide multi-modal transportation connectivity between currently disconnected areas of San Marcos and local hike and bike trail systems, including those that are in the planning stages.” Read more from…

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Thrown under the bus? Tax deal leaves future of aquifer, trails programs unsettled

Thrown under the bus? Tax deal leaves future of aquifer, trails programs unsettled

Nirenberg and VIA Metropolitan Transit have agreed on a proposal to temporarily fund the City’s coronavirus response, then shift that funding to VIA Metropolitan Transit. The funding would come from a one-eighth-cent sales tax that currently pays for the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program(EAPP) and the Howard W. Peak Linear Greenway Trail system. The compromise seemingly put an end to weeks of arguments between Nirenberg and San Antonio’s transportation authority. But the agreement didn’t address alternative means of funding the EAPP…

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Senate approves Great American Outdoors Act

Senate approves Great American Outdoors Act

The U.S. Senate today voted 73-25 to approve the Great American Outdoors Act, which would fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and make critical investments in our national park system. “Today the Senate delivered a historic win for the conservation of America’s natural landscapes,” said Jennifer Morris, chief executive officer at The Nature Conservancy. “This bill would make major investments in the landscapes and landmarks vital to our economic, emotional and societal well-being. By protecting important natural spaces and investing…

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Bill Neiman: A sculptor of seeds and soil

Bill Neiman: A sculptor of seeds and soil

A sculptor molds, carves, shapes, and ultimately creates. They may work in different media and are adept with their tools. In addition to shapes, lines, and colors, some incorporate motion —an interrelationship of objects. Bill Neiman is a sculptor. For more than four decades, his medium has been plants and Texas soil. In 1974, at age 19, he started his own landscaping company with a borrowed shovel, rake, and lawn mower. Today, Neiman’s family and a dedicated team run Native American…

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Great American Outdoors Act would improve National Parks—and U.S. economy

Great American Outdoors Act would improve National Parks—and U.S. economy

For the thousands of communities across America that serve as gateways to our national parks, the condition of these treasured sites is critical to economic vitality. That’s because the hotels, restaurants, outfitters, and other businesses in gateway communities count on revenue from people coming to the parks. A bill that the House of Representatives will consider next week—the Great American Outdoors Act—would help restore the parks to top shape by investing nontaxpayer dollars to fix deteriorating assets within our aging…

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Accelerated drying increases potential wildfire ignitions statewide

Accelerated drying increases potential wildfire ignitions statewide

Significant wildfire activity has increased statewide, and accelerated drying has elevated the potential for new wildfire ignitions. New wildfires will become increasingly difficult to extinguish if current temperatures and drying conditions persist into August as forecasted. “Vegetation is rapidly losing moisture due to consecutive days of extremely high temperatures,” said Brad Smith, Texas A&M Forest Service Predictive Services Department Head. “Grass that was green five days ago has wilted and turned brown under the accelerated drying produced from the extreme…

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Catch some falling stars with Comal County Friends of the Night Sky

Catch some falling stars with Comal County Friends of the Night Sky

With Comal County in the crosshairs of rapid growth along the I-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio, Wells and other Canyon Lake residents have joined forces with a grassroots movement sweeping Central Texas whose goal is stopping “light pollution” before it erases stars from the night sky… With the help of HCA, Comal County’s night skies movement kicked off in December 2018 after Commissioners Court passed a Night Sky resolution encouraging residents, businesses and developers to start paying attention…

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