A challenge awaits all of us

August 21, 2019
Land Conservation and Stewardship

Ernie Wittwer is a resident of New Braunfels. He is a volunteer for the Comal County Conservation Alliance (CCCA), believing that the wonderful natural features of the area should be preserved. He is retired after a career in public service. Those of us who live in Comal County face a challenge that will not disappear. How can we live with significant growth while maintaining the things that brought us to the county in the first place? The Comal County Conservation Alliance was formed to…

Invasive zebra mussels found in Lakes Lyndon B. Johnson, Pflugerville in Central Texas

August 12, 2019
Land Conservation and Stewardship

AUSTIN – Established, reproducing populations of invasive zebra mussels have been discovered at two new lakes in Central Texas, Lake Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) in the Colorado River basin northwest of Austin and Lake Pflugerville northeast of Austin. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) biologists confirmed the presence of zebra mussels in Lake LBJ after LCRA staff found about a dozen juvenile and adult zebra mussels near the Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant in…

Sink Creek Project Awarded U.S. Forest Service Grant

August 1, 2019
Conservation Easements

The City of San Marcos will receive a $423,500 grant from the United States Forest Service to fund the land purchase of the Sink Creek Community Forest Tract. This is the first Community Forest and Open Space Program grant awarded to a project in Texas. The City purchased the 102-acre tract through a three-year lease with The Trust for Public Land in 2017 for a total purchase price of $1.27 million. City Council approved the lease-purchase agreement with the expectation…

Sporting goods tax could exclusively go to funding Texas parks and historical sites

July 30, 2019
Land Conservation and Stewardship

Parks around the State of Texas could start receiving some extra money in the fall. In 1993, legislation was passed in order to more adequately fund the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Up to 94 percent of all of the taxes collected from the purchase of sporting goods were to be used to fund local, regional and state parks, with the other six percent of the taxes collected heading to the Texas Historical Commission in order to maintain the State…

Letter to the Editor: Get started now to save green space for the future

July 18, 2019
Land Stewardship

by Richard Bigelow, New Braunfels ETJ Resident Letter to the Editor of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung July 14, 2019 Citizens of New Braunfels and Comal County, help save our area’s natural beauty! I began looking for a place to move in 2007 and the beauty, parks, open spaces, and friendliness of Comal County and New Braunfels put this area at the top of the list. At the time, there were about 52,000 people in New Braunfels and 106,000 in Comal…

Texas parks are broke. But there’s good news: voters can rescue them.

June 26, 2019
Native Landscapes

Money intended for state parks and historic sites should actually be spent on state parks and historic sites, right? It took lawmakers a little more than a quarter century to reach that conclusion. Since 1993, sales tax collected from the purchase of sporting goods and outdoor gear was supposed to fund Texas’s system of much-loved yet perpetually cash-strapped state parks and historic sites. Buy a kayak in Texas? In theory, you’re a park benefactor. Same for the purchase of baseball…

Gay Ruby Dahlstrom Preserve now open to the public

June 20, 2019
Habitat Conservation Plans

The project the late Gay Ruby Dahlstrom worked for almost a decade over is now complete and open to the public as a nature preserve and conservation easement. Hays County, the Hill Country Conservancy and the Dahlstrom family announced the opening of the Gay Ruby Dahlstrom Preserve. The nature preserve is located in Buda on the Dahlstrom Ranch spanning 384 acres of undeveloped land. Pct. 2 Commissioner Mark Jones said the county fully supported the project and invested more than…

Letter to the Editor, Legislature approves funding for parks

June 20, 2019
Legislature and Regulation

by Jensie Madden, Comal County, TX, with the Comal County Conservation Alliance Letter to the Editor of New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung Published June 11, 2019 As the 86th session of the Texas Legislature draws to a close, I am celebrating the passage of legislation to allow Texans to vote in support of state parks. Thanks to the co-sponsorship of Senator Donna Campbell and Representative Kyle Biedermann along with many other legislators, a joint resolution will allow for the placement of a…

Gay Ruby Dahlstrom Nature Preserve opens

May 8, 2019
Land Conservation and Stewardship

Gay Ruby Dahlstrom Nature Preserve, Buda, TX – Hays County and the family of the late Gay Ruby Dahlstrom today officially opened the nature preserve named in her honor. “This 384-acre preserve is the culmination of Gay Ruby Dahlstrom’s vision to share her love of the environment and natural beauty with everyone,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Mark Jones said. “Thanks to the Dahlstrom family and our other partners, this space is now open for those seeking the peace and quiet of…

Commentary: We must act now to save our state parks

March 6, 2019
Land Conservation and Stewardship

More than 30 million visitors have taken in the majesty of the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. Last year alone, more than 10 million visited the Louvre in Paris with such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa. Imagine for a moment the absurdity of locking these treasures away from public view because their buildings fell into disrepair. Yet that is exactly what’s happening to many of our state parks because funds intended for their upkeep have been diverted elsewhere,…