Comal County needs to borrow tools from Hays

September 14, 2020
Economics of Sound Planning

I want to thank Craig Massouh for the article published on August 21 about the work being done to protect our environmental resources in Comal County. Cliff Kaplan, the operations manager for the Hill Country Alliance (HCA) pointed out that “Hays County just agreed to put on the Nov. 3 election a $75-$80 million item to address the need for 16 parks throughout its county, including six in San Marcos and one in Kyle.” The article concluded by explaining what…

To manage wildfire, California looks to what tribes have known all along

August 27, 2020
Cedar/Brush Management

Fire has always been part of California’s landscape. But long before the vast blazes of recent years, Native American tribes held annual controlled burns that cleared out underbrush and encouraged new plant growth. Now, with wildfires raging across Northern California, joining other record-breaking fires from recent years, government officials say tackling the fire problem will mean bringing back “good fire,” much like California’s tribes once did. Read more Lauren Sommer with NPR here.

Hardberger Park land bridge in final stretch of development ahead of fall opening

August 27, 2020
Land Conservation and Stewardship

Phil Hardberger Park’s Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge is approaching its final stages of construction and is expected to be completed in the fall. The 150-foot-wide bridge will connect the east and west areas of Phil Hardberger Park, creating a safe passage for people and animals while replicating the surrounding environment. It will include a SkyWalk, or elevated walkway, that extends to the treetops and a trail designed to accommodate people with disabilities, including those using wheelchairs, that connects to…

Water, Texas: Border wall concerns in Lower Rio Grande Valley diminished by virus and growth

August 27, 2020
Land Conservation and Stewardship

Before it turns right and heads straight north to the Dakotas, US 281 spends its first 46 miles close to the Rio Grande in South Texas. The two-lane highway slips out of downtown Brownsville and bends west through a Lower Rio Grande Valley landscape renowned in Texas for binding water, agriculture, and ecology in a tumult of ferocious urban growth, nationally significant environmental restoration, and political turmoil… On the highway’s south side, distant stands of spiny hackberry and western soapberry…

Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

August 20, 2020
Land Conservation and Stewardship

In a draft law seen by AFP, the country’s environment ministry has drawn up a number of new measures to protect insects, ranging from partially outlawing spotlights to increased protection of natural habitats. “Insects play an important role in the ecosystem…but in Germany, their numbers and their diversity has severely declined in recent years,” reads the draft law, for which the ministry hopes to get cabinet approval by October. Read more from Kit Holden from Phys.org here.

County sets $75 Million Parks Bond for November ballot

August 13, 2020
Economics of Sound Planning

The Hays County Commissioners Court voted in favor of a bond election this November for parks, conservation, connectivity and flood mitigation projects at $75 million. “If you look at the astronomical amounts of development going on,” [Commissioner] Smith said. “I know that there are properties or watershed features in my precinct I know of that will not be here if we wait. These are truly once in a lifetime projects.” Read more from Lance Winter with the San Marcos Daily…

POSAC proposes bond for public access to all parks

August 10, 2020
Economics of Sound Planning

Hays County is nestled in the Texas Hill Country with incredible natural spaces. If public access isn’t always attainable, how can residents enjoy these areas during the pandemic? The Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission (POSAC) recommends the Hays County Commissioners Court call for a bond by Aug. 17. For the upcoming election in November, POSAC recommends a total bond initiative for $75 million to $80 million. Between $60 million to $65 million is looking to be used toward the tier…

CVM researcher develops tool to improve Chronic Wasting Disease resistance in white-tailed deer

August 5, 2020
Land Conservation and Stewardship

Christopher Seabury, an associate professor of genomics at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), has confirmed that certain aspects of the white-tailed deer’s response to chronic wasting disease (CWD) are moderately to highly heritable, or passed from parent to offspring, and can be predicted using a custom genomic tool designed by Seabury and his team. This custom tool, a novel array designed by Seabury, can be used to predict a white-tailed deer’s responses to…

How 45 million hunters and anglers are aiming to bypass Hollywood

August 3, 2020
Land Conservation and Stewardship

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…

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

August 3, 2020
Habitat Conservation Plans

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…