Economic Benefits Report from Great Springs Project

With the expert guidance of Alta Planning + Design and National Park Service, Great Springs Project is proud to present the Economic Benefits Report for the trail from the Alamo to the Capitol to quantify the financial return from the 100+-mile trail network and 50,000 conserved acres of land in the GSP corridor. The report includes economic, health, environmental, and transportation cost savings as well as climate change data including carbon sequestration. For more details and to read the full report from the…

What future do we desire for the Trinity Aquifers?

July 21, 2021
HCAdmin
Economics of Sound Planning, Groundwater Resources, Legislature and Regulation, News, Planning and Development, Regional Planning, Water Planning, Water Resources

Across the Hill Country, residents and visitors depend on the groundwater stored in the Trinity Aquifers as water supply and to provide baseflow through springs that keep iconic creeks and rivers flowing. Residents have a voice through the regional planning process to discuss and set goals to guide the future we desire for the Trinity Aquifers. Read more from Robin Gary with Wimberley Valley Watershed Association here.

Texas reimagines the fight against floods

For more than 60 years, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has been tasked with leading Texas efforts in securing the state’s water supply through the conservation and development of Texas’ water resources. The agency’s framework for fulfilling this mission combines the three key functions of science, planning, and financing. Read more from Peter Lake in the Texas Water Journal here.

Hays County OKs Cape’s Dam Agreement

June 10, 2021
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Community, Economics of Sound Planning, News, Planning and Development, Regional Planning, Water Planning, Water Quality, Water Resources

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.

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…

After the storm: Legislative solutions to Texas’ water infrastructure emergency

My Austin apartment has always been drafty, hard to heat when it's cold out, and hard to cool in the summer. But on February 17th, our third day without power, when I ventured into the kitchen for some bread my roommate and I could eat for breakfast, I found ice in our sink and a knot formed in my gut. We were without power, without heat, and, as we soon learned, without clean water as well -- we didn’t even…

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…

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…

Advocates push for bill designed to let counties manage development to protect water sources

April 26, 2021
HCAdmin
Community, Economics of Sound Planning, Land Conservation and Stewardship, Legislature and Regulation, News, Planning and Development, Regional Planning, Special Districts, Water Planning, Water Resources

A bill in the Texas legislature that would give county governments more authority to protect water sources in the Hill Country has not made it past the committee hurdle. House Bill 3883, authored by State Rep. Kyle Biedermann, failed to secure enough votes to pass the Land & Resource Management Committee which voted 5-4 against the bill. Read more from the new Braunfels Herald-Zeitung here.

10 Texas climate bills to watch on Earth Day

Texas, as the saying goes, has four seasons: drought, flood, blizzard, and twister. This old quip has hit a bit too close to home for Texans this year. We are less than two months removed from a devastating polar vortex that could yet prove to be the costliest disaster in state history. Weeks after enduring some of the coldest temperatures on record, Texans were greeted by an unusually early spring with temperatures creeping close to 100 degrees Farenheit across the…