From KEYE, May 14, 2009...
About an hour from Austin, there's a hidden jewel that's doing its part to restore overgrazed ranch land.
Not only can you go hiking on nature trails and see dinosaur tracks, you can see the efforts being made to protect wildlife and endangered species like the black-capped vireo and golden-cheeked warbler which nest there.
Nestled in the Texas Hill Country, right outside Johnson City, is the Bamberger Ranch -- 5,500 acres of land now considered one of the largest habitat restoration projects in the state.
Read more...
Showing posts with label Hill Country. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hill Country. Show all posts
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
4,000 new jobs could be coming to Central Texas
From News 8 Austin, May 8, 2009...
Austin-based Valence Technology Incorporated could be bringing 4,000 new jobs to Central Texas if it can secure federal stimulus money.
The company, which makes rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and many other applications, plans to build a new $760 million battery manufacturing plant with their aid.
Read more...Friday, April 17, 2009
Hill Country peach growers anticipate rough season
From News 8 Austin, April 17, 2009...
Many peach orchards in the Fredericksburg area were devastated by last week's freezing temperatures. Some say it's a waiting game to determine how their crops will turn out.
Read more...
Many peach orchards in the Fredericksburg area were devastated by last week's freezing temperatures. Some say it's a waiting game to determine how their crops will turn out.
Read more...
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Rain could boost late season wildflowers
From KVUE, February 17, 2009...
The extreme drought conditions over the past year are likely to limit the amount of bluebonnets Central Texas sees this spring; however, the recent rain in the past few weeks should boost late season flowers.
"Black-eyed Susans and Indian blankets," said Damon Waitt, a senior botanist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. "I think those will put on a really good show this year."
Read more...
The extreme drought conditions over the past year are likely to limit the amount of bluebonnets Central Texas sees this spring; however, the recent rain in the past few weeks should boost late season flowers.
"Black-eyed Susans and Indian blankets," said Damon Waitt, a senior botanist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. "I think those will put on a really good show this year."
Read more...
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Wind energy industry blowing through Central Texas
From News 8 Austin, December 17, 2008...
TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company has shipped its first fleet of wind turbines off to Chile.
It's no stretch of logic to say that assembling a 72-ton wind turbine is no easy task, but once it's up to full production TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company will produce one every eight hours.
The operation will consequently open up more jobs, bringing in more green for the local economy while providing a green energy alternative.
Read more...
TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company has shipped its first fleet of wind turbines off to Chile.
It's no stretch of logic to say that assembling a 72-ton wind turbine is no easy task, but once it's up to full production TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company will produce one every eight hours.
The operation will consequently open up more jobs, bringing in more green for the local economy while providing a green energy alternative.
Read more...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Drought wreaks havoc on wildlife
From KXAN, December 3, 2008...
Austin and the Hill Country are among the two driest regions in the country. The extreme drought conditions have drastically changed the food chain on one Hill Country ranch.
"We have only seen six inches of rain since last October," said ranch manager Ed Dutch. The whitetail deer on the thousands of acres he oversees in southern Burnet County are in a poor nutritional state. Even the armadillos are looking skinny. Dutch said you will not find a snake, rat or rabbit within miles.
Read more...
Austin and the Hill Country are among the two driest regions in the country. The extreme drought conditions have drastically changed the food chain on one Hill Country ranch.
"We have only seen six inches of rain since last October," said ranch manager Ed Dutch. The whitetail deer on the thousands of acres he oversees in southern Burnet County are in a poor nutritional state. Even the armadillos are looking skinny. Dutch said you will not find a snake, rat or rabbit within miles.
Read more...
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Central Texas spring's flow an indicator of the extreme drought
From KVUE, November 3, 2008...
Jacob's Well, a natural spring in Hays County, currently has water, but the flow stopped last month for only the second time in its recorded history.
The well is fed by the Trinity Aquifer which is the primary water supply for Wimberley and much of the Hill Country. Baker says everyone should be concerned.
Read more...
Jacob's Well, a natural spring in Hays County, currently has water, but the flow stopped last month for only the second time in its recorded history.
The well is fed by the Trinity Aquifer which is the primary water supply for Wimberley and much of the Hill Country. Baker says everyone should be concerned.
Read more...
Friday, October 31, 2008
Texas Deer Season Starts Saturday
From Houston Chronicle, October 30, 2008...
This has been a roller-coaster year for white-tailed deer in much of Texas. As a result, the half-million-plus deer hunters anticipating Saturday’s [Nov 1] opening of hunting season in most of the state are likely to have their own ups and downs.
In a state as large as Texas, with its diversity of habitat, weather history and land use, it’s impossible to make a blanket pronouncement on the status of the state’s four million-plus deer or a universal prediction on how the season will play out for hunters.
But speaking in generalities, heading into this hunting season, most of Texas’ deer herd is in fair physical shape; some are in good body condition, antler development in most regions is at least average and habitat conditions are decent overall.
Read more...
This has been a roller-coaster year for white-tailed deer in much of Texas. As a result, the half-million-plus deer hunters anticipating Saturday’s [Nov 1] opening of hunting season in most of the state are likely to have their own ups and downs.
In a state as large as Texas, with its diversity of habitat, weather history and land use, it’s impossible to make a blanket pronouncement on the status of the state’s four million-plus deer or a universal prediction on how the season will play out for hunters.
But speaking in generalities, heading into this hunting season, most of Texas’ deer herd is in fair physical shape; some are in good body condition, antler development in most regions is at least average and habitat conditions are decent overall.
Read more...
Texas Hill Country is the kind of place where cowboys and sommeliers meet
From Canoe News, October 30, 2008...
The Texas Hill Country, where tiny towns dot a landscape of wildflowers and cedar trees, is the kind of place where cowboys and sommeliers meet. Sometimes literally.
Dude ranches and country dance halls sit alongside wineries and haute cuisine. A hard morning on horseback can be followed by an afternoon of wine and cheese. And nobody minds a bit.
Ask Brandon Stowe. The 24-year-old in cowboy boots was swirling and sipping samples of wine here recently while in town for a wedding, but he and his hunting buddies often stop at a winery to pick up their favourite vintage at the end a day of hunting in the Hill Country.
"It's hard to imagine six guys who have been hunting all day going to a winery, but we do," he said, glass in hand in the cellar-like tasting room of the Torre di Pietra winery.
Read more...
The Texas Hill Country, where tiny towns dot a landscape of wildflowers and cedar trees, is the kind of place where cowboys and sommeliers meet. Sometimes literally.
Dude ranches and country dance halls sit alongside wineries and haute cuisine. A hard morning on horseback can be followed by an afternoon of wine and cheese. And nobody minds a bit.
Ask Brandon Stowe. The 24-year-old in cowboy boots was swirling and sipping samples of wine here recently while in town for a wedding, but he and his hunting buddies often stop at a winery to pick up their favourite vintage at the end a day of hunting in the Hill Country.
"It's hard to imagine six guys who have been hunting all day going to a winery, but we do," he said, glass in hand in the cellar-like tasting room of the Torre di Pietra winery.
Read more...
Friday, October 3, 2008
Good barbecue's not all they do in Texas' Hill Country
From USA Today, October 2, 2008...
Prohibition nearly wiped out Texas's wine industry, but it re-emerged in the 1970s and now embraces 163 wineries in four regions. The prime sectors, because of their climate and proximity to Austin, are the Texas Hill Country American Viticultural Area and, within that, the 110-square-mile AVA of Fredericksburg. About 30 wineries are located within them, as are many of the state's best BBQ joints. Mediterranean grapes such as Pinot Grigio, Viognier, Tempranillo and Syrah grow well here.
Since its founding in 1992, Becker Vineyards in Stonewall (beckervineyards.com) has grown to embrace a tasting room with a stone fireplace and a 19th-century bar; a B&B; lavender fields; and a reception hall. Pioneering Fall Creek Vineyards in Tow (fcv.com), dating to 1975, is close to scenic Lake Buchanan and Fall Creek's 90-foot waterfalls. The tasting room at Lost Creek Vineyard in Sunrise Beach (lostcreekvineyard.com) was destroyed by flooding last year, but a new version opened this summer, and the adjoining Tree House Bistro makes its debut this month.
Read more...
Prohibition nearly wiped out Texas's wine industry, but it re-emerged in the 1970s and now embraces 163 wineries in four regions. The prime sectors, because of their climate and proximity to Austin, are the Texas Hill Country American Viticultural Area and, within that, the 110-square-mile AVA of Fredericksburg. About 30 wineries are located within them, as are many of the state's best BBQ joints. Mediterranean grapes such as Pinot Grigio, Viognier, Tempranillo and Syrah grow well here.
Since its founding in 1992, Becker Vineyards in Stonewall (beckervineyards.com) has grown to embrace a tasting room with a stone fireplace and a 19th-century bar; a B&B; lavender fields; and a reception hall. Pioneering Fall Creek Vineyards in Tow (fcv.com), dating to 1975, is close to scenic Lake Buchanan and Fall Creek's 90-foot waterfalls. The tasting room at Lost Creek Vineyard in Sunrise Beach (lostcreekvineyard.com) was destroyed by flooding last year, but a new version opened this summer, and the adjoining Tree House Bistro makes its debut this month.
Read more...
Catch monarch migration in the Texas Hill Country
From Dallas News, September 24, 2008...
If you want to get in touch with nature without roughing it, keep an eye out for orange and black in this Hill Country area.
The colors mean the monarch butterflies are back, taking a break on their southbound journey to Mexico.In nature, as in life, there are no guarantees. But the vanguard of the winged migrants usually arrives in Texas in late September and early October, with peak migration in mid-October.
Unless the butterflies rest in a greenbelt or garden near you, Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge near Austin is a fairly reliable place for seeing them.
Read more...
If you want to get in touch with nature without roughing it, keep an eye out for orange and black in this Hill Country area.
The colors mean the monarch butterflies are back, taking a break on their southbound journey to Mexico.In nature, as in life, there are no guarantees. But the vanguard of the winged migrants usually arrives in Texas in late September and early October, with peak migration in mid-October.
Unless the butterflies rest in a greenbelt or garden near you, Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge near Austin is a fairly reliable place for seeing them.
Read more...
Monday, September 8, 2008
Hill Country bat colony puts on a wild show
From Star-Telegram, Septempber 7, 2008...
You’re standing just an arm’s length away, so the breeze generated by the beating wings is the first thing to startle you as the waves of little brown creatures begin careening into the waning daylight.
We have come to the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area, about a dozen miles from town up an undulating Hill Country road, to see the nightly emergence of Brazilian Free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis), a Milky Way of bats, 3 million of them pouring in a thick, fluttering stream into the deep-blue evening. These are the same species of migratory bats, often called Mexican Free-tailed bats, that swarm out from under Austin’s Congress Avenue Bridge, but watching them take wing in the limestone hills, from a much closer perch, makes for a far more sublime nature experience.
Read more...
You’re standing just an arm’s length away, so the breeze generated by the beating wings is the first thing to startle you as the waves of little brown creatures begin careening into the waning daylight.
We have come to the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area, about a dozen miles from town up an undulating Hill Country road, to see the nightly emergence of Brazilian Free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis), a Milky Way of bats, 3 million of them pouring in a thick, fluttering stream into the deep-blue evening. These are the same species of migratory bats, often called Mexican Free-tailed bats, that swarm out from under Austin’s Congress Avenue Bridge, but watching them take wing in the limestone hills, from a much closer perch, makes for a far more sublime nature experience.
Read more...
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Highlighting the Hill Country
From The Daily Times, September 4, 2008...
The secret is out and word continues to spread about what makes the Hill Country the perfect travel destination.
Earlier this summer, The New York Times listed the Texas Hill Country as the No.1 travel destination in the United States. Now, Fodor’s Travel, a division of Random House Inc., has published its first edition guide to San Antonio, Austin and the Hill Country.
Read more...
The secret is out and word continues to spread about what makes the Hill Country the perfect travel destination.
Earlier this summer, The New York Times listed the Texas Hill Country as the No.1 travel destination in the United States. Now, Fodor’s Travel, a division of Random House Inc., has published its first edition guide to San Antonio, Austin and the Hill Country.
Read more...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Cutting back cedar not best approach to saving water
From statesman, August 31, 2008...
For most of the past 25 years, if you saw a cedar tree you grabbed a chain saw. Unless you were a golden-cheeked warbler.
The little birds that nest exclusively in Central Texas — using long strips of cedar bark to build their nests — long have seemed to be the only residents of the Hill Country carrying on any kind of love affair with the squat evergreen we call cedar. It's technically the Ashe juniper, but cedar will do.
European settlers found little cedar when they came to the Hill Country in the 19th Century; however, fire suppression, over-grazing and invasive species combined to allow cedars to establish the huge colonies we now call breaks.
As the breaks grew, water disappeared, leaving most Central Texans with the belief that cedars were drilling deep down into the water table and sucking out the water that had flowed from springs. Ranchers and farmers went to work clearing as much of the cedar as they could, hoping to free the land for other purposes and maybe renew water sources.
Read more...
For most of the past 25 years, if you saw a cedar tree you grabbed a chain saw. Unless you were a golden-cheeked warbler.
The little birds that nest exclusively in Central Texas — using long strips of cedar bark to build their nests — long have seemed to be the only residents of the Hill Country carrying on any kind of love affair with the squat evergreen we call cedar. It's technically the Ashe juniper, but cedar will do.
European settlers found little cedar when they came to the Hill Country in the 19th Century; however, fire suppression, over-grazing and invasive species combined to allow cedars to establish the huge colonies we now call breaks.
As the breaks grew, water disappeared, leaving most Central Texans with the belief that cedars were drilling deep down into the water table and sucking out the water that had flowed from springs. Ranchers and farmers went to work clearing as much of the cedar as they could, hoping to free the land for other purposes and maybe renew water sources.
Read more...
Wind lines concern Hill Country residents
From KXAN, August 30, 2008...
Hill Country residents have raised multiple concerns about new transmissions lines that will be installed to deliver wind energy across Texas.
In July, the Public Utilities Commission approved a plan called "Scenario 2" that maps out the general route companies will follow when installing transmission lines.
The lines will carry energy from wind farms in West Texas to Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Ft. Worth.
Read more...
Hill Country residents have raised multiple concerns about new transmissions lines that will be installed to deliver wind energy across Texas.
In July, the Public Utilities Commission approved a plan called "Scenario 2" that maps out the general route companies will follow when installing transmission lines.
The lines will carry energy from wind farms in West Texas to Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Ft. Worth.
Read more...
Thursday, August 7, 2008
A guide to shopping in the Texas Hill Country
From Dallas Morning News, August 5, 2008...
Where to go for Texas foods, souvenirs, antiques and more.
Read more...
Where to go for Texas foods, souvenirs, antiques and more.
Read more...
Friday, August 1, 2008
Hill Country university campus set for Fredericksburg
From KXAN, July 31, 2008...
A new chapter for higher education in the Texas Hill Country begins August 21 with the ground-breaking on the site work for a new 24,000-square-foot classroom facility for higher education.
The ground-breaking will take place on-site at a 68-acre tract owned by the City of Fredericksburg, located on US 290 East and just two miles east of the downtown area, next to Fort Martin Scott.
The new facility will be home to the Hill Country University Center.
The Center will house five partner schools including: Austin Community College, offering core curriculum; Texas Tech University at Fredericksburg, offering upper-division curriculum to complete undergraduate degrees and graduate degree programs; Angelo State University, offering graduate education degree programs; Concordia University, offering a business program; and Schreiner University.
Read more...
A new chapter for higher education in the Texas Hill Country begins August 21 with the ground-breaking on the site work for a new 24,000-square-foot classroom facility for higher education.
The ground-breaking will take place on-site at a 68-acre tract owned by the City of Fredericksburg, located on US 290 East and just two miles east of the downtown area, next to Fort Martin Scott.
The new facility will be home to the Hill Country University Center.
The Center will house five partner schools including: Austin Community College, offering core curriculum; Texas Tech University at Fredericksburg, offering upper-division curriculum to complete undergraduate degrees and graduate degree programs; Angelo State University, offering graduate education degree programs; Concordia University, offering a business program; and Schreiner University.
Read more...
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Fields of lavender and containers of caladiums
From Dallas Morning News, July 18, 2008...
It was her husband's idea to move to Blanco from Austin, to buy and restore an old stone barn to live in and to plant thousands of lavender plants as a crop in the rocky, limestone soil. A National Geographic photographer, Robb Kendrick had spent weeks in the south of France documenting how perfume is made. He noticed the similarities in soil and climate between Provence and the Hill Country.
Read more...
It was her husband's idea to move to Blanco from Austin, to buy and restore an old stone barn to live in and to plant thousands of lavender plants as a crop in the rocky, limestone soil. A National Geographic photographer, Robb Kendrick had spent weeks in the south of France documenting how perfume is made. He noticed the similarities in soil and climate between Provence and the Hill Country.
Read more...
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Hill Country Militia
From Austin Chronicle, June 27, 2008...
At what point does dissatisfaction become dissent, and dissent a full-fledged movement?
In the hills outside San Antonio, we may be about to find out.
Read more...
At what point does dissatisfaction become dissent, and dissent a full-fledged movement?
In the hills outside San Antonio, we may be about to find out.
Read more...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
TCEQ Urges Water Conservation For The Hill Country
From ArklaTex.com, June 25, 2008...
The hot, dry conditions combined with lower than average rainfall has prompted the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to urge water conservation for the Hill Country and South Texas.
All temporary-use water rights to state surface water in the Hill Country have been suspended until further notice.
Read more...
The hot, dry conditions combined with lower than average rainfall has prompted the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to urge water conservation for the Hill Country and South Texas.
All temporary-use water rights to state surface water in the Hill Country have been suspended until further notice.
Read more...
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