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Carolyn Chipman Evans, who along with her husband, Brent, founded the Cibolo Center for Conservation 34 years ago, will be honored with the Heart of the Hill Country Award later this month.
The Hill Country Alliance will present Chipman Evans, the chief executive officer of the Cibolo, with the award during its annual Hill Country Leadership Summit in Austin on Sept. 29. The summit is the alliance’s premiere event and “provides an opportunity for learning and networking and celebration among the region’s top community leaders, conservation practitioners and natural resource managers,” information in a press release stated.
“To receive this award by my heroes is indeed an honor,” Chipman Evans told The Star. “The Hill Country Alliance is an organization that, indeed, has a powerful impact on the future of our lands and waters of the hill country. We are better together.”
Simply put, Chipman Evans has made nature her life’s work.
“She has a deep love for the Cibolo Creek that her great-great-great-grandparents settled on in the 1850s,” the Cibolo’s press release read. “Her work began in 1988 with a handful of friends cleaning up the creek, marshland and prairie of what became the Cibolo Nature Center.”
The “Friends of the Cibolo Wilderness” has continued to grow for more than three decades years under Chipman Evans’ leadership.
“She is dedicated to the work to build community, inspire care and create positive action for the environment resulting in the Cibolo Nature Center, Herff Farm, Cibolo Conservation Corridor, Nest Nature Preschool and additional protected satellite properties,” the Cibolo’s information stated. “Together with partners, Chipman Evans has worked to protect and conserve almost 1,000 acres and 20 square miles of cherished Hill Country lands.”
She helped start the Cibolo Conservancy Land Trust with her husband, Brent, and has served as president of Hill Country Alliance. She also has served as an Association of Nature Center Administrators board member, Boerne Historical Commission board member, TPWD Trails advisory board member, TPWD Texas Partnership for Children in Nature advisory board and currently is on the TPWD Parks advisory board.
Chipman Evans is the co-author, with Brent, of “The Nature Center Book” on how to create a nature center, published by UT Press and the second edition by the National Association of Interpretation.
The Cibolo Center for Conservation has become an international thought leader on Nature Center development and strategy, information stated.
Chipman Evans’ future plans include focusing on increasing the protection of natural areas as it is predicted Kendall County will triple in population in the next 30 years, “and the outcome can be very bleak,” the Cibolo’s information stated.
“There are many things we cannot do to protect our lands, wildlife, and waters, but one thing we can do is to protect more land, now,” the press release stated. “And that’s what she intends to do."
The Heart of the Hill Country Award was created in 2019 by the Hill Country Alliance to recognize and thank the region’s greatest natural resource champions. The Heart of the Hill Country Award also will be presented to David Baker, founder and executive director of the Watershed Association and Art4Water.
“I am excited to see Carolyn recognized for the conservation leadership she provides for our peers and partners across the region,” Cibolo Vice President of Development Leigh Owen told The Star.
The Cibolo Center
for Conservation
The Cibolo Center for Conservation transforms lives through the love of nature, welcoming guests into a beautiful natural Hill Country setting for nature education, enriching community experiences and environmental research in action, its website reads.
Participation in water conservation, land stewardship, care for wildlife, sustainability, planting and the celebration of harvest remind guests of their shared humanity, resulting in a community of belonging.
With two campuses encompassing more than 160 acres in the heart of Boerne, the Cibolo Nature Center offers miles of trails through five distinct ecosystems. The historic Herff Farm underscores our community’s ties to its culture and agrarian roots. These campuses protect the fragile Cibolo Creek watershed that contributes over a million gallons per day to the Trinity and Edwards Aquifers, the primary sources of drinking water for the region.
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