AUSTIN — Led by the nonprofit Hill Country Conservancy, a coalition of 27 regional partners has secured $23.2 million in federal money — the largest single federal award ever for conservation easement funding in the Texas Hill Country — and set a goal of preserving 7,500 acres in primarily rural areas.
Known as the Hill Country Headwaters Conservation Initiative, the coalition will leverage the expertise and local relationships of all 27 regional partners — which include the Cibolo Conservancy, the Cibolo Center for Conservation and the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance —to target landowners in significant portions of the Colorado, Guadalupe, San Gabriel, Llano and Lampasas River watersheds.
The Hill Country’s population has grown nearly 50% in the last 20 years, with two-thirds of the growth occurring in unincorporated areas, where counties have very limited authority to regulate land use and often little money to preserve open space.
Land prices have increased six-to-eight-fold during this period, putting financial pressure on agricultural landowners to sell property while also making it more expensive for conservation groups and public entities to acquire easements and land.
Approximately 90% of the 11 million acres in the Hill Country is agricultural today and just 550,000 acres of land in the Hill Country is protected from development through public ownership and private conservation easements.
The region’s population is expected to grow another 45% over the next 30 years, accelerating the pace of development.
Funding was awarded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program.
The partners will screen and rank potential properties, with priority given to land with sensitive water recharge features, such as caves and sinkholes that enable unfiltered drainage into the region’s aquifers.
These properties also include properties home to unique and threatened wildlife habitats. Historically underserved producers will also receive priority.
“The incredibly fast- paced growth in development throughout the Texas Hill Country has created a critical need for land conservation that is simply too big for any single organization to address with the urgency required,” said Kathy Miller, HCC CEO.
“This funding will allow our coalition to be more strategic and proactive,” Miller said, “in protecting high-impact properties that deliver the most bang for the buck in protecting the region’s endangered species, iconic spring-fed streams and pools, and critical aquifer systems that provide water to communities and farmers from Central Texas to the Gulf of Mexico.”
Celebrating its 25th year, HCC is a Texas leader in bringing together municipalities, counties, the USDA and private landowners to execute mutually beneficial conservation easements on privately held land.
“The Hill Country Conservancy was born out of a desire to end conflict among environmentalists, land owners and developers and instead work together to preserve land that is especially critical to protecting wildlife habitats and water resources,” Miller said.
“This strategic, cooperative approach has proven effective in preserving thousands of sensitive acres over the last 25 years, but the need to work together to protect the Hill Country’s unique ecology has only grown and become more urgent due to rapid growth in our region and a warming climate,” she added.
Founded in 1999, HCC works collaboratively with landowners and conservation groups to protect important watersheds, recharge areas, native wildlife habitat and agricultural viability in the Hill Country.
Renowned for consummating complex conservation projects with a variety of partners, HCC holds 27 conservation easements totaling over 15,500 acres.
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