Land, Water, Wildlife Protection Win Big in Washington DC and Hays County

Two weeks ago President Trump signed into law the Great American Outdoors Act, which will provide $9 billion over the next 5 years to address the backlog in repairs and upgrades to national park and wildlife refuge facilities and $900 million annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  The LWCF provides funding for the acquisition and expansion of national, state, and local parks.  The new law has been recognized as the most important land conservation legislation in decades. 

The Act won overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate (75-23) and the House (310-107), although both Texas Senators Cornyn and Cruz and Central Texas Congressmen Chip Roy, John Carter, and Michael McCaul voted against the Act. 

The bipartisan win reflects the solid public support that our national parks have across the nation, but especially in the west, and also the importance that voters of all stripes place on getting outside and connecting to nature, with or without a pandemic. 

Then, last Tuesday, the Hays County Commissioners Court voted to place a $75 million bond on the November ballot that would fund the acquisition of parks and conservation easements and the construction of parks facilities.  THANK YOU!! to everyone who contacted Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra and the County Commissioners to urge their support for this ballot measure. 
​
Please spread the word to all Hays County voters you may know to “vote yes” on this ballot measure in November.    Several of the projects the bond would fund will, together, preserve forever a few thousand acres of Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zone lands. 
Tesla Gigafactory Invites Colorado River Protection Plan – Read Austin sci-fi writer Christopher Brown’s op-ed calling for the Tesla project to spur the creation of a protected Colorado River corridor from Longhorn Dam to Bastrop County.