​Bid now on your favorite items or join in for the first time! There are still some awesome items remaining.  The auction ends at exactly 5 p.m. today.  Please  see the detailed instructions below on how to receive the items you won.  Thanks everyone for making this first online auction a successful and fun experience! 
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 Pick Up Instructions for Your Silent Auction Item
 
Here are the instructions on how to pick up the items or certificates that you win through the SOS silent auction:
If the item you win is a gift certificate or gift card, we can happily mail the certificate to you! Simply email [email protected] with your name, the certificate you have won, and your mailing address. We will get it mailed out to you ASAP.
-If you win a physical item or would just prefer to pick up your gift card or certificate in person, please follow the instructions below.

1. Our office will be open for silent auction pickups Monday-Friday from 11:00-4:00, beginning Wednesday, December 8th.
2. If you are not able to come between these hours and would prefer to come earlier than 11:00 AM or later than 4:00 PM, please email [email protected] to schedule a specific day and time to pick up. This is to ensure that someone will be at our offices to assist you.
3. Our office address is 4701 West Gate Blvd. Suite D-401, Austin, TX 78745. We have an office space that is connected to the AOMA office complex so it can be somewhat tricky to find us. Although our address is West Gate Boulevard, our office actually faces Western Trails Boulevard (and looks out at the Regal Movie Theatre); our door is the last door at the end and there will be an SOS banner out front.
4. If you are having trouble finding our office, please do not hesitate to call us at (832)314-2474 for assistance.

Thanks again for supporting SOS with your silent auction purchase! You have helped us continue our legal and educational work in 2022! Happy Holidays! 

Many thanks to all of our awesome local donors! 
512 Organics ~ Larry Akers ~ All Water Guides ~ Antone's Nightclub ~ Mary Jane  Appel Arbor Vitae Tree Care ~ Austin Bouldering Project ~ Austin Events Calendar ~ Barbara White Wellness ~ Barley Pfeiffer Architects ~ Helen Besse, BFREE Yoga Austin ~ Ave Bonar BookPeople ~ Bouldin Creek Cafe ~ Capital Cruises ~ Dorsey Cartwright ~ Ed Crowell ~ Casa Garcia's Mexican Restaurant ~ Carol Dillard ~ Sandy Dunn, LMT~ Filter Flow RO Good Flow Honey ~ Barry George ~ Independence Barber Co. ~ Scott Johnson ~ Peggy Lamb ~ Sydney Lambert, Charles Lohrmann ~ Magnolia Cafe ~ Cindy Philips ~ MaryAnn Reynolds, MS, LMT ~ Myo Massage ~ Natural Bridge Caverns ~ New Origin Shop ~ Onion Creek Fly Co. ~ Patagonia ~ Alex Reichek ~ John Russell ~ Russell Sports ~ Peach Reynolds/Kaleidovisions ~ Hal Strickland ~ Sun Dragon Martial Arts ~ Terra Toys ~ Tesoros ~ Texas Aloha Massage ~ Texas Climbing Adventures ~ Texas Rowing Center ~ The Eureka Room  The Great Outdoors ~ The Natural Gardener ~ The Soup Peddler ~ Tillery Street Plant Co. ~ Ben Thompson  ~ and more being added daily! 

SOS Alliance and 20 other conservation groups filed a formal, 40-page petition asking the U.S. EPA to revoke the authority of Texas’ environmental agency, the TCEQ, to approve permits authorizing the discharge of pollutants into public waters.  The request to either revoke or force TCEQ to fix its water pollution control powers rests largely on TCEQ’s chronic and systemic failure to prevent degradation of Texas waters, as required by the Clean Water Act. 
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TCEQ’s approval of a permit allowing Dripping Springs to discharge up to 822,500 gallons per day of treated sewage into Onion Creek, which SOS had thrown out by a Travis County District Judge, is one of several examples cited in the petition where TCEQ ignored mandatory Clean Water Act standards in reviewing pollution discharge requests.  Read our press release and the complete petition and/or watch yesterday’s press conference here. Read the San Antonio Express-News coverage, quoting SOS attorney Kelly Davis, here.  ​

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 27, 2021 CONTACT: Bill Bunch, SOS Alliance (512)784-3749
​Read the Petition here
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Last Monday a group of Austin area environmental scientists and the conservation group Save Our Springs Alliance filed a formal petition with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to list the Pedernales River springs salamander as “endangered” or “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Filing the formal petition triggers an initial 90 day review period under the Act. If the Service finds the petition presents “substantial information” that the species deserves protection under the ESA, a formal listing process would take place over the next two years. 

The small, fully aquatic salamander was only discovered in springs near Travis County’s Hamilton Pool Preserve in 1989. It has yet to be formally described, but genetic and other analysis by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and at U.T. Arlington have confirmed its status as a distinct species.

The salamander has a limited range focused on springs and water-filled, underground spaces in the area where Travis, Hays, and Blanco counties converge near the Hamilton Pool Road crossing of the Pedernales River. The petition documents that the species requires a reliable supply of clear, clean Hill Country limestone waters. It further documents threats to both the quality and quantity of the salamander’s spring habitats.

A recent development proposal, dubbed “Mirasol Springs” by its sponsors, triggered the petition filing. Located across Hamilton Pool Road from Hamilton Pool Preserve, the 1400 acre Mirasol Springs project would place buildings, roads, and an artificial lake directly above and surrounding key salamander springs. Water wells and a diversion from the Pedernales River to serve a proposed commercial-scale poultry coop, hotel, farm, housing, and a proposed U.T. biological field station would draw on already very limited surface and groundwater supplies in the area.

Other planned developments in the area, developments following Mirasol Springs to the area, and increased pumping for weekend homes, rural developments and agricultural operations also threaten the survival of the salamander species.

“Given the Mirasol Springs proposal and the exploding growth of the Austin area, the Pedernales River springs salamander is at grave risk of near-term extinction,” said Crystal Datri, an endangered species biologist and lead author of the petition. “The salamander’s home waters along the Pedernales River corridor above Lake Travis need to be protected, not polluted or pumped dry,” Datri added.

“Thankfully the Travis County parks (Hamilton Pool Preserve and Milton Reimers Ranch) and several conservation easements on private ranches in the area provide substantial protection to fish and wildlife habitats along the river,” said Bill Bunch, Executive Director of Save Our Springs Alliance. “But all of that good work will not protect the salamander’s spring habitats from pumping, pollution and pavement like what is now proposed for the area.”

This area along the Pedernales River is particularly rich in biological and habitat diversity. This is most obvious from the spectacular springs and grottoes at Hamilton Pool Preserve, Westcave Preserve, Deadman’s Hole, and Roy Creek (in photo). Last month the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed listing as “endangered” the Texas fatmucket mussel. The Service’s proposal would also designate the entirety of the Mirasol Springs project’s river frontage as “critical habitat” for the mussel. A water pump placed in the Pedernales River by the Mirasol Springs developer is located within the proposed mussel critical habitat. Other unique species, including the endangered Golden-cheeked warbler, live here as well. 

“Now is the time to protect the springs and the unique flora and fauna of the Pedernales River corridor, before it’s too late; with this petition the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has a legal mandate to help us do that,” added Datri. 

​The SOS Alliance Board has voted unanimously to oppose the upcoming Prop A ballot measure.  SOS joins Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, Austin Parks Foundation, The Trail Foundation and many others who oppose this measure that would force Austin to cut essential services.  You can view the list of those opposed and learn more at www.nowaypropa.com.  Committing funding to expanding the police force will only further reduce funding available for parks, watershed protection, and a range of other public services supported by the City's general fund.  Our parks and environmental protection efforts are drastically underfunded: Prop A would make things much worse. 
Early voting begins on October 18th. Early voting lasts through October 29th and Election Day is November 2nd. Polling locations, a sample ballot, and more are available here on the Travis County Clerk website. ​

Join us Tuesday at 6 p.m. for the City of Austin's next virtual meeting on the Zilker Park Vision Plan.  Register for the meeting here.  Tell them you support the Rewilding Zilker plan, along with any other comments you might have.  View our new Rewilding proposal here Rewilding Zilker Park, by restoration ecologist, park planner and owner of LandSteward.net, Elizabeth McGreevy.  The proposal is sponsored by Save Our Springs Alliance, with support from the Zilker, Bouldin Creek, and Barton Hills neighborhood associations. 

Also, there will be a public comment for a few weeks following the Tuesday virtual meeting.  You'll have time to comment whatever the City's park planner consultants may propose at the Tuesday "Design Alternatives" meeting.  We'll keep you informed as well. 
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The next month or two will be crucial for shaping the future of Zilker Park for decades into the future. With your voice and your support we can make Zilker the beautiful and more natural public park that we need it to be for everyone.

​Please Urge the Austin Parks Board to Vote Again to Keep Alcohol Sales Out of Zilker Park: The Austin Parks Board has voted twice recommending against the sale of alcohol at the recently restored Barton Springs concession stand.  For technical reasons the Board is considering the matter for a third time at its meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, evening at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall.  If you can attend this meeting (the Board’s first in-person meeting) to thank the Board for its previous votes and to urge the Board to do it again, please do. 
If you cannot attend, please send an email to Sammi Curless, the Parks Board support person, [email protected], with a copy to Parks Board Chair Dawn Lewis, at [email protected].  Ask Ms. Curless and Chair Lewis to share your message opposing the sale of alcohol at Barton Springs (for public health, safety, and overcrowding reasons or for your own personal reasons) with the entire parks board. You can watch the Parks Board meeting live at 6:00 p.m. here.  Thank you for weighing in; public engagement is working on this one!!  

Last week, advocates of Oak Hill scored a victory in protecting the area’s namesake oak trees. This is the latest development in a federal case filed in 2019 by Save Barton Creek Association and others against the Texas Department of Transportation over the misnamed “Oak Hill Parkway”—a twelve-lane concrete mix-master that would rip through the Oak Hill community and destroy hundreds of the area’s oldest native trees. 
Plaintiffs, represented by SOS attorney Kelly Davis and private attorney Bill Gammon, asked the court to order that TxDOT halt all tree clearing until a ruling on the merits of the case. Although the court declined to go that far, the plaintiffs got the outcome they wanted: the trees are safe, for now. Following a Friday hearing in which U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman instructed TxDOT not to knock down any more “potentially protectable” trees pending a hearing on the merits, TxDOT notified its contractor to cease all tree clearing until the September 2 hearing. Success! Ultimately, a win in this case would send TxDOT back to the drawing board to evaluate alternatives to alleviate traffic in Oak Hill, including a community-supported alternative that could be delivered faster, cheaper, and without the environmental destruction of TxDOT’s currently proposed mega-highway.
Show your support for the cause by adopting a tree in Oak Hill here.

Join Us Tuesday 6:00 p.m. for Zilker Park Vision Plan Virtual Meeting 
 
The City of Austin is hosting the second virtual community meeting in the Zilker Park Vision Plan process next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m..  Go HERE to register to participate in the meeting. 
 
You can read about the Zilker Park plan process, view the recordings of previous community and small group meetings, and read the baseline inventory of park resources and issue challenges HERE
 
The Tuesday community meeting is supposed to be focused on "programming"  in Zilker Park.  This encompasses events, like ACL, trail of lights, kite fest, etc, as well as summer camps, SOS's Barton Springs University Day (this year set for Sept. 21) and our BSU walking tours.  However, the City will consider all comments on what you would like to see changed, restored, or kept the same; what works and what doesn't work.  
 
Overall, SOS is asking that Zilker park be restored and managed to be more park and less amusement park.  
 
Programming should focus on environmental, historic and cultural education.  All programming, including major events and day-to-day operations should  greatly increase non-car access to the park, and reduce car storage and car habitat within the park. In short,  more park and less parking and pavement.  
 
Commercialization of the park should be reduced, not increased, and alcohol should not be sold in the park except at permitted events. We should increase park rangers and volunteer park stewards  to make Zilker safer and more welcoming to everyone.  
 
Please consider including these points in your comments to the City.  
 
SOS Alliance is working with park neighbors and others to develop more detailed recommendations for the future of Zilker Park.  We are closely monitoring the public input that is being gathered, and we invite you to share your thoughts, either directly to us and/or through the City public input process.  
 
We hope to see you Tuesday evening at the virtual meeting.  

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HELP SOS SAY "RESTORE ZILKER PARK"
Zilker Park, including Barton Springs, is one of the most iconic and special places in Austin. It helps define our city’s connection to nature. It offers us a centralized gathering place for our communities. And, it provides us a quick, temporary escape from the stresses of our day-to-day lives.

As Zilker Park has increased in popularity so too have challenges with the park's availability and accessibility for average Austinites. Conflicts have begun to emerge between competing park users, as corporate events like Austin City Limits have expanded their footprints and have shut down the park for longer periods of time. And, once grassy areas have been used illegally as overflow parking, degrading environmental quality and making these spaces unusable for recreational activity at all times during the year.

To put together a long-term comprehensive plan for the restoration and future use of Zilker Park, the City of Austin Parks Department recently launched the Zilker Park Vision Process. The Save Our Springs Alliance will be participating in this process to encourage the City to restore Zilker Park as a natural and recreational park, accessible to the general public at all times.

Parks across the entire City are facing tremendous pressure to further develop, commercialize, and privatize. This is not the future that we want for Zilker Park. 
Here are some suggested points of emphasis that SOS will be advocating in this process:

1. More Green, Less Pavement. The focus of the Zilker Park Vision Plan should be on restoring green space, reducing impervious cover (i.e., pavement), and increasing opportunities for year-round recreational use.
2. More Mobility, Less Parking. The Zilker Park Vision Plan should emphasize mobility; getting people to/from the park--not cars. Public transit and shuttles should be linked to nearby parking garages to help get visitors to and from the park. The illegal parking areas along Stratford Drive and on the “Polo Fields” should be removed. The Vision Plan should adopt of a firm policy of “no new parking in Zilker Park.”
3. More Public, Less Private. General public use of Zilker Park needs to be the priority at all times during the year. Corporations that have outgrown the park's capacity should be encouraged to find alternatives for their events and businesses that avoid consuming more parkland for private use.

As the Zilker Park Vision Process continues, SOS will continue to notify you of opportunities to provide public input. 

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City staff has indicated that the "conditional use permit," or CUP, that would allow sales of alcohol at the new version of the Barton Springs concession stand will not be heard by the Planning Commission until September.  A majority of the Parks Board has indicated their opposition to the permit, and overwhelming public input has been aligned with SOS's opposition to alcohol sales next to the pool, playground, and Zilker train.  Many thanks to everyone who has spoken up on this and please stay engaged with us until the final decision is made.   ​