The Watershed Association focuses on five impact areas to ensure a holistic approach to watershed protection throughout the Texas Hill Country.
Watershed Protection & Conservation Science
The Hill Country requires development approaches that deliver multifaceted benefits – preventing wastewater pollutants from contaminating local streams, accounting for water scarcity in our drought-prone region, and providing affordable and reliable wastewater infrastructure.
Land Conservation
The Watershed Associations’ land conservation program is a combination of science, policy, and education. To further land and water conservation, the Watershed Association acts as a regional land trust serving Hays County and is a proud member of the Texas Land Trust Council. From our inception, the Watershed Association worked to reassemble land that had been divided into many smaller parcels into the contiguous 96 acres directly surrounding Jacob’s Well, our most renowned achievement to this day. Save Our Springs Alliance holds a conservation easement on the tract designed to restore and protect the conservation values of the land in perpetuity.
Education & Outreach
Education is central to our mission and is a fundamental element of all our goals and objectives across our impact areas. The Watershed Association collaborates with several partner organizations, volunteer groups, universities, and more to form deep connections throughout the Hill Country. Education and Outreach flow through our impact areas and connect our organization to the larger communities to which we all belong.
Texas Hill Country Conservation Network
To promote resilience in the eighteen-county region, the Texas Hill Country Conservation Network (THCCN), a group of more than 150 NGOs, businesses, universities, and government agencies are collaborating to scale up the impact of conservation-focused initiatives to protect the natural resources and rural heritage and quality of life in the Texas Hill Country.
Environmental Planning, Policy & Advocacy
For over 30 years, the Watershed Association has focused on defending the sustained spring flows from the Trinity Aquifer to Jacob’s Well and Cypress Creek. In addition to responding to local and regional environmental threats, the Watershed Association is concentrating our current protection efforts on promoting sustainable groundwater management policy and low-impact development strategies in the critical recharge zones.