SMGA Update for September 17, 2008

In This Issue...

For Your Calendar
Windemere Parked While TCEQ Does Its Homework
It's a Wonder(Ful) World
Naturescapes Photo Contest Winners Announced
Scoop That Poop!
Let's Leave Something for the Returning Soldiers
In the News & Other Tidbits

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

View calendar of events

TRAIL BUILDING:
EVERY THURSDAY * LOCATION TBA * 6:45-8:15 AM
SATURDAY, 9/20 * LOCATION TBA * 8:00-10:00 AM (7:30 FIRST TIMERS)
SATURDAY, 10/11, 10/25 * LOCATION TBA * 8:30-10:30 AM (8:00 FIRST TIMERS)
Email alliance@smgreenbelt.org to receive location, directions, and last-minute weather cancellations. Gloves, hard shoes, eyewear required. Water bottle, long pants, hat recommended. We supply tools and bug repellent.

FRIDAY, 9/20 * GREATER EDWARDS AQUIFER ALLIANCE HOG ROAST
Join GEAA for its annual feral hog roast with great food, music, swimming, and more to benefit the 42 groups that work to protect the aquifer from Del Rio to Austin. Email alliance@smgreenbelt.org for details.

WEDNESDAY, 9/24, SMGA BOARD MEETING, 6:30-8:00 pm
SMGA board meetings are on the 4th Wednesday of each month. Members welcome; let us know you’re coming and we will get a meeting packet to you.

SATURDAY, 9/27, INVASIVE PLANT REMOVAL, AQUARENA CENTER, 8:00/9:00-11:00 AM
Meet at Aquarena Center at the far end of the long parking area. Email wassenich@grandecom.net for more information.

SATURDAY, 9/27 * PALS TEXAS FIX’ EM 5K * CITY PARK PAVILION * 8:00 AM-Noon
Join the fun and help prevent unwanted pets. Proceeds provide vouchers for free spay and neuter surgeries for the companion cats and dogs of those in need. More at http://www.preventalitter.com/

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, 10/4-5 * TPWD EXPO * TPWD HEADQUARTERS, AUSTIN
4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744
What is the Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo? It's an outdoor experience where visitors fish, shoot, kayak, rock climb, mountain bike, see and touch wildlife, learn about recreation in the Great Outdoors and see and buy the latest in outdoor gear and services. Most importantly, visitors can learn how they can help to conserve this precious resource. And it's FREE! Click here for more information.

SATURDAY, 10/4 * WATER QUALITY TRAINING * TX STATE * 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Texas Stream Team will host a water quality training covering general watershed and water quality background information and monitoring methods. Texas Stream Team uses TCEQ and EPA approved methodologies to monitor and assess water quality parameters including pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, clarity, and temperature. Contact Heidi Moltz for more information: hm1079@txstate.edu, 512.245.3461
(toll free 877.506.1401).

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WINDEMERE PARKED WHILE TCEQ DOES ITS HOMEWORK

Many of you have been asking about Windemere Ranch development project adjacent to Spring Lake Preserve, Lime Kiln Road and along Sink Creek. And you’ve probably heard by now that the applicants for the Windemere Ranch project have temporarily withdrawn their application for zoning changes to their development plan. They deserve credit for asking the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to review their geological assessment.

The plans for the project will depend to some extent on what TCEQ has to say about the geology. (http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/archivesearch/local_story_234121555.html). A neighbor and the San Marcos River Foundation submitted comments with excellent data regarding the specific and overall hydrogeology of the area. SMGA continues to watch closely to determine how and when the best time for input with our perspective would help.

IT’S A WONDER(FUL) WORLD

The Wonder World Extension groundbreaking has come and gone. The event was just what you would expect, but there are some notes about the project that may interest you:

• The bids came in lower than expected for the project overall, so there is an opportunity to preserve 800 champion trees between 8-40” in diameter along the corridor. An additional investment of $465, 000 could preserve many of the existing trees, some huge and ancient. The request for a change order is not yet scheduled for a council meeting, but stay tuned.
  
• With the urging of SMGA and the leadership of council members John Thomaides and Gaylord Bose, the pedestrian connection between Craddock and Hunter may yet come to pass. It was removed from the project as an effort to save money by not having a sidewalk on the quarter-mile flyway. It was the right decision to get the walkway off the flyway, but it was a bad idea to have no way at all. Now we can hope for an at-grade walkway that will amble through Lower Purgatory, making it much more attractive and usable and nicely synthesizing with the Transportation Master Plan, park plans, and SMGA’s goal of a Purgatory Creek Trail. This too will require a change order if it is even permissible, but either way we need to push for this connection.
  
• Project inspectors from KBR suggest that we may be able to continue passing through on the Purgatory trail system even after construction starts for most of the construction period. One inspector was particularly appreciative of our trail system and our desire to keep it going. Stay tuned for more information.

NATURESCAPES PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The winners of the fourth annual Naturescapes photo contest were announced at an awards ceremony on Friday, September 5th. Sixty-five
awe-inspiring photographs were accepted for exhibition in the Walkers Gallery in the San Marcos Activity Center through October 31st. Attendees enjoyed refreshments provided by Linda Kelsey Jones and contest co-sponsor, Hill Country Photography Club and music by the Crystal Creek Boys. Thanks to the San Marcos Area Arts Council, the city of San Marcos, and Grandecom for their support of the Naturescapes reception.

A $200 prize was awarded for Best in Show and four $100 Awards of Excellence were presented to the next most outstanding photographs. The winners are:

The contest judge was Laurence Parent, author of 36 books and photo credits including photographs in National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Outside, Backpacker, Sierra, National Parks, Texas Highways and Texas Parks & Wildlife.

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SCOOP THAT POOP!

As the end of this long, hot summer finally draws near, cooler temperatures are likely to tempt you out for a walk, perhaps with a four-footed friend. So this is a good time to remind pet owners to carry a bag along on your next walk with Fido and use it to transfer his poop to the trash.

According to recent research, non-human waste represents a significant source of bacterial contamination in urban watersheds. “When it rains, pet waste left on trails, sidewalks and grassy areas can wash into the nearest creek or lake. The bacteria, parasites and viruses in pet waste can harm water quality and anyone who comes in con¬tact with it. It also contains nutrients that increase the growth of nuisance algae in our waterways.”¹ An EPA study estimated that for watersheds of up to twenty-square miles draining to small coastal bays, two to three days of droppings from a population of about 100 dogs would contribute enough bacteria and nutrients to temporarily close a bay to swimming and shellfishing.²

Out on the trail, abandoned pet waste contains
a host of diseases and/or parasites, which can infect other dogs or be transmitted to people who might step in it and track it home. According to one source, an estimated 900,000 pounds of dog poop is produced
each day by the 1.2 million dogs in North Central Texas.³ That many dogs can make a significant
impact on the environment. In her article Going Green With the Dog, Joy Butler suggests the owners have |their pets spayed or neutered, since pet overpopulation takes up valuable resources and contributes to pollution. She further advises picking up dog waste using paper or biodegradable poop bags, since plastic does not break down in the landfill.

References
1 http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watershed/downloads/agt_stp.pdf
2 http://www.stormwatercenter.net/Pollution_Prevention_Factsheets/AnimalWasteCollection.htm
3 http://startelegram.typepad.com/planet_dfw/2008/01/the-straight-po.html
4 http://dogs.suite101.com/article.cfm/going_green_with_the_dog

LET’S LEAVE SOMETHING FOR THE RETURNING SOLDIERS
by Todd Derkacz, SMGA President

Alan Devoe wrote an article titled “On Salvaging Nature” to help us understand that the aesthetic value of the natural world is equal to, if not more important than, economic values. “The conservation of petroleum is clearly and evidently linked to the war. But so, more subtly but none the less surely, is the conservation of trout, trees, meadows, and every whooping crane and roseate spoonbill.” As quoted in Timothy J. Farnham’s Saving Nature’s Legacy: Origins of the Idea of Biological Diversity, Devoe described an impoverished, devastated and neglected natural world that would be waiting for the returning soldier. Suggesting that what they ought to have is “an outdoors at least as clean and flourishing as when they left…They will want to get back to the American earth: to take the old fishing gear from the closet and dust it off and set out for some shaded, swirling pool where the trout are. They will want, most urgently, to take up the gun of peacetime instead of the gun of war. They will want, in their weariness and for the cure of wounds of the spirit, just to enter the healing place of that is the forest, and stand in silence and aloneness there, and be renewed.” Devoe wrote these words in 1944 out of concern that the recommendation to conserve natural resources was only about the resources needed to fight World War II.

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IN THE NEWS & OTHER TIDBITS

COMPANIES NOW TAKING BACK…COMPUTERS FOR FREE, 9/3/08
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/09/03/0903roundup.html
…The new state law, which went into effect Monday, orders manufacturers to take the old computer equipment back from consumers without charge. The manufacturers' recycling plans are listed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; more information can be found at www.tceq.state.tx.us

SAN MARCOS BEGINS WONDER WORLD EXTENSION PROJECT, 9/3/08
http://newstreamz.com/2008/09/02/san-marcos-begins-wonder-world-extension-project
The City of San Marcos has begun the largest transportation project in its history with today’s groundbreaking ceremony for the $26.2 million Wonder World Drive extension project. (Find a map and pictures at here.)

BLUE HOLE GETS FUNDS FROM COUNTY, 9/2/08
http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/archivesearch/local_story_246120759.html
Hays County Commissioners have voted to allocate $2.6 million in parks and open space bond funds to the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association (WVWA) for the first phase of Jacob's Well Natural Area project.

HAYS COUNTY TO VOTE ON LARGEST BOND PACKAGE, 8/26/08
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/
Hays County voters will get to decide on a $207 million package of road improvements on the Nov. 4 ballot, the largest bond proposal in county history. An agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation would allow up to $133 million of that to be paid back to the county by the state in a “pass through financing” agreement. Under the plan, the county would pay for building the roads and the state would reimburse the funding based on traffic volume over a number of years.

A RIVER RUNS NEAR IT, 8/16/08
http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/local/local_story_229182551.html
When Houston-area developer Gordon Hall pitched his plan for the San Marcos River Ranch to residents at Martindale’s city hall last August, the San Marcos River right across the street was going strong...But when construction started June 18 on what will be a 200-acre gated community of high-end homes with two “recreational” lakes, springflow was only 135 cfs and the Blanco River’s contribution was almost nonexistent.

TEXAS LIVING WATERS PROJECT
http://www.texaswatermatters.org/popup_endorsement.htm
The Texas Living Waters Project is a joint effort by the National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense, and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club to improve the way Texas manages and uses its fresh water.

PRICE CENTER VOLUNTEER NEEDED
The Price Center folks need volunteers to help out with painting their newly remodeled second floor at the Price Center. Let Dianne Wassenich know if you particularly like painting and are available for daytime or weekend dates: wassenich@grandecom.net.

SAN MARCOS RUNNERS CLUB
The San Marcos Runners Club (SMRC) is a group of local area runners of various levels of ability and experience. Some of their members qualify for and run in the Boston Marathon each year, while others enjoy running their miles at a 12-minute pace. Runners club members enjoy going out for training runs at their respective paces and then getting together to socialize. They also enjoy competing in races and, if they’re not running, supporting fellow members as they compete. http://www.sanmarcosrunners.org/about_SMRC.html

Click a date below to view past News & Events:

August 19 2008
July 16, 2008
June 16 , 2008
May 21, 2008
April 16, 2008
March 25, 2008


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