There goes 2025. San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance is wrapping up another great year.
A lot happened this year. We have had several great outreach and education events around San Marcos. Our Outreach Committee has coordinated with SMGA volunteers to work the information tables at these events. We have been able to hit the road to attend out-of-town meetings and have a strong representation at major Hill Country environmental events, all while keeping our trails in tip-top shape and building new trails.
Sadly, early in 2025 we lost a dear founding member of SMGA, Mark Taylor. He was a very active volunteer working every aspect of the organization wherever needed—one day it could be moving rocks and cutting trail and the next day reviewing and commenting on legal documents. Whatever the task, he always had a great positive outlook and willingness to help. To this day he is missed but not forgotten.
We finished the trail through Limestone Link this year. It is a little over a mile long and connects River Recharge NA to Ringtail Ridge NA with a nice kiosk and gateway at each end. The Limestone Link Natural Area is owned by Hays County, and it was the first trail we’ve built for the county. The trail had its ribbon cutting in April, opening it to the public.
With the completion of the Limestone Link trail, the trail crew was able to catch up on maintenance that other NAs needed. This summer we received a donation of more than a hundred trees from a landscape company in Austin. This fall when it got cooler, we began trail work at Cottonwood Creek and were able to plant many of the trees there. We will be continuing trail building work at Cottonwood Creek for several more months.
Our trail crew volunteer teams have shown up all year long in the early mornings to put in some great new trails and maintain the old ones. Some mornings were cold and a little wet while others were darn hot, but the work got done. The number of volunteers on the trail crew has increased over the year. Considering the glory and admiration that comes with sweaty trail work, I can understand why.
Without the support of the community, we wouldn’t be able to do this work. We have been fortunate to receive several nice financial donations this year. We received a $500 donation in Mark Taylor’s memory from his sister-in-law, Ozona Bank gave us a $1000 donation, $4000 came from the Mitchell foundation, the San Marcos Rotary Club and HEB each gave us $5000, and the Burdine Johnson Foundation gave us $10,000.
The San Marcos River Foundation was awarded a grant to build a trail along the lower reach of Purgatory Creek, from Hunter Road downstream. The grant included funds for buying tools and equipment required for the trail construction. SMGA has agreed to do the trail design and construction and so is the recipient of the equipment. We will receive a mini skid loader, an articulated grabber, and a flatbed trailer to haul everything.
Hays County and the Texas Hill Country is one of the fastest growing population centers in the nation. So now is the time to protect, conserve, and expand our natural areas, especially over the aquifer recharge zone.
SMGA is an organization of individuals who carry out these activities by means of our teams which have separate functions but are dependent on each other. Together the members of our teams are doing great things for the community and the environment we live in, leaving a great legacy for the upcoming generations to benefit from natural areas with trails, and a river that flows with good water.