Trails to connect, conserve springs from Austin to San Antonio

With an influx of people moving to the area from Austin to San Antonio, locals are concerned with saving green spaces for various reasons ranging from the minimization of impervious cover — to encourage aquifer recharge — to an increase in recreational spaces for the public.

Community conservationists are purchasing and conserving land to create a spring-to-spring network of hiking trails connecting these two major cities, which will provide much needed respite from the concrete-jungle views that constitute city life.

“Everything you do [to protect the river] is really only temporary,” Great Springs Project Board Member Dianne Wassenich said. “The only thing that lasts is buying the land and conserving it forever.”

Wassenich, the former executive director of the San Marcos River Foundation, said the reason she was chosen to be a board member for the GSP is due to her local conservation work. She added that the project as a whole was born initially out of work done in San Marcos, which developed into a larger project with the addition of work from conservation groups in each of the cities from San Antonio to Austin.

“Our mission is to add an additional 50,000 acres of conserved lands over the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer between San Antonio and Austin,” Great Springs Project Chief Executive Officer Garry Merritt said, “And to connect a spring to spring network of trails to connect San Antonio Springs with Comal Springs with San Marcos Springs and with Barton Springs.”

Wassenich noted that there have been people living around the head of the San Marcos River for over 13,000 years, and the GSP is no new concept. She said there have been pictographs found that show a map from spring to spring, as well as the walking time — in days — it takes to get from one to the next. However, according to Wassenich, the current project was conceived approximately 30 years ago by members of the Save Our Springs Alliance, which included Deborah Morin, the cofounder of The Great Springs Project and president of the board of directors.

The board of directors for the Great Springs Project was created five years ago. According to Merritt, it is a diverse group composed of professionals ranging from real estate professionals to conservation experts.

“What we all have in common is that we believe very strongly in the mission … of putting land in conservation and putting trails on the ground,” Merritt explained. “Our job is to make Texas a better place to live and to visit.”

Merritt said people throughout Central Texas are asking elected officials for land conservation in one form or another.

“They’re feeling the weight of how quickly the area is changing,” Merritt said. “It's important to all of us that we still have places where we can be outside: parks, open space and trails.”

The SMRF began purchasing land around San Marcos around 15 years ago. That land, according to Wassenich, was purchased for its caves and aquifer recharge features – areas where rainfall soaks into the earth and fills the groundwater reserves below.

“If we pave everything and build on everything, we’re not going to have a river,” Wassenich said.

“We borrowed millions of dollars and purchased land and tried to find ways to get it conserved permanently.”

The Edwards Aquifer, which supplies the San Marcos River, also provides drinking water to over two million people.

“It’s the reason that these communities were built where they’re built, and that they’ve grown the way that they’ve grown,” Merritt said. “We have to protect that resource to keep these communities strong.”

With help from the Greenbelt Alliance, the county and the city have completed a loop of conserved land that includes Spring Lake Preserve and Purgatory Creek Natural Area. Wassenich said the plan is to have trails following the whole of that loop; however, a project this size does not happen overnight.

“It takes a long time to get permission and engineering and planning and grants and all of that to actually build the trails,” Wassenich said.

According to Merritt, what makes the Great Springs Project particularly special is that it’s desirable to people stationed on any point of the political spectrum. He added that many political figures have sanctioned the project, all with different reasons for doing so.

“Maybe your focus is on conservation and protecting the water resources; there’s a way that this project is for that. It might be that you believe strongly in the physical health benefits of outdoor recreation… and trails, they do that,” Merritt said. “If your interest is in workforce development and corporate relocations and growing the business community, all those things happen better if there’s more access to parks, open space and trails.”

Wassenich said there are many ways to conserve land permanently, including creating a conservation easement. In these easements, even as the land changes ownership, it cannot be developed. However, converting land into an easement will reduce its value, so that reduction in value has to be paid for, according to Wassenich.

Another option for land conservation is to work with the county toward the establishment of a parks bond. Wassenich said SMRF did this successfully twice in the past 20 years. The bonds were approved via a citizen vote and were then used to purchase parks and open space.

City, organizations work together for change The city of San Marcos has also purchased land — with help from the SMRF to find low-interest loans. The purchase utilized, in part, a state and federal loan program aimed at water protection, in which, at the end of the loan period, 40% of the loan amount was given back to the city as a grant.

Wassenich said groups must seek permission to create the trails from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, providing a plan that shows that there will be protection of caves and recharge features as well as endangered species residing in these habitats. She said although it's a major undertaking, a lot of the work has already been completed by local groups.

Merritt added that the cities and counties are doing their part, but the GSP is responsible for ensuring that connections are made among various parts of the trail.

“Our job at the Great Springs Project is, where there are gaps, to be out there talking with landowners and securing the right-of-way to make all of the connections necessary,” Merritt said.

Of over 100 miles of trail, 35 miles are already completed. Merritt said there is an additional 30 miles of trail that the cities are ready to build.

“They have right-ofway, and they’ve got funding or they’re close to getting funding and getting it secured,” Merritt said.

One of the local trails that is currently in the works, according to Wassenich, is the development of a path that runs from the Dunbar Center, travels through the historic district and connects at the existing trail under the Wonder World Drive bridge, leading to the Purgatory Creek trails.

“That will mean people in town, in San Marcos, will be able to go to that intersection [where Wonder World Drive meets Hunter Road] without having to be in a car,” Wassenich said.

“That’s such a big intersection. It’s dangerous to cross on foot, and you’ll be able to do it on trails.”

Wassenich said the Habit Conservation Plan organization — which constructs river access areas, plants native trees and shrubs along rivers and stabilizes the river bank — has the funds to clean up the invasive plants along the proposed path. Once Hays County transfers funds from the county park fund to the city for the purchase of the rightof- way along the creek, she explained, the project will break ground.

“I hear it’s underway. The paperwork is underway” Wassenich said. “So, we’re hoping it will be this winter.” She added that, once additional funds are available, the trail will extend from the Dunbar Center all the way to the river.

Merritt said each part of the project matches the desires and lifestyle of the people that live in the area in which it resides.

“In San Marcos, they like soft-surface or natural- surface trails, and so we work to match that and to expand that … They want a trail system within the city of Kyle that’s the Vybe trail system; It’s wider, concrete ribbon, and so we work with the city of Kyle on matching that,” Merritt said. “In each place, we have great project partners, and we match the local work.” He said this is accomplished by the trail steering committee, which is made up of people contributing to the formation of the trails from each of the communities.

The various sections of the project will be managed by whichever city it resides in. For more information on the Great Springs Project, go to greatspringsproject.org.