On April 3, RoundUp Editor Bob Ochoa posted an article by Mark Key, a board member of the HTGCD. The piece attacks the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association and its Executive Director David Baker for working with Hays County to direct some of the County’s Parks and Open Space Bond Fund toward purchasing and protecting land around Jacob’s Well, the great Trinity Aquifer spring that is the source of Cypress Creek.
For background we should note that the bond fund received a huge majority vote from Hays residents when it was proposed, and the Jacob’s Well Natural Area was later ranked one of the top projects in the county to receive a portion of the funds. Add in the Blue Hole Regional Park and swimming hole downstream and the value of these iconic water resources goes off the chart.
The cool clear spring-fed creek, winding its way through Woodcreek and Wimberley between cypress-lined banks, accounts for a good share of the Valley’s quality of life: beauty, culture, economy, recreation, property values, and the very identity of those who live here. Wimberley without the Creek is unthinkable. At least it was before the last couple of decades, when the combination of pumping demand for development and recurrent periods of drought began to shut down the flow: 2000, 2009, and 2011 saw the worst episodes.
In Ochoa’s introduction there is a puzzling quote from the piece, comparing some WVWA expenses for legal and environmental categories, without any context. This renders the comparison meaningless unless one is going for a knee-jerk reaction to “legal.” He also comments that the story “won’t go away.” That does seem true for Mr. Key and his obsession with the project and with Mr. Baker, who used to serve with Mark on the HTGCD Board, where they had substantial disagreements on policy. The idea that the non-profit WVWA actually pays Mr. Baker for his work as executive director seems to upset Mr. Key. I have also served on both those boards: for WVWA since its creation in response to drought in 1996, and on the HTGCD Board for the first ten years of its existence.
I am confident of two things. First, Mr. Baker is justly paid for the excellent work he does for all of us here in protecting our water resources. He holds one of the most complicated and demanding jobs I have ever observed closely. Those who attended last November’s hearing (before the Texas Water Development Board Examiner, in Wimberley) concerning WVWA’s appeal of the decision by GMA-9 to allow a 30 ft. drawdown in the Hill Country Trinity Aquifer over the next 50 years will know what I am speaking about. You saw the result of David’s organization and hard work – arranging for the presentation of local history, law, hydrogeology and other scientific evidence, community leader testimony, and computer modeling results – to help us make sense of the “desired future conditions” process and what that DFC would mean for this specific area.
Second, Mr. Baker’s salary comes entirely from funds raised by the WVWA in grants and member donations. None of it is taxpayer money from Hays County; that goes to purchase the land and for certain maintenance expenses at the new Jacob’s Well Natural Area.
I do thank Mr. Key for pointing out that my individual share (as a resident of Hays Co) of the bond funds going to purchase the JWNA is $29.91. I consider that an excellent investment and am willing to pitch in a few more dollars each year to support staffing and programs there, so we can bring school groups, conduct tours, continue restoration, and maintain this extraordinary place. Many potential partners are also willing to help in this way.
I must observe that the two organizations, HTGCD and WVWA, have a huge area of overlap in their missions. The “GC” is for “Groundwater Conservation,” a central part of the very name of the District. And that idea/goal is central also to the mission of WVWA. So, somehow, we must come together to work on the goals we have in common. We are dealing with REAL STUFF here, our community’s extraordinary groundwater and flowing spring resources. These treasures are under extreme threat and in dire need of intelligent and considered investment and management. Mark Key’s article had not one word to say about these special places and resources that need our attention and protection. He seemed totally focused on imagined motives, law suits, enemies, division, and most of all money.
We need to meet in respectful conversation, to work on these water supply and “creek problems,” aimed at insuring that in future summers our grand kids can still have the experience of “flying across Blue Hole” on a long rope swing suspended from a well-watered cypress, and splashing into cool clear flowing water.
That is our Vision and our Hope.
