With both a big anniversary and a festival on the horizon for the Hill Country Alliance, we chat with Katherine Romans to learn more.
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Once again the Hill Country Alliance (HCA) is hosting their spring Hill Country Living FESTIVAL + Rainwater Revival (April 4, 2020). And their fifteenth anniversary looms, all of which makes for a great excuse to sit down with the nonprofit’s executive director, Katherine Romans.
The goal? To learn more about this important organization as well as Romans’ personal commitment to it.
Can you tell us what led you to join HCA as a staff member?
It was a chance connection that led me to HCA.
It was the summer of 2013 and I had recently moved to Austin with my husband, who was starting his PhD studies at the UT Department of Geography.
I was spending a lot of time looking at job boards for positions focused on natural resources, and I stumbled across a posting for a Landowner Outreach Manager with the Hill Country Alliance. It sounded like a great opportunity-working with landowners to steward the creeks and rivers of the Hill Country.
Little did I know what this job would mean for me 7 years later.
My family grew in the intervening years, with the birth of our first daughter in July of 2018, and my love for this work has deepened in profound ways. I appreciate now more than ever the importance of stewarding the Hill Country we will hand on to future generations of Texans.
Working for HCA has been like stepping into an extended Hill Country family. This organization is grounded in passion for the incredible things that define this region—from the springs, creeks, and rivers to the scenic vistas, rural communities, working ranch lands and starry night skies.
Not a day goes by that I’m not inspired by the incredible work of our organization and the many partners we have across the region. We’re celebrating our fifteenth anniversary in 2020, and I am proud to say the work we are doing today is more impactful and more relevant than ever before!
A hallmark of HCA’s efforts seems to be that it works on two fronts: big picture conversations and local, grassroots engagement. Can you elaborate?
One of the things I love most about HCA is the fact that collaboration is built right into our mission.
None of the work we do for the Hill Country would be possible without the determination of our network of supporters, local volunteers, and community leaders who are championing a thoughtful vision for the future of the Hill Country.
A lot of our time is spent supporting collaborations of landowners who want to come together to jointly steward a shared creek or landscape. Our night skies program has focused on seeding friends of the night skies groups in each one of our 17-county region.
Most recently, we formalized the Texas Hill Country Conservation Network—a collaboration of more than 75 groups working across land and water conservation in the Hill Country. We’ve realized that we are stronger as a collective effort than we ever could be individually, and as a result our collaboration is gaining national attention.
What stands out for you personally when you think: “Hill Country”?
I recently had the opportunity to lead a bus tour for a large group of water professionals visiting Austin from all over the country for a conference.
As I described the challenges facing our region’s water supply—a growing population, limited tools to plan for that growth, weather patterns that swing from prolonged drought to catastrophic flood, and of course some of our uniquely Texan regulatory challenges—there were audible ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaaahhhs’ as we came across the Devils’ Backbone into the Blanco River Valley near Wimberley.
The sweeping view of those rolling hills and the valley below was only trumped by the experience of jumping into Jacob’s Well—an incredible 120-foot deep window into the Trinity Aquifer, which supplies the lifeblood of so many of our region’s waterways.
I love that about the Hill Country. It’s a region that can take your breath away both in its expansive vistas, but even more so through the hidden gems that so many folks don’t have the chance to seek out.
The grottos of Hamilton Pool or Westcave Preserve, the quiet gurgle of a spring-fed creek on a hot summer day, the sinkholes and caves that hold hidden creatures that live here and nowhere else in the world, the aquamarine waters of the Nueces River on a hot summer day… these mini oases feel like they’ve been transported from a tropical island to remind us of how lucky we are to live in Central Texas.
As spring arrives—with Austin’s SXSW, San Antonio’s Fiesta and, yes, those perky bluebonnets, is there added urgency to protect and preserve the environment that makes us so distinct?
It’s easy to take for granted the beauty and natural resources of the Hill Country. But the fact of the matter is, we do not have an endless supply of spring-fed creeks, starry night skies, wide open vistas and heritage ranch lands.
Each day we’re seeing new threats to those resources, coming in the form of wastewater discharge operations that threaten our creek health, a new 42-inch natural gas pipeline that could impact sensitive aquifer resources, outdoor lights that mar our view of the night skies, and unplanned development that consumes meadows of wildflowers.
With so many folks flocking to the Hill Country at this time of year, it’s a perfect time to remind them that unless we carefully plan for the way we grow as a region, we stand to lose all the things that drew us here in the first place.
Looking to the future, how can area residents engage with Hill Country Alliance?
The mission of the Hill Country Alliance is to grow an ever-expanding network of groups and individuals interested in preserving the long-term character of the Texas Hill Country, so we love connecting to new folks, whether they live, work, play in, or admire the Hill Country from afar!
Signing up as a subscriber on HCA’s website is the first and fastest way to get connected with the incredible diversity of groups, events, news and information that we share to bring Hill Country neighbors together on a regular basis.
From there, it’s easy to find ways to get more involved. Think about donating to support this important mission. Reach out about volunteering on an issue that you are particularly passionate about.
Finally, readers are welcome to join us in Dripping Springs on Saturday, April 4, 2020 for the Hill Country Living FESTIVAL + Rainwater Revival. At the event, people can learn more about living lightly in the Hill Country, connect with HCA and many of our partners, and peruse a marketplace full of Hill Country crafted goods and gifts. A big part of what makes HCA such a fun organization is that we love to celebrate all that makes this region special. Our 2020 festival will be a great way to see that celebration and fun in action.
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