Published: September 02, 2008 11:07 am      

Blue Hole gets funds from county

San Marcos — A true Texas Hill Country treasure now has a better life insurance policy.

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.

The WVWA purchased the 55-acre tract three years ago. A total of $3 million was approved earlier this year in a Memorandum of Understanding between commissioners and the WVWA after the Citizens Park Advisory Team made a unanimous recommendation. The remaining funds will be allocated when commissioners form the Jacob’s Well Natural Area Trust (JWNAT), the WVWA says.

That trust will exist to continue to raise funds and educate the community about environmental stewardship by demonstrating land restoration and conservation through environmentally sound management of Jacob’s Well.

The board will be comprised of four appointees from Hays County, four appointees from the WVWA and one appointee from Texas State University. On site programs will include land restoration and impervious cover reduction, a nature trail system and rainwater collection systems demonstrations. Establishment of the Jacob’s Well Environmental Education Center and Texas Aquifer Research Center and the development of an outdoor classroom at the Well will provide education programs for the youth and residents of Hays County.

“The future of our water resources is the number one issue facing Hays County citizens and our elected leaders today,” said David Baker, WVWA’s executive director. “I want to recognize and thank the Commissioners Court for their vision and wisdom in preserving Jacob’s Well. Future generations will benefit.”

Baker said the WVWA will now turn its focus to the protection of the aquifer recharge zone that feeds Jacob’s Well and supplies drinking water for the entire Wimberley Valley.

The WVWA and JWNAT will continue to work with Hays County and other regional stakeholders to protect critical land in the aquifer recharge zone for the Cypress Creek watershed.

Jacob’s Well is an artesian spring thought to be the longest underwater cave in Texas and the primary source of the Cypress Creek. The spring flows downstream through the city of Woodcreek and Wimberley into the historic Blue Hole swimming area.