Your support is has been a big, much-needed boost to our work this Spring. We have some good news and not-so-good news to share.

The good news is that the speed reduction study we asked for on FM 969 in Bastrop County has been completed. A recommendation to reduce the speed limit from 65 to 60 will be voted on at the TXDOT Commission’s August meeting. This is still 5 mph higher than 969 in Travis County but it is a start to restore a semblance of safety on this overwhelmed thoroughfare.

The not-so-good news is that Travis Materials recently added a second sand and gravel mining operation in the county. This is the third mining operation to move into Wilbarger Bend in the past year. It began mining in late May at the former site of the popular agro-tourism event center, Barton Hill Farm, which has permanently shut down. This entire 118-acre parcel is in the 100-year floodplain.

Friends made a complaint to the county when the company began excavating near the river channel. The city shut down the operation when it learned that Travis Materials had not applied for county permits. Unlike Travis County, Bastrop County has no minimum setback requirements for mining in the floodplain. In this case, however, it appears that the mining pit has entered the river’s point bar, which is listed in the National Wetlands Database as a riparian wetland, and may require permits from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Friends has requested that the county update its FEMA watershed protection plan to require setbacks so future mining so close to the river is prevented. We will keep you posted on our progress. Thank you, again, for helping protect our natural resources, and especially to Chap Ambrose for his drone work.