October 2016 News

Published: 18 October 2016

Our Greenbelt Guardians group has been busy working directly on improvement projects in the greenbelt, as well as becoming engaged as a member of a recently created group called the Violet Crown Stewardship Council.

On Saturday September 24, in honor Of National Public Lands Day, Stan Ostrum and David Poisson worked with a local band called Hikes to do a clean-up project at the Homedale Trail.

Our last major volunteer workday for this year is scheduled for Saturday November 5th. The Austin Parks Foundation is establishing this date as a fall season It's My Park Day. We plan to do a number of improvement projects at the Gus Fruh Access. We hope to see lots of our BHNA members on the trail that day, along with volunteers from around the city. To register, go the Austin Parks Foundation website here and sign up for the Gus Fruh - Barton Creek Greenbelt project.

The Violet Crown Trail is an ambitious undertaking initiated by the Hill Country Conservancy to provide a contiguous, well maintained public walking trail that starts from the trailhead at Zilker Park and follows the Barton Creek Greenbelt almost to MoPac, where it splits off and continues on to Sunset Valley. Eventually it will go on to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and beyond. It was initially called the Walk For a Day Trail, and is intended to provide public access to our uniquely scenic hill country landscapes, which are primarily found on private property.

The Violet Crown Stewardship Council is comprised of numerous City and County department staff which have responsibilities for the Barton Creek Greenbelt (e.g. Parks Department, Fire Department, Watershed Protection, Park Police, and Park Rangers) as well as volunteer stewardship and adopter groups that provide educational and physical maintenance services (e.g. Greenbelt Guardians, Austin Ridge Riders, Trail Safe Austin, and the Trail Foundation). This umbrella organization offers the rare opportunity to break through departmental silos and narrowly framed responsibilities, to come together and resolve issues that require comprehensive resolutions.