Lake Buchanan

By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor

Burnet County commissioners reviewed a report on April 8 which revealed a negative impact on county revenues due to restrictions, orders and closures connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

At the height of the winter season, catching a glimpse of one of the largest birds of prey on Earth is not out of reach for visitors to Burnet and Llano counties.

From December to spring time, Lake Buchanan and the Colorado River which feeds into it, along both the counties have become migrating grounds to the American bald eagle and a number of their juvenile brood. …

By Phil Reynolds
Contributing Writer

Jo Karr Tedder had a message for Lake Buchanan Conservation Corp. (LBCC) members Wednesday, Jan. 15, and it probably wasn’t a message most of them wanted to hear.

Tedder is president and founder of the Central Texas Water Coalition, a volunteer non-profit organization whose mission is “to promote responsible water management policies, equitable pricing and greater conservation by all.”

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

A seepage issue has delayed the use of a newly-built reservoir downstream on the Colorado River, raising concerns by the Central Texas Water Coalition about the impact on water customers in the upper Highland Lakes region.

By Jo Karr Tedder
Contributing Writer
Central Texas Water Coalition

Even though we’ve had soup weather, there will be no water alphabet soup column until next month due to questions about the proposed Water Management Plan (WMP). Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has scheduled a Hearing on the proposed WMP for October 24, 2019 at 7:00pm at TCEQ Headquarters, 12100 Park 35 Circle Building E, Room 201S, Austin, Texas 78753. Comments can be sent to the clerk at this address. In the first informal part of the hearing, you may ask questions, but if you want your questions to be part of the official record, you may submit oral or written questions and/or concerns in the second part of the hearing.

Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Nearly 75 passengers on a river boat cruise on Lake Buchanan experienced some tense moments as a brief but severe thunderstorm swept into the Highland Lakes June 9 and stranded the tourists on a remote peninsula on the waterway.

Authorities have sent a human skull found in the receding Lake Buchanan shoreline Aug. 8 for forensic testing to determine identity and age of the bones, according to the Llano County Sheriff's Office.

The human skull was found by an individual on a personal watercraft that evening as the recreationist was attempting to dock the watercraft on the shoreline in an area of Poppy's Point on the west side of the lake just of Ranch Road 261 in Llano County.

On Aug. 9 the following day, the Department of Public Safety dive team members spent about three hours searching for other bones but found none, Llano County Sheriff Bill Blackburn said.

By Richard Zowie

The Highlander

A weekend on the water turned into a tragedy as a man died in the early morning of July 23 after being pulled from the water at Buchanan Dam the day before.

According to Steve Lightfoot of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Juan Antonio Bolaños, a 28-year-old Mexican national, was on a float tube at the dam Saturday evening when he fell off at some point and was unable to swim.

Friends on shore say it was about 15 minutes before they realized he wasn’t there. They then went out and brought him to shore.

Lightfoot said medical personnel responding were able to detect a pulse from Bolaños, who was then transported by helicopter to a hospital.

The Mexican national was pronounced dead early Sunday morning.

Lightfoot said at this time, no further details of Bolaños’ death are known. He added that there is currently no indication of foul play.

By Alexandria Randolph

Highland Lakes Newspapers

August was a wet month for the Highland Lakes, and State Climatologists said record-setting rainfall may not be over.

Preliminary totals indicate that August averaged about 5.69 inches of rain statewide, in a tie with 1914 for the wettest August on record, according to figures from the State Climatologist office at Texas A&M University.

John Nielsen-Gammon, professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M who also serves as State Climatologist, said the wet month was due to an atmospheric wind pattern that pumped lots of deep, moist tropical air into Texas.

The wet months could continue for a while, he notes.

“September and October are historically among the wettest months of the year in Texas, so if normal conditions continue, we will see several more inches of rain,” he explained.