It has been dubbed as overly "ambitious" but a bike and hiking trail connecting Barton Springs, San Marcos Springs, Comal Springs, and San Antonio Springs together is in the design phase and the hope is to make " The Great Springs Project" a reality.

This past December, the National Park Service selected the Great Springs Project to receive backing in the form of "community planning and technical assistance" for their endeavor to build a network of multi-use trails from Austin to San Antonio, which was HUGE for the GSP and it looks as though support for the project is a hit with multiple communities and advocacies, especially given the year we've had were enjoying the outdoors while socially distancing has been known to be a big part of positive mental health, not to mention the support for connecting these critical springs for water improvements in Texas!

Photo courtesy of The Great Springs Project/Youtube
Photo courtesy of The Great Springs Project/Youtube
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Photo courtesy of The Great Springs Project/Youtube
Photo courtesy of The Great Springs Project/Youtube
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"The project proposes adding 50,000 acres of protected land over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone and portions of the contributing zones in Hays, Travis, Comal, and Bexar counties, as well as connecting hike-and-bike trails to the project's namesake four bodies of water: Barton Springs, San Marcos Springs, Comal Springs, and San Antonio Springs," The Austin Chronicle reports.

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Co-founded in 2018 by Deborah Morin, former board member of the Hill Country Foundation, the project aims to protect endangered species and Hill Country water quality from the increasing development along that corridor, especially in Hays County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the U.S. But Great Springs leadership also contends that it will be an "economic development catalyst," creating jobs with its ambitious construction" the Austin Chronicle continues.

Although still in its infancy even as design plans are being completed, the design stage is estimated to be done in 2021, looking then for philanthropic and federal funding to make the dream a reality.

Funding is critical as are the easements needed from private landowners but even as ambitious as the project seems, remember, "Ambition is the first step to success."

Would you bike or walk the Great Spring Trail from Austin to San Antonio?

We would too!!!!

For more information check out the Great Springs website here!

Here is a video submission on Youtube from the Great Springs Project to help explain the project.

 

LOOK: Just some of the photos that capture the historic year that was 2020

 

LOOK: Just some of the photos that capture the historic year that was 2020

 

 

 

 

 

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