My Labrador and I were walking back home from Jacob’s Well when a man pulled up, hailed me through the open passenger window, got out and spent the next half hour talking about The Well, it’s past, present and what he hoped was its future.
Not long after that first encounter, he drove by again, spotted me out front of our townhome, pulled over, spread maps and plans on the hood of his car, and spent another hour talking about plans to buy The Well and create a park that protected The Well area from development, and, hopefully, provide recreation for the community.
The most important thing, he said, was protection. The anecdotal evidence indicated The Well was starting to show greatly reduced flow rates. At that time no sensors were installed in The Well, but as each drought persisted for longer periods, combined with the Wimberley Valley growing in leaps and bounds, my occasional visitor and teacher saw the time to act was past and he and his association were playing catchup.
Twenty-three years later, I was standing in the crowd as Karl Flocke, Hays County Parks Director, gave a short speech to the crowd of environmental—and Jacob’s Well—enthusiasts, prior to the ribbon cutting that opened the Karst Canyon Trail. This entire area had been part of a proposed development of homes built on top of The Well, an alarming idea that didn’t get past the stage of drawings, which made this result all the more satisfying.
Jacob’s Well was long ago bought and donated to Hays County for perpetual protection, and right there in the crowd was David Baker, the man who had stopped so many times to share the vision his group—then, Wimberley Valley Watershed, now The Watershed Association—had started working toward a half dozen years before we met.
Dozens of years ago, standing in the West Texas landscape, a hydrologist pointed to the bare mountains in front of us and made the point: there is where the water falls and where it then drains to, and the more we alter that route the more we compound our own problems.
The hydrologist also made a point that came to mind that first conversation with David.
David and I were standing in front of the old facility that used to serve Woodcreek North with a restaurant, swimming pool, indoor handball court, all a 3-minute walk to The Well: There are two types of people, the hydrologist said, those who don’t know we have a water crisis and those who do. He advised: Be—and act like—one who knows.
I know of few places where water conservation—at least water consciousness—is as developed as it is in Wimberley. I credit David and the Watershed Association with the teaching, the unseen and untold hours of work, that created not just the Jacob’s Well Preserve and Karst Canyon, but the awareness we all have about just how fragile our resources are. I cannot express admiration enough for his and their work, now in the 30th year.
Thank you all, and very much thank you, David.
Clay Ewing
Wimberley Valley
