Balcones Canyonlands marks 30 years; officials outline permit renewal and Travis County visitor center plans

Austin and Travis County officials on May 1 marked the 30th anniversary of the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan, highlighting decades of habitat protection and detailing plans to renew the plan's federal incidental take permit while the county builds a new visitors center, officials said.

Kimberly Harvey, BCCP secretary, opened the presentation by framing the anniversary as both a recap and an outlook: "We're going to tell the story so far and give a look at what's to come," she said.

The presentation traced the BCCP's origins from the Endangered Species Act and early regional activism, and described how the plan established a system of preserves to meet mitigation commitments. Harvey said the original permit set preservation targets including roughly 28,428 acres of habitat for the golden-cheeked warbler and about 2,000 acres for additional habitat and named caves. Presenters said partners now steward more than 33,000 acres and 62 named caves across western Travis County, exceeding the original minimums.

Olivia Lopez, the City of Austin's environmental conservation program manager,…