by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

Top Photo: The Uvalde Hesperian visited the 19-mile crossing Monday afternoon May 20th and observed a colorful beach ball left on the water’s edge. 

Hailey Hart Conrad,  the new Texas Hill Country River Region Executive Director presented its quarterly report and a river clean:up update to the Uvalde County Commissioners Court earlier this week on Monday, June 10th. 

  In her report. Conrad told commissioners that the THCRR is spending four times as much money to clean up the trash and debris left at 19 mile crossing on Highway 55 at that Nueces River Public access point than is spent mitigating the trash from the Frio River.

  Conrad told the Hesperian:  “Our contractor spends a great amount of time at this crossing, which takes time away from other crossings. There are also costs associated with the yellow bags, grabbers, banners, car signs, etc. These costs are spent no matter what, but the problem is that the crew’s time is focused on this crossing much more than others.”

  Jamie Holmes, a board member of the THCRR,  submitted the following information to the Uvalde Hesperian:

  “25% of all Uvalde County Hotel Occupancy Tax collections are spent specifically on river clean up along the Frio, Sabinal and Nueces rivers.  It makes sense that we would take a special effort to preserve what makes our county so special.  In the first five months of this year, we have spent almost $94k on clean up bags, volunteer and contract labor, and trash disposal.  The initial effort was to make sure that our rivers remain clean after hosting tens of thousands of tourists throughout the season. Now we are faced with spending the majority of these funds on one specific crossing on the Nueces.

   The 19 Mile Crossing on Hwy 55 accounts for almost 85% of the total trash collected on all three Uvalde County rivers as of the end of May.  This is 1,335 lbs of trash, including human feces and drug paraphernalia.  Looking at the data collected through Placer.AI (Location Intelligence & Foot Traffic Data Software – Placer.ai), there have been 4,600 visitors to 19 Mile crossing this year through May, and 3,900 were residents of zip code 78801 (Uvalde).  We have a local issue to tackle.  

 Littering is wrong regardless of who does it or in what amount, but certainly, spending over three times the amount of time and resources on one river crossing vs. the entirety of our other river clean-up efforts is nothing to ignore.  To know that it is happening at the hands of people who should be the biggest stewards of our Uvalde County rivers is heartbreaking.

  In the past, we have been asked to place dumpsters at this crossing and were immediately faced with dumpsters filled with household trash.  It isn’t financially feasible to go this route either; it’s still illegal dumping.

   We have been told by law enforcement that ticketing for litter is difficult.  You must actually see the person leave their trash behind.  I realize that we are not in a position to park officers at a river crossing for hours.  However, I can’t help but think that a law enforcement presence at this crossing (and all crossings, for that matter) during periods of heavy occupancy would deter littering as well as other illegal activity.  We will be reaching out to Sherriff Nolasco to get his help to develop a plan to address this.”

  The Texas Hill Country River Region or THCRR operates the Uvslde County Visitor’s Center located in Concan and it is one of two county entities reponsible for the Counties Hotel Occupancy Tax referred to as the HOT Tax that is collected by hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rental companies and lodges and others collect from their guests within the County.  This tax money is used to fund river clean-up efforts, and for marketing and promotional events in the county.