May 26, 2025

In this edition: Another chance to show your support for in-town recycling TOMORROW at City Council; Bahia pipeline gets green light from County Commissioners; and too many deer threaten urban riparian zones

In-town Recycling on the City Council Agenda TOMORROW at 9 am

Five people showed up at the May 13 Brownwood City Council meeting to show their support for continuation of the twice-monthly in-town recycling service currently offered by the city.

Leslie Courington gave a brief Citizen Presentation as Council members listened attentively. The topic is on the agenda for TOMORROW’S City Council meeting, which starts at 9 am. Former Keep Brownwood Beautiful Program Coordinator Cary Perrin will be giving a Citizen Presentation in favor of continuing the in-town recycling service. PLEASE plan to attend this meeting if you want in-town recycling to continue!

Citizen Presentations are near the top of the agenda, and you are free to leave the meeting after they are through, if you have other business to attend to. The agenda item where “Council may give input and feedback to staff regarding the in-town recycling program” is also near the beginning of the meeting, soon after Citizen Presentations.

For a link to the City’s Agenda Center, scroll down to the Civic Calendar, which appears at the end of every edition of this newsletter.

Recycling Advocates Meet with City of Brownwood Staff

Following up on her May 13 City Council presentation, Leslie Courington met last week with City of Brownwood staff members at the Recycling Center at the landfill to discuss the future of the in-town recycling service. She was also joined by Cary Perrin, former Program Coordinator with Keep Brownwood Beautiful.

I talked with Cary after the meeting, and here are a few of her takeaways.

First, the City of Brownwood remains committed to a robust recycling program. Recently the city has spent around $1 million on upgrades at the Recycling Center, including a new baling machine for cardboard and plastic, an enclosed space for oil and anti-freeze recycling, and a new office building for the staff there. Watch for a Grand Re-Opening to show off the improvements, coming soon.

Second, the Sanitation Dept. overall is struggling to fill all positions and shifts, so the human resources required to deliver and pick up the recycling trailers have become an issue.

Third, the amount of recyclables collected in town has declined, especially since the COVID pandemic. Recycling is not a profitable venture for the city, and only a tiny fraction of the recyclables collected comes from the in-town service. Bringing a single recycling trailer, instead of two trailers and a huge roll-off for cardboard, will likely be a more feasible compromise, going forward

Fourth, city staff and recycling advocates agree that the city’s recycling volume, both in-town and at the landfill, would likely increase with more publicity. Folks need to be reminded of these services, and how to best access them.

Finally, citizen volunteers will help keep this service going. We have 3 volunteers so far—we need 6. The shift is 8:45 am to 12:15 pm on first and third Saturdays. If you want to volunteer, contact Leslie Courington at 325-203-6940.

Learn more about the Recycling Center, items accepted, prices for mulch and compost, and more:

https://www.brownwoodtexas.gov/410/Recycling

Local Food Production Decisions on the Council Agenda

Also on the May 27 Brownwood City Council agenda, item 10 B, under Agreements and Contracts, the Brownwood Area Community Garden is seeking a ten-year lease to “place a greenhouse on City property located at 1514 Dublin St.,” (inside the Brownwood Housing Authority Park Homes).

Item 14 A: In Executive Session, the Council may consider a lease for the maintenance and operation of the City’s 155 acre Pecan Orchard, the former USDA Pecan Field Station on CC Woodson Rd.

County Commissioners Approve Pipeline Road Use Agreement

At the May 19 Brown County Commissioners Court meeting, Commissioners unanimously approved an updated Road Use Agreement and $500,000 surety bond, allowing construction of the Bahia Pipeline to proceed.

As reported in the last edition of this newsletter, the 30 inch diameter Bahia Pipeline is for “hazardous liquid transmission” (natural gas liquids) and will be 554 miles long, running from Ector County, near Odessa, to Chambers County, near Houston. Planned capacity is 600,000 barrels per day.

The surety bond is to cover any damage to county roads caused by moving heavy equipment involved in the pipeline’s construction. The county roads of primary concern are CR 411 and CR 478, which run across the northern part of the county, roughly from Cross Cut to May, then southeast near the Comanche County line towards Blanket.

A representative from the pipeline contractor, Pumpco Energy Infrastructure, was at the meeting, and said the start date for construction had been delayed.

https://pumpco.cc/projects/

Please Don’t Feed the Deer!

This is my plea to those of you who live in Brownwood.

Do you see more and more deer? Are they devouring your landscape and garden plants? Have you hit a deer while driving in town, or had a close call?

White-tailed Deer have become over-abundant in urban areas throughout Texas, and much of the nation, for that matter. The absence of natural predators, limitations on hunting in town, and abundant food resources, including folks who like to feed them because they’re cute, all contribute to this widespread problem.

The impact that concerns me most is what I see happening along Willis Creek, on my own property. The trees that grow next to the creek make a dense canopy that shades and cools the air and water, and their roots hold the soil in place when the water rises during big storms. And of course the birds and squirrels feed and nest there too.

There should be a mix of mature, middle-aged, and young trees in this riparian forest, but the deer love to nibble on the tender new growth, so the baby trees never have a chance to mature, and the forest isn’t regenerating like it should.

In the past 27 years, I’ve noticed the diversity of tree species along the creek and in the floodplain decreasing. The last giant pecans were dying off in the early 2000’s. Climate change is also playing a role, no doubt. Hotter, drier summers in recent years have taken out most of the locust, willow, box elder, and American elm trees. Even hackberries and chinaberry trees are dying now. The Texas ash, cedar elm, live oak, and mesquite seem to be the most resilient, but along the creek there are almost no young trees to be seen, because of too many deer.

Texas A&M Agrilife Extension has published a comprehensive guide to this problem, and a range of possible solutions: Managing Overabundant White-tailed Deer. Download it for free here:

https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/asset-external/managing-overabundant-white-tailed-deer/

According to this publication, “Texas parks and Wildlife Department is not responsible for making management decisions or implementing management strategies for white-tailed deer on private property.”

Some towns in Texas, including Lakeway, a suburb of Austin, and Hollywood Park, a suburb of San Antonio, have created Deer Control Committees, with promising results. These committees start with a survey to reveal the scope of the problem, as well as how much the public already understands urban deer ecology and management options. The survey is followed with public meetings, and finally, a management plan.

Among other possible solutions, “the prohibition of feeding deer is critical to solving overabundance.”

Is Brownwood/Early ready for a Deer Control Committee? I’d like to hear your thoughts. Email me: beemonster@verizon.net.

My thanks to Brown County Game Warden Brad Reeves who answered my many questions about the urban deer herds in Brownwood as I was researching this article.

Support Your Green News

Your feedback is always welcomed, especially updates and corrections to keep the Civic Calendar current.

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Send story leads anytime, or drop by to see me at the Brownwood Art Center, 215 Fisk, weekdays, 2-6 pm. I’ll be the Gallery Guy greeting you at the front desk.

Civic Calendar: Your shortcut to citizenship and political participation

Brownwood City Council 501 Center Ave City Hall

9 am every 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday

https://brownwoodtexas.gov/150/City-Council

City of Brownwood Agenda Center posts agendas for Boards and Commissions including:

City Council, Airport Board, B’wd Municipal Development District Board, Building and Standards Commission, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Planning and Zoning Commission and more….

https://www.brownwoodtexas.gov/AgendaCenter

Early City Council 960 Early Blvd. City Hall

6 pm every 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday

https://www.earlytx.net/96/City-Council

Blanket City council 718 Main St. Blanket Lions Club

5:30 pm Third Monday

https://www.facebook.com/cityofblanket/photos

Bangs City Council 109 S. First St. City Hall

6 pm 2^nd and 4^th Monday

https://www.cityofbangs.org/

Brown County Commissioners 200 S. Broadway County Courthouse

9 am First and Third Mondays confirm on county calendar