Lucha Libre guarding the trash collected at the Lady Bird Lake cleanup in April

It’s almost summer in Austin and what a better way to show your love for Austin than by participating in our first cleanup of the Summer! Join the Surfrider Foundation Central Texas Chapter along with hundreds of volunteers as they have a rewarding morning searching high and low for every last bit of trash and getting to know other lake enthusiasts.  Each cleanup will end with a prize for the most unusual object found during the cleanup!

On-the-Water volunteers should be 16 or older and be comfortable around water.

Surfrider Foundation Central Texas Chapter will be hosting at the Texas Rowing Center.

Please use the registration link below.

Date: Saturday, June 9th
Cleanup Time:  9am-11am
Location: Texas Rowing Center -1541 West Cesar Chavez
Registration: Click here 

Please contact Matt Kuhn if the registration is full and you wish to participate in this event.

Carol Severance's house in Bermuda Beach Subdivision, Galveston. Septic tanks on the beach, a Texas tradition that has been endorsed by our state Supreme Court. PHOTO: Ellis Pickett

In case you haven’t heard, the Open Beaches Act has been gutted, and a constitutional amendment along with centuries of tradition have been tossed aside by the Texas Supreme Court. To stay up to date on issues you can join the group Occupy the Texas Coast!, and here is the press release from the Texas General Land Office issued on April 4, 2012:

AUSTIN — The Texas tradition of guaranteed public access to the beach died today for Galveston’s West End with the Supreme Court reaffirming its prior ruling in favor of a California divorce attorney who bought rental properties on the beach.

“It seems that the Open Beaches Act – at least for Galveston’s West End – is dead, thanks to the Supreme Court,” Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said. “This is truly a sad day.”

Justice Dale Wainwright delivered the court’s 5-3 opinion. Justices Debra H. Lehrmann, David Medina and Eva Guzman dissented. Justice Wallace Jefferson did not participate.

Patterson said the ruling ends any future possibility of much-needed beach renourishment projects for Galveston Island’s rapidly eroding West End and will make it impossible for the state to step in quickly to clear the beach of debris after the next hurricane demolishes the front row. After hurricanes Ike and Dolly, the General Land Office spent $43 million to remove debris from the state’s beaches and bays.

“This ruling is bad news for Galveston,” Patterson said. “It also gives a pretty big club to anyone who wants to challenge the Texas Open Beaches Act anywhere else along the coast.”

In 2005, California resident Carole Severance purchased several houses on the beach in Galveston. After Hurricane Rita hit that summer, the General Land Office sent Severance a letter stating her property was on the public beach and subject to removal under the Open Beaches Act. She was later offered up to $40,000 in public money to move each house off the beach. Instead, Severance sued, claiming the public’s right to access the beach violated her constitutional rights.

In 2010, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case that called into question the public beach easement, a key provision of the Texas Open Beaches Act. The court ruled that despite centuries of public use, a public beach easement does not exist on West Galveston Island because the original Republic of Texas land patent from 1840 failed to reserve the public’s right to use the beach.

The court stated in today’s ruling that even for areas where a public beach easement could be proven by the state, that easement does not “roll” landward and would effectively be extinguished after each new storm event or hurricane that moved the line of vegetation.

The 2011 opinion threw the Texas tradition of public beach access into legal limbo and caused Patterson to cancel a much-needed $40 million beach renourishment project on West Galveston Island.

The opinion also triggered a robust response from Texans defending the Open Beaches Act that resulted in a rehearing that was ruled on today.

Disposable or  single-use bags used for meat, produce and bulk foods will be exempt from the new ordinance,  as well as, restaurant carry-out and delivery, newspaper delivery, and dry cleaning.  Additionally, charities and nonprofits that distribute food and other items to the needy will still be able to utilize disposable plastic bags.

The Central Texas Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, applauds the city council for their forward thinking efforts, and looks forward to assisting communities throughout Texas with future single-use plastic education and ordinances.

The Pablo Cruz Classic will be one for the ages, and you can view all of the details and RSVP for the event here. We hope to see you all down at Wahoo’s!

Here is the information from Pablo himself:

Whether you are Forrest Gump or a rookie who is just starting to swing the paddle, bring your rad skills and come play with us.

*Proceeds will benefit the Surfrider Foundation of Central Texas*

DJ spinning house, Prizes, and Drink specials and madness.

Tickets for tournament and party entry are $6 online or $12 at the door. Free to Watch and Hangout!!

Cheap Pre-sale Tickets: http://pablocruz.ticketbud.com/classic

A hand-made Signal Snowboard will be awarded to the winner from our good friends at Signal.

—

Rules?

Single Elimination, 21 Wins (no win by 2), 5pt Service

Balls and Paddles Provided!

Let the domination begin…

-Pablo

Great video covering one of the recycling programs out in California.

Check out Waste to Waves programs and ReRip.

From December's Cleanup - Courtesy of Keep Austin Beautiful

What better way to show your love for Austin than participating in our first cleanup of the new year? Join the Surfrider Foundation Central Texas Chapter along with hundreds of volunteers as they have a rewarding morning searching high and low for every last bit of trash and getting to know other lake enthusiasts.  Each cleanup will end with a prize for the most unusual object found during the cleanup!

On-the-Water volunteers should be 16 or older and be comfortable around water.

Surfrider Foundation Central Texas Chapter will be hosting at the Texas Rowing Center, and volunteers MUST pre-register for this event. Please use the registration link below.

Date: Saturday, February 11th
Cleanup Time:  9am-11am
Location: Texas Rowing Center -1541 West Cesar Chavez
Registration: Click here (UPDATE: Registration FULL)

Contact Matt Kuhn to participate in this event.

Please take a couple of minutes right now to send the GLO an email in support of a new pier.

Here are some important points to make in your short statement:

“We need a multi-use pier on the north coast similar to Bob Hall or Horace Caldwell piers in the coastal bend.”

“A new pier will help the economy of Gilchrist and the peninsula.”

If you have ever vacationed, surfed, or fished there, make that point.

The project has already been funded, we just need to show the state that Texans care about a new pier, otherwise they may scrap the project.

In the words of Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson -

“Rollover Pass will soon close and it’s important now that folks tell us what they think about our plan for what could follow. Replacing Rollover Pass with a 1,000-foot pier could not only be great for fishermen, but for surfers and area business too — just without all the erosion and annual costs to taxpayers.”

“I urge anyone interested in Rollover Pass to take a few moments to review the facts about why
the pass must be closed and tell us whether the proposed Recreational Amenities Plan is what they
want to see next.”

Please do this today, the deadline for public comment is Jan. 7.

Send your email to walter.talley@glo.state.tx.us

Links for more information:

http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/caring-for-the-coast/public-notices/notice/rollover-pass-project.html

http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/caring-for-the-coast/_documents/pr-rolloever-pass-plan-12-8-11.pdf

Goals for the Central Texas Chapter of Surfrider Foundation in 2012 include creating:

• reasons for increased attendance at monthly member meetings,
• opportunities for members to get as involved as they choose,
• ways for members to bring new opportunities and initiatives to the chapter’s Executive Committee for consideration and action,
• a combination of fun and accomplishment that is not found in other surfing- and SUP-related groups in our area.

Our chapter has a long history of successful activism:

• advocating for the Texas Open Beaches Act for more than 10 years,
• being instrumental in getting out the vote for passage of Proposition 9 in 2009,
• serving as a liaison to other Texas chapters when the Texas legislature is in session, and monitoring and reporting on legislative activities that serve or threaten Gulf beaches or waters,
• presenting Surfrider and the Surfrider mission at Texas Parks & Wildlife’s annual Expo (until the annual event was suspended in 2009),
• tabling at concert events in the area to raise awareness of Surfrider and to educate attendees on our mission,
• manning information stations at many Austin First Thursday events, Austin City Limits Festivals, South By Southwest, and Port Aransas SandFest,
• meeting with student environmental clubs to discuss the importance of protecting the watershed and the affected Gulf and ocean waters,
• cleaning Barton Creek as part of annual celebrations of International Surfing Day,
• partnering with Barefoot Wine in numerous local clean-ups as part of the Beach Rescue Project,
• partnering with Keep Austin Beautiful to host Lady Bird Lake clean-ups six times each year,
• adopting a mile of Texas beach on Mustang Island and keeping it clean several times each year.

In 2012 we plan to build on that history.  The Executive Committee intends to schedule surf movies and/or informative speakers at most or all monthly membership meetings, and we plan to keep a wealth of projects and initiatives active, based on member interest and involvement.   We encourage members to find a niche, and a level of involvement that suits their individual interests and abilities.  If attending an occasional meeting is all you can commit to, please know that you will be welcome whenever your schedule allows.

• If you choose to be a committed activist, that is wonderful.  There are more opportunities for activism than the Executive Committee members are able to work on by themselves.  We will help you to find a project or initiative and support your initiative.  For our most active members, we hope to raise funds during the year to subsidize attendance in late 2012 at an Activists Summit at Surfrider’s     national headquarters in Southern California.
• If you just want to have fun, that’s great too.  Join us for a surf flick at a meeting, and at a local paddle-out when you can.  We’ll make several trips to the Texas coast during the year, usually associated with a beach clean-up, but not always.  Interested in tabling at a local musical event?  Odds are we’ll have chances for you to do that.  Able to help out at First Thursday?  Great!

The point is that there is a lot of important work to be done — and a lot of fun to be had.  If you have drifted away from Surfrider over time, we hope you’ll rejoin is in 2012.  If you’re new to Central Texas or to Surfrider, please come check us out.

We’re excited about our opportunities in 2012, and we look forward to having a lot of fun making good on them!