Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve

Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve
Map showing the location of Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve
Location	Central Texas, USA
Nearest city	Austin, Texas
Coordinates
Area	227 acres
Established	1974 (1974)
Governing body	Travis County Parks

Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve consists of 227 acres (919,000 m²) of wood west of Austin, Texas. The preserve was founded in 1974. The preserve maintains 2.5 miles (4 km) of hiking trails.

Location

The entrance to the preserve is a mile north of Bee Caves Road along the east side of Loop 360.

In 1974 Janet Poague, a Westlake Hills resident and prominent environmentalist, was instrumental in negotiating a developments rights agreement between the City of Austin, Travis County, and Westview Development creating the preserve.

Mrs. Poague along with Westview executive Beth Robertson, Mayor Carol McClellan and County Commissioner Ann Richards redrew the master plan of Westview's 1,300-acre Davenport Ranch residential development in order to set aside over 100 acres of the developer's land to protect the sensitive Hill Country environment including habitat for the endangered Black-Capped Vireo and Golden-Cheeked Warbler.

In the deal, Westview donated the land to Wild Basin and, in return, the City gave the developer the right to relocate 100 residential units originally planned on the preserve land to its adjacent property. This transaction was one of the first transfers of development rights in the Austin area and created one of the more important environmental laboratories on the Edwards Plateau.

External links

• Official website
• St. Edward’s University Wild Basin Creative Research Center official site