The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is hosting two public meetings in June to gather feedback on what should be done with the 3,700 acres recently added to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.
The current concept plan for the expansion includes miles of hiking trails, several primitive camping sites, group camping sites, a new park entrance, and more. The new land purchase more than doubles the original size of the park according to the TPWD.
“Our goal is to protect this remarkable landscape while enhancing access and connection for visitors across Texas,” reads a statement from the TPWD. “Your input will help ensure the expanded Enchanted Rock remains a place of wonder, heritage and inspiration for generations to come.”
Public meetings:
Wednesday, June 17, 6-8 p.m. in Llano, American Legion Hall, 200 Legion Drive
Thursday, June 18, 6-8 p.m. in Leon Valley, Leon Valley Conference Center, 6421 Evers Road
If you are unable to attend these meetings in person, comments can be made online starting on Wednesday, June 3. Stay up to date on the project and learn more about how to comment online at this link.
The public feedback gathered during these meetings will be used to plan out how the new property will be assimilated into the existing park and how the land will be used overall.
Specifically, public input will be used to define:
Potential day-use and overnight stays
Trails and scenic overlook locations
Protection of wildlife, water and habitats
Cultural and historical interpretation
Access, parking and visitor amenities
Long-term stewardship priorities
“This expansion is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect sensitive habitats, relieve visitor pressures, and broaden access to the park’s unique geological, ecological and cultural landscapes,” reads the TPWD statement.
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The Burnet Fire Department is eyeing a federal grant that could help fund six new emergency medical staff to bolster its ranks.
The Burnet City Council greenlit the department’s grant application, to be filed with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, at a June 1 workshop meeting. If awarded, the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant would allow the department to staff three emergency medical technicians and three paramedics to help ease its strained workload.
City Manager David Vaughn told DailyTrib that staffing costs could sit near $600,000 total annually, which the grant would cover 75 percent of for the first two years and 35 percent of for the third year. The city would be responsible for the full staffing costs following the third year.
According to Vaughn, fire department staffing, particularly on the medical side, has been an ongoing problem in recent years due to rising salaries and competition in the field.
“We gave out some pretty hefty raises during COVID,” Vaughn said. “So did everybody else. So the reality is, on the EMT side, we’re behind where we need to be. Used to be, if you had an EMT opening you had 30 people knocking down your door. Nowadays you could be an EMT making $95,000 a year working for an (emergency services district). The competition is much, much harder than there was in the past.”
Burnet Fire Chief Mark Ingram added that the city’s unique workload and geography amplifies those problems.
“In downtown Austin, you’re at a hospital in just a few minutes and it’s over… just get by 10 minutes and give your problem to somebody else,” he said. “That is not the way it works here. You could go out to the lake… and you’re gonna have to be a paramedic for the next hour and a half. It’s a long way.”
On top of servicing the city, the BFD has medical contracts with the city of Bertram and Burnet County (see page 36), amounting to an approximately 750-square-mile coverage zone that the department must stretch its emergency medical response services.
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It is Free Fishing Day in Texas on Saturday, June 6. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department hosts the annual event on the first Saturday of June to encourage residents, especially first-time anglers, to drop a line.
Normally, a Texas fishing license is required to fish on public water, but that need is waived on Free Fishing Day.
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The Texas Department of Public Safety has named Victor Manuel Ramos Jr., 19, of Horseshoe Bay, as the featured fugitive of June 2026. Ramos Jr. has been wanted since April 2025 for failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements and for violating the conditions of his probation for convictions of child sex crimes.
According to a media release issued by the DPS, Ramos Jr. was convicted of sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by sexual contact in April 2025 for an incident involving a 16-year-old girl.
Ramos Jr. reportedly failed to comply with sex offender registration requirements in Llano County and he is also wanted out of Burnet County for violations of his probation.
As a featured fugitive, there is a reward of $4,000 throughout the month of June for information that leads to Ramos Jr.’s arrest.
Ramos Jr. is said to have ties to Horseshoe Bay, Cottonwood Shores, Marble Falls. He is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 170 pounds.
To be eligible for cash rewards, tipsters must provide information to authorities using one of the following three methods:
Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).
Submit a web tip through the DPS website by selecting the fugitive you have information about then clicking on the link under their picture.
Submit a Facebook tip by clicking the “SUBMIT A TIP” link (under the “About” section).
All tips are anonymous — regardless of how they are submitted — and tipsters will be provided a tip number instead of using a name.
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Cottonwood Shores has completed the final phase of a multi-year effort to automate its water system, allowing water pumps on Lake LBJ to automatically respond to demand from the city’s water treatment plant.
The city recently activated its raw water pump station supervisory control and data acquisition control system, completing the automation of the water supply and treatment process, according to the City Manager J.C. Hughes. The pump station, located on Lake LBJ, serves as the city’s water supply source.
The new telemetry system collects data in real time and automatically turns raw water pumps on or off based on demand from the water treatment plant, improving efficiency and reducing the need for manual monitoring.
Before the upgrade, city employees relied on manual controls, visual inspections and a flag system to notify staff whether raw water pumps were operating.
Over the past two years, the city has automated its water system in phases, linking the water treatment plant, water tower and raw water pump station through a telemetry network that monitors water levels and automatically signals when additional water is needed.
The water treatment plant and raw water pump station are also equipped with emergency backup generators, allowing the telemetry control system to continue operating during power outages.
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Following weeks of heavy rain across Central Texas, Lake Buchanan is full and Lake Travis is nearly filled.
As of Tuesday, June 6, the surface of Lake Buchanan is 1,019.86 feet above mean sea level, just shy of completely full, which is at 1,020 feet msl. The reservoir is about 6.4 feet higher than the average for this time of year. The lake is 99.64 percent full at 877,216 acre feet out of 880,356 a-f.
Lake Travis is at 669.9 feet msl as of Tuesday, about 11 feet below its top elevation of 681 feet msl. Travis is about 82 percent full, at 918,329 a-f out of 1.11 million a-f.
Combined, lakes Buchanan and Travis are at 90 percent of their total capacity, currently storing 1.79 million a-f of water. For perspective that is about 12.7 times the amount of water used by the city of Austin annually, which is roughly 140,000 a-f according to the LCRA.
Buchanan and Travis serve as the reservoirs that supply water to millions of Texas residents along the Colorado River, including Marble Falls, Burnet, Granite Shoals, Kingsland, Austin, and beyond.
Rain
According to the LCRA Hydromet, rain gauges across the upper Lower Colorado River Basin showed enormous amounts of precipitation throughout April and May. On the low end, some gauges recorded around 6 inches total between those two months, but others documented close to 20 inches of rain in that same timeframe.
While high rainfall totals in Burnet and Llano counties contributed to the rising levels of lakes Buchanan and Travis, the reservoirs were also bolstered by rain that fell farther north and west. Countless tributaries in San Saba, McCulloch, Mason, Kimble, Gillespie, Blanco, Menard, Brown, Coleman counties, and other Lower Colorado Basin territories all contribute water to the Highland Lakes.
Gauges of note, April-May rainfall:
Burnet- 16.99 inches
Buchanan Dam- 15.42 inches
Tow- 14.75 inches
Horseshoe Bay/Cottonwood Shores- 14.4 inches
Bluffton 13.34 inches
Marble Falls- 12.96 inches
Kingsland- 12.88 inches
Llano- 12.42 inches
Historical comparison
While heavy rains have restored lakes Buchanan and Travis, the inflows into the reservoirs are just a fraction of the historical averages. Inflows refers to the amount of water flowing into the combined storage of both lakes from all sources, including the upper Colorado River, Llano River, and all of their contributing tributaries.
According to the LCRA, the average inflows into the lakes in the month of April between 1942 and 2025 are about 96,197 a-f. That average dropped steeply when zoomed in to the 2008-2015 timeframe, down to 40,778 a-f. In 2026, April inflows were just 20,336 a-f.
The 2026 inflows were just 21 percent of the overall historical April average.
Both lakes have maintained relatively high levels since severe flooding struck the Highland Lakes area in July 2025. At the time, Lake Buchanan was completely filled for the first time since 2025.
Lake Travis has not been completely filled since the extreme flooding of October 2018.
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The Llano Open Pro Rodeo returns Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6 for its 90th year. The weekend promises a parade, team roping, barrel racing, steer wrestling, bronc riding, mutton busting, live music, and more.
The majority of the festivities take place at the John L. Kuykendall Events Center, 2200 W. RR 152 in Llano.
Entry is $20 for ages 13 and up, and $10 for ages 12 and under.
June 5
The rodeo parade starts at 4 p.m. on the courthouse square, at the intersection of West Main Street and Berry Street in Llano. Entry and viewing is free.
The rodeo itself kicks off at 6 p.m. with muttonbusting starting at 6:15 p.m. followed by other traditional events.
Friday also features live music from Cody Hibbard and a dance to close out the night.
June 6
The rodeo again kicks off at 6 p.m. with muttonbusting starting at 6:15 p.m. and other events to follow.
Saturday features live music from Coleton Black and a dance to close out the night.
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A local bar turned on its taps in February to serve up fresh brews to the Burnet community. The One Loose Tooth Tavern is run out of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6974 building at 1402 Buchanan Drive.
The veteran-operated tavern features 33 taps of beers and ciders, pool tables, darts, game machines, and several televisions. Weekly events like half-off drinks for ladies on Tuesdays, pool tournaments on Thursdays, and food trucks on Fridays and Saturdays keep the venue lively.
VFW Post Commander Sean Jones mans the taps at The One Loose Tooth Tavern. Staff photo by Caden Senn
Post Commander Sean Jones, told DailyTrib that the venue is open to the public– veteran or not– and encapsulates the VFW’s mission of giving back to former service members and the community.
“We are here to serve the community,” he said. “And people should know that the money they spend here is going to, if not to help the veterans, it’s going to help the community. (The VFW) is a nonprofit, so people who want to come in can know their dollars are well spent here.”
According to Jones, the VFW hopes to expand its property to encompass more of its three-acre footprint and become a premiere destination for the community. Current plans include an outdoor patio area with food trucks and a spot for live music and dancing.
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In an after-action report, the city of Granite Shoals recorded more than 4,500 attendees at GraniteFest 2026 in early May, helping make the annual festival one of the largest community celebrations in recent memory as the city marked its 60th anniversary.
Attendance over the May 8-10 weekend was estimated at around 4,500, with about 1,398 attendees on May 8, 2,741 on May 9, and roughly 100 on May 10 attending the Mighty Thomas Carnival. The festival, held at Quarry Park, coincided with the 60th anniversary of Granite Shoals’ incorporation on May 9, 1966.
The celebration drew residents and visitors for a weekend of live music, fireworks, carnival rides, a car show, food vendors, children’s activities and other attractions.
“This year’s GraniteFest served as both a signature community celebration and a historic milestone as the City of Granite Shoals commemorated its 60th Anniversary on May 9th,” City Manager Sarah Novo told DailyTrib.
Revenue from the Mighty Thomas Carnival increased by 30 percent, rising from $40,560 in 2025 to $52,941 in 2026, according to a presentation during the May 26 council meeting.
“The city extends its sincere appreciation to our sponsors, volunteers, vendors, city staff, community organizations, and countless attendees whose support and participation helped make this year’s GraniteFest and 60th Anniversary celebration an overwhelming success,” Novo said.
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