It takes much more than a village to save a river, a case in
point being the beautiful and beloved Pedernales River in the
Texas Hill Country. Named after the Spanish word for the
distinctive caramel-colored flint found along its banks, the
"Perd 'n Alice" gained national recognition in the 1960s during
the presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson, who owned a ranch on
the river that is now a national historic park. Long before
then, the river had been known for the beauty of its crystalline
waters and the sculpted contours of its bedrock streambed. Since
its creation in 1971, the 5,200-acre Pedernales Falls State Park
near Johnson City has been a magnet for visitors. The river
rises from springs in Kimble County and flows through the park
along its 105-mile course to the Colorado River at Lake Travis
near Austin. Along the way, the Pedernales is sustained by
springs, seeps and tributary streams that foster a wide
diversity of native aquatic and wildlife communities.
Unfortunately, the river — and the life it sust