oakhillgazette.com
March 5, 2015 Volume 20, No. 5 Southwest Austin’s Community Newspaper Since 1995
End of the road for Bowie girls
City funds Bowie Cave project, summer dig planned by Leah Gernetzke
Gazette: Dion Butler
The Lady Dawgs beat Cedar Ridge (above), but lost in Dallas to a Skyline club that plays in one of the state semifinal games at the Alamodome this weekend. Story and more sports on p. 14.
New Cap Metro app tracks bus in real-time AUSTIN - On Feb. 25, Capital Metro began offering customers access to real-time information on its entire bus fleet. The real-time data signals a minute-by-minute countdown at each bus stop for the next three bus departures. The GPS-enabled real-time
data allows the transit agency to more accurately track every bus on every route, every day. According to Capital Metro officials, this information will allow for specific system improvements and adjustments to be made on a regular basis in the future.
See NEW on p. 24
AUSTIN - The city has just renewed a one-year agreement with the Austin Independent School District and has allocated $15,000 in funds for the Bowie Cave project. These funds will also cover excavation at additional caves located in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Although the Bowie High School cave excavation project began approximately two decades ago, progress has been intermittently stalled due to lack of funding and legal agreements. Austin might be known more for star-bound musicians and startups than caves, but unbeknownst to many, the latter is just as common— and important. This is especially true in Oak Hill, where there are around 200 caves in an ecologically sensitive area in the aquifer recharge zone. In fact, the hundreds of unseen caves in Austin form a crucial part of the city’s past and present ecological heritage. Not only do they house a variety of minerals, but they also help regulate the way groundwater is stored through aquifers, control flooding, and provide a natural habitat to rare species, including the city’s famous bat population. One of these ecological treasures rests beneath the floorboards of James Bowie High School. Since the 1990’s, local scientists cave specialists and educators have been working together to excavate it so students can learn about the role caves play in the eco-system in a hands-on way. “It is hard visualize the ecosystem that lies beneath us and how what we do above ground impacts the quality and quantity of our ground-
See CITY on p. 26
by Ann Fowler
Bowie Science teacher Jill Harding explores Bowie Cave in this 2004 photo taken by Nico Hauwert, Sr. Hydrogeologist with the City. The full size and extent of the cave is not known yet because contstruction debris from when the school was built blocks further exploration. Crews will begin to excavate that debris this summer.