Friday, April 25, 2025 by Mina Shekarchi

The City of Austin released its annual State of the Environment Report on Earth Day, providing an update on Austin’s air and water quality, urban forest, parkland, and climate resilience in 2024. The city’s environmental officer is tasked with compiling this report every year, and it is published through the Watershed Protection Department.

“For the 2024 Report, we are highlighting the successes achieved through the acquisition of open space, particularly the Water Quality Protection Lands program,” it reads. “This program exemplifies the significant impact community commitment has had on land conservation in Austin.” The Water Quality Protection Lands (WQPL) program was created in 1998, when Austinites first voted to purchase conservation easements to protect water quality in the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer.

Austin is one of a few U.S. cities that has a Watershed Protection Department that operates separately from its water utility. The department exists in part because of Austin’s overlap with the ecologically fragile Edwards Aquifer. This year’s report has a special focus on the city’s Water Quality Protection Lands program.

The WQPL program acquired an additional 784 acres of land in 2024. This was partially funded by bonds from 2018. The program also restored 1,673 acres of native grassland savanna. Austin Water Utility has been evaluating similar land protection strategies to manage water quality along the lower Colorado River in the recent updates to the Water Forward plan.

The State of the Environment report also signaled support for the HOME amendments and for a recent ordinance changing drainage regulations for small infill projects. Some environmental advocates raised concerns that the contentious HOME amendments do not adequately address flood or wildfire risk, but these changes have been supported by a supermajority of the City Council.

“Austin continues to set the standard for responsible development, proving that infrastructure expansion can coexist with strong environmental safeguards,” Liz Johnston, Austin’s interim environmental officer, said in the report.

The report also shared some highlights on the city’s progress towards its sustainability goals in 2024.

Austin acquired an additional 500 acres of parkland last year. This progress was in spite of actions by the Texas Legislature in 2023 that gutted Austin’s Parkland Dedication Ordinance.

“More people than ever now live within walking distance of a park,” reads the report. “These accomplishments were offset by changes in state law that will make it more challenging to add parkland in the future.”

Progress with Austin’s air quality has been similarly nuanced. 2024 saw a decrease from 2023 in the number of days that met thresholds for high levels of ozone and particulate matter.  However, 2024 had several days with a higher severity of air quality issues than the year before. The report also mentioned the city’s increasing wildfire risk (although community-wide wildfire preparedness is improving) and our worsening annual allergy season.

Austin’s urban forest contains more than 12 million trees with a diameter of at least five inches. A national tree census for urban areas has identified 67 species of trees in Austin. Trees with smaller diameters are more prevalent (although a more structurally diverse canopy is most ideal for resilience). “The urban forest plays a vital role in Austin’s ecosystem services like providing shade and improving air quality. (The Urban Forest Inventory and Analysis) estimates a total replacement value of $12.4 billion for our urban trees,” the report reads.

The State of the Environment report also boasts that community-wide greenhouse gas emissions have been on the decline since a peak in 2011, despite population growth. The city received $242 million in federal funds last year to support access to solar power, electric vehicle charging, and more climate-friendly transportation. According to the Watershed Protection Department, the city is closely monitoring the ongoing status of federal grants under the Trump administration and whether any of these 2024 awards will be impacted.

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Photo by LoneStarMike, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.