Hill Country Alliance
2026 Hill Country Leadership Summit
September 24, 2026 · Sacred Oaks at Camp Lucy, Dripping Springs, Texas · In person and livestreamed · Hosted by the Hill Country Alliance
The Hill Country Leadership Summit is the Hill Country Alliance’s premier annual gathering, now in its 14th year. It brings together community leaders, conservation practitioners, and natural resource managers from across the Texas Hill Country for a full day of panels, presentations, and networking. This year’s theme is “Small Choices, Big Changes.”
For anyone working with landowners, rural water, or groundwater in the Hill Country, the Summit is one of the few regional events where county officials, watershed groups, aquifer organizations, and private landowners share the same room and the same agenda.
What attendees can expect
- A keynote from Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, titled Re-hydrating and Re-enlivening Our Communities
- A panel on flood recovery in the Hill Country with Austin Dickson of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, landowner and volunteer Northern Hendricks, and Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard
- A session from Gullivar Shepard of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates on mediating scales in landscape planning
- Neighbor to Neighbor, a panel on collective action with speakers from Friends of the Little Blanco River Valley, The Eyes of the San Marcos River, and the Hill Country Preservation Coalition
- A lightning round of five-minute talks, including Adrian Shelley of Public Citizen on what is known and unknown about data centers
- The Heart of the Hill Country Award honoring Ira Yates and Wayne Gosnell
- Sessions on night sky preservation and community programs, followed by an evening networking reception
Water runs through much of the day, from rainwater capture to flood recovery to the questions surrounding large new water users in the region.
Who should attend
- Community leaders and county and city officials
- Conservation practitioners and natural resource managers
- Landowners and landowner alliance members
- Watershed, river, and aquifer organizations
- Water technology companies and consultants working in the Hill Country
- Students and educators, with discounted in-person and virtual tickets
Registration and lodging
General admission is $150 and virtual attendance through the livestream is $50. Student tickets are $20 for in-person or virtual attendance, and educator tickets are $20 for virtual attendance. The early bird rate closed August 16.
The Sleep Inn and Suites in Dripping Springs is offering a group rate of $99 per night for Summit attendees on Wednesday, September 23 and Thursday, September 24. The booking page defaults to a two-night stay, so adjust the dates as needed.
Connecting with NightOwl
Sean Trapp, NightOwl Monitoring’s VP of Sales and Marketing, will be joining the Summit virtually through the livestream. NightOwl builds remote monitoring hardware and software that reports water level, flow, and pressure from the wellhead, giving landowners and water managers a steady read on their wells without a site visit.
If you are attending in person or online and want to continue a conversation from the day, connect with Sean on LinkedIn.
Event Location: Camp Lucy, 3509 Creek Rd, Dripping Springs, TX 78620
Sean Trapp
Co-Founder
Connect with Sean on LinkedIn before Sep 24th.
