Along the Geronimo Creek: Basura Bash

Basura Bash is a river clean-up event for the San Antonio river and it's tributaries. I volunteered along with a group of 75 or so people to collect trash around the main headwater spring(called the Blue Hole) for a few hours on Saturday morning. We collected two trailer loads of garbage from less than a half mile of stream bed. The headwater spring only flows after long wet periods(cost of all the urban development that has dropped the water level of the aquifer). After we were finished picking up trash, I stuck around to visit with some of the organizers(Headwaters Coalition) and got filled in on the Coalition's work. The Coalition stewards the Headwaters Sanctuary:53 acres of undeveloped land around the Blue Hole spring that was set aside for a reserve by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word who first purchased this land in 1897. There is a lot of opportunity for volunteer work to fight evasive species and building trails and I will be going back to help.

Historial placard at Blue Hole

Blue Hole Spring is dry now. The spring begins to flow when the aquifer level reaches 676 feet. After extended wet periods, the aquifer sometimes reaches that level and when it does I plan to visit the sanctuary to watch the spring flow as it once did.