It has been a good year for HCC and preservation of the Texas Hill Country. Our mission is to preserve open space, and we have made major strides during the year that will help us fulfill our goals. We have received several significant pledges/contributions this year from AMD, HEB, the Real Estate Council of Austin, Stratus and others, and we are very grateful for their support. HCC, working with many partners, has accomplished several wins on land conservation projects and participated in the passage of Travis County and City of Austin bond elections for funding parks, trails and water-quality lands. Thank you to everyone who has helped, whether in money, marbles or chalk.

As our organization has matured, we have learned at least two key lessons along the way. One lesson is that effective land conservation cannot be done by the public or private sector alone. It takes a cooperative public/private effort. The second lesson we have learned is that when we receive funding from either the public or private sector, we can usually leverage it significantly. In other words, more often than not, we can turn one dollar into multiple conservation dollars through matching grants from local, state and federal governments and charitable foundations; and furthermore, each dollar contributed is potentially eligible for a tax deduction which adds to the leverage.

As we look to the end of 2006, we hope that you will consider making a year end contribution to help us make 2007 even more successful than 2006. There is no better time than now. Your gift will go to a long way toward ensuring additional land conservation. Future generations will appreciate this legacy of open space. There are not a lot of financial transactions that are made with the end result being something that will last forever. HCC’s work in preserving open space is, however - forever.

At the end of this month, I will pass the gavel to Steve Drenner, the incoming president. I do so with great confidence that Steve will lead HCC to the next level. Please consider making a significant gift to HCC before year end. Your children, their children and their children will thank you for it!

It has been a fun ride, and I thank you for your support. Please join us in thinking in terms of forever.

Best wishes for the holidays and the New Year.

David Armbrust
President
Hill Country Conservancy

HCC extends grateful thanks to Mr. Wayne Hollingsworth for his generous contributions of time as HCC’s Corporate Counsel. We truly appreciate Wayne’s dedication to HCC and its mission. Wayne and his family often enjoy time together in one of Austin’s beautiful parks or at one of the natural areas in the Hill Country. This love of the great outdoors Wayne says, “is why I signed up early on to take care of the corporate filings so that HCC’s board of directors and staff can spend their time focusing on creating more green spaces for everyone to enjoy. ” Wayne’s law practice at Armbrust & Brown, L.L.P. is in the areas of taxation, partnership, limited liability company and offerings of exempt securities, corporate law, business sales and acquisitions (stock and assets), real estate transactions and finance, construction and design contracts, aircraft and aircraft fractional interest acquisitions, ownership and sales, franchise agreements (franchisor and franchisee) and general business transactions and issues. Wayne is a past member of the Business Law and Tax Sections of the State Bar of Texas, Travis County Bar Association and the Tax Study Group of Austin. He is currently a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a past member of the Austin Chapter of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.