The Hays County Commissioners Court voted unanimously last week to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Dahlstrom family as a precursor agreement to a 22-year lease for 360 acres of the family’s 2,253-acre ranch near Buda. County officials say the conservation easement will probably be finalized Feb. 4 or 5.

Soon after Hays County Precinct Commissioner Jeff Barton filed to run against incumbent Hays County Judge Liz Sumter in the March Democratic primary, Sumter came out with guns blazing. And Barton fired back.

Hays County’s joint acquisition of a $9.9 million conservation easement for 2,275 acres of aquifer recharge land near Buda has been stalled until at least Tuesday. The Hays County Commissioners Court voted unanimously last month to close on the deal by Dec. 31. However, Hays County commissioners say the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a federal agency, still hasn’t finished its paper work to clear federal funds for the Hill Country Conservancy’s part of the purchase.

Hays County is close to finalizing an agreement prohibiting development on 2,275 acres of aquifer recharge land on Dahlstrom Ranch property near Buda, though county residents won’t soon unwrap 350 acres of the land proposed for public access.

A federal agency is dubious about a Hays County proposal to place a shooting range on land earmarked for wildlife habitat conservation.

A task force seeking a location for a county shooting range is proposing Dahlstrom Ranch property for which the county is purchasing a conservation easement.

Hays County officials are close to finalizing a deal for a conservation easement on the Dahlstrom Ranch west of Buda. The deal would preserve nearly 2,300 acres on the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone from development.