MISSION REACH

Padre Park along the Mission Reach section of the San Antonio River Walk is filling up with trees that will provide fresh foods for residents.

A team at the San Antonio River Authority is working on a project to reintroduce native freshwater mussles to the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Walk.

The city's housing officer hopes that developers and officials will "start thinking about displacement on the front end, not the back end."

Like the city of San Antonio and Bexar County, the river authority raised its homestead exemption, roughly doubling the exemption.

What are you up to this coming weekend? We have an idea for you. The San Antonio River Foundation and its partner, the San Antonio River Authority, will host the official kayaking event of Fiesta San Antonio: the Mission Reach Flotilla Fiesta.

People who want to take their Fiesta fun out on the water can do so at the Mission Reach Flotilla Fiesta.

Crossing the divide from Salado Creek to Leon Creek is like stepping over an ecological threshold.

What is a Little Free Library? A Little Free Library is a literary resource powered by and for the community. You can take a book or you can leave a book.

The San Antonio River Foundation hosts Fiesta event in the river to encourage appreciation and stewardship of the waterway.

In San Antonio it seems like there is always a fishing spot nearby, but which ones have the most luck?

Two people who were walking along Mission Reach Saturday found a man’s body in the middle of the San Antonio River.

Crews with the San Antonio River Authority have been picking up large amounts of trash along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Walk.

The Environmental Sciences Department is continuing to monitor the sightings, and officials said the dead fish are not caused by poor water quality. Anyone who spots dead fish along the river is asked to contact the River Authority’s Environmental Investigations team online or by calling 866-345-7272. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said fish on the Texas coast first started dying off on Feb. 14. Among the fish species impacted were spotted seatrout, red drum, sheepshead, grey snapper, snook, black drum and tarpon. Other wildlife species impacted by the storm include axis deer, blackbuck, nilgai antelope and multiple bird species, according to TPWD.

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio River Authority conducted a prescribed burn Tuesday in the Mission Reach area. The burn is part of ongoing maintenance and helps with vegetation management efforts, officials said. Park trails in the Mission Reach area were closed to the public while the burn took place. SARA officials contracted with Raven Environmental Services and coordinated with the San Antonio Fire Department, Bexar County and the National Park Service for the prescribed burn.

For the first time in 30 years, kayaking will be allowed through the River Walk's scenic business district, where countless postcards and San Antonio snapshots have taken place. Kayaking on other extensions of the San Antonio River, like the King William District and Mission Reach, has been a popular activity, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. RELATED: I kayaked on the San Antonio River in the King William Historic District, here's what you need to know"This is a whole new route, a whole new ball game," said San Antonio River Walk Association Executive Director Maggie Thompson. Thompson said the city suggested the idea of kayaking on River Walk proper as a way to generate revenue. Those interested in taking advantage of the rare opportunity can book their tour on The San Antonio River Walk Association website.

SAN ANTONIO – Swamp rats are having a moment. After a story about their invasion of a Texas park went viral, KSAT reached out to the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) and learned that the orange-toothed rodents live here, too. The number of swamp rats trapped in past years:2019 - 10 nutria2018 - 60 nutria2017 - 32 nutriaDid you know the world’s largest bat colony can be found just outside San Antonio? If you see a nutria along the San Antonio River you can report the sighting to the San Antonio River Authority at (866) 345-7272 or on the SARA website sariverauthority.org/contact-us-0. “Our staff worked to find an appropriate solution to the damage caused by the Nutria-rat population in an effort to preserve the project’s ecosystem and the health of the San Antonio River.”

SAN ANTONIO – Nearly 20,000 fish were stocked in two bodies of water in San Antonio Wednesday as part of an ongoing proactive ecological restoration by the San Antonio River Authority (SARA). The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Inland Fisheries Division stocked approximately 15,500 adult Bluegill in the Mission Reach section of the San Antonio River Walk and 4,000 Bluegill in Elmendorf Lake, according to Shaun Donovan, the environmental sciences department manager for SARA. More than 100,000 fish, including Guadalupe Bass, Channel catfish and Bluegill, have been stocked along the Mission Reach since the completion of an ecosystem restoration project in 2013, according to Donovan. He also noted that “Mission Reach has become a hotspot for birding; a three-year avian study resulted in the observation of more than 200 species.”Thousands of catfish to be stocked in two San Antonio neighborhood lakesDonovan pointed out that instream ecosystems are slower to recover despite the success with the reintroduction of plants and birds. “River Authority staff will continue with additional fish stockings and reintroductions and are exploring a reintroduction of freshwater mussels that could begin as early as 2021,” Donovan said.

Mile by painstaking mile, the City, Bexar County, and the San Antonio River Authority have made incremental progress on expanding concrete paths along local waterways, such as the San Antonio River and Leon and Salado creeks. The Citys newest completed trail section joins the Mission Reach to the roughly 10-mile Medina River system. That Medina system runs from Medina River Natural Area, along the Medina River, past Mitchell Lake, and ending at Mattox Park near Mission del Lago. Trail miles: 4.1 miles of concrete trail. Because everybody wants to see it open.Never has the trail system paid off more than during the coronavirus pandemic.

SAN ANTONIO – Update 4/3/20San Antonio city leaders officially announced on Friday that city parks would be closed to the public on Easter weekend. Update 4/2/20:City leaders said Thursday that city parks will be closed to the public on Easter weekend. “Right now we’re looking at closing all the city parks on Saturday and Sunday of Easter weekend, starting midnight on Friday, all the parks will be closed. Easter camping is a long-standing tradition in San Antonio when the city usually lifts the curfew at parks for three nights leading up to Easter Sunday. Now, the city is looking to close the parks entirely over Easter weekend to keep people from holding celebrations and gatherings.

A local energy think tank has dropped its plans to redevelop a shuttered power plant on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River as it continues refining its mission, its leadership says. The decision means EPIcenter wont have to raise money to pay for an upgrade of the power plant estimated at $75 million. CPS Energy plans to put the building on the market in the next six to 18 months, CPS Energy President and CEO Paula Gold-Williams said in prepared statement. EPIcenter could have gotten another $5 million at the outset from its initial sponsors if it had pursued its Mission Road power plant headquarters, Britton said. Disclosure: CPS Energy is a Rivard Report business member.

Seven years after work on the Mission Reach project ended, Bexar County is set to receive its final reimbursement from the federal government. The $26 million is the remainder of the $61.3 million in Bexar County funds that were eligible for federal reimbursement. The more-than-$200-million Mission Reach project, completed in 2013, turned what was once essentially a drainage channel into eight miles of functioning wildlife habitat and park space. In total, Bexar County contributed $126.5 million to the project, and USACE contributed $57.9 million. The City contributed another $6.5 million, along with $4.7 million from the San Antonio River Foundation, a nonprofit affiliated with the San Antonio River Authority.

The Mission Escondida Luxury Apartments (MELA), at 1515 Mission Rd., are only a few minutes drive from the center city and sit along a quiet section of the Mission Reach of the river. The entryway to Mission Escondida Luxury Apartments (MELA). Credit: Bonnie Arbittier / Rivard ReportA model unit at Mission Escondida Luxury Apartments (MELA). Credit: Bonnie Arbittier / Rivard ReportThe demonstration kitchen at Mission Escondida Luxury Apartments (MELA). Credit: Bonnie Arbittier / Rivard ReportThe highway is seen from the rooftop patio of Southline Residences.