Friends of the Brazos River

03/12/2026

Achievement unlocked! ✏️ 👏

07/05/2023

For Somervell County Residents interested in the solar farm being built alongside the Brazos in Hood and Somervell Counties, there is a Town Hall meeting lead by citizens opposed to the Tax Abatement being requested by the developers. Apparently, there are NO environmental regulations or permits required for solar farms, which can use from 35-700 gallons of water per day per acre to clean the solar panels. Here is information on the meeting, the board of Friends of the Brazos has not taken an official stand at this point, but we are always concerned about the impact of any project on the health of the Brazos River.
INFORMATIONAL TOWN HALL MEETING
THURSDAY, JULY 6, 6;30 PM
SOMERVELL COUNTY SENIOR CENTER, 209 SW BARNARD ST, GLEN ROSE

HUGE SOLAR FARM PROJECT IN SOMERVELL COUNTY
ASKING FOR A $14 MILLION TAX ABATEMENT FROM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

A multi-county riverside solar farm has already received a tax abatement from Somervell and Hood counties (approximately 625 acres in Somervell County, 3700 acres) along the Brazos River. The Yellow Viking One and Extension One project are now asking for another abatement on the 97 acres where they will build the sub-station. The substation is less than a mile from the Brazos River and will convert open space into industrial space that will eventually carry the dangers of lithium battery fires.
This meeting will present the details and ask you to let your County Commissioner know if you want to subsidize the industrialization of Somervell County by giving this foreign-owned developer a tax abatement.
County Commissioners Contact Information: Phone (all): 254-897-2206.
Precinct 1: [email protected] and 254-898-3931; Precinct 2: [email protected] and 254-898-3932; Precinct 3 – The ‘home’ of the substation- [email protected] an 254-898-3933; Precinct 4: [email protected] and 254-898-3944.
Please copy what you send to Judge Chambers. [email protected] and 254-897-2322. Not sure which precinct you are in? Check this Somervell County Precinct Map Link, or look on your voter registration card! Don’t have a voter registration card? You can register at the County Annex, first office on the left as you enter from the Square!

06/12/2023

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=7168212516528379

05/31/2023

05/30/2023

The FBR Annual Cleanup on Saturday May 27 netted almost 150 tires plus all sorts of trash. Those tires were extracted by four separate paddler groups in four sections of river, with as many as seventy paddlers altogether, over a 30-mile stretch from Ed Lowe Estate to Brazos Point bridges.
Celebration Restaurant catered BBQ, sponsored by Friends of the Brazos. Coordinated with Rio Brazos Chapter of Texas Master Naturalist and five neighboring NTX Texas Master Naturalist chapters with interesting natural sciences walk & talks all thru the M Day weekend at Little L Ranch on the Brazos. Featuring botanists Sam Kieschnick (TPWD), Ricky Linex (NRCS Ret’d), Justin Grimm (BRA), and Bruce Bodson, (Lower Brazos River Watch). Also co-sponsored by Texas Conservation Alliance and Texas Land Conservancy.

02/13/2023

https://www.texasobserver.org/brazos-river-development-pollution-drifting-toward-disaster/?goal=0_975e2d1fa1-14fc9931d5-23217559&mc_cid=14fc9931d5&mc_eid=14ad56f4e2

Pollution and development are straining the mighty river that Spanish explorers once called "the Arms of God."

09/14/2022

Help us keep Rucker Creek on the Brazos pollution free and fish friendly! Join our Pop-up online fundraiser, September 14 thru noon, Saturday September 17! -

Friends of the Brazos and Granbury Fresh members and supporters have created an  amazing collection of experiences and gifts to support our campaign to keep the Rucker Creek area free from harm and our mutual goal to keep the Brazos River clean and flowing.  

07/25/2022

Bookmark this post for when you have time to watch an awesome documentary ‘The Abilene Boys’. These men revisit their canoe trip they made as teenagers 50 years earlier from Ballinger to the Bay on the Colorado River!

07/19/2022

Great project!

07/06/2022

From the canyons to the coast, the Brazos has been modernized—but not tamed