Numerous Texas universities along with federal and state agencies now work through the CER to utilize the Hornsby Bend site for education and research on biosolids, soil ecology, biodiversity, riparian ecology, and more. The CER auditorium and classrooms are used by a wide range of academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations for workshops, classes, and meetings. Learn more about this month's events at the CER.

Lunchtime Lectures: CER sponsors Lunchtime Lectures, held every first Wednesday of the month at Austin Water's headquarters on 625 E. 10th Street. This year's series is 2012, A Year of Natural History: Origins, Practices, and Examples. These are free and open to the public, so bring and lunch and learn!

The biodiversity is present both because the sewage treatment plant is managed to encourage wildlife and because of the diversity of habitats at the site stretching along 3.5 miles of the Colorado River. One measure of this biodiversity is that Hornsby Bend is nationally known as one of the best birding sites in Texas – harboring over 370 species of birds and an abundance of other wildlife which is monitored through the CER’s citizen science programs and university researchers. The site is, also, a destination on the TPWD Heart of Texas Wildlife tourism trail.

Click here for a map to the Hornsby Bend site and CER.