The Barton Creek community lies in a beautiful and environmentally sensitive portion of the Texas Hill Country. Stratus Properties has implemented a variety of environmental practices in order to further our goals of respecting the environment and also to provide a comfortable home for future generations.
In 1991 the Barton Creek Club and Resort became a member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for golf courses. In 1999 three of the four golf courses became "Certified Sanctuaries" demonstrating excellence in environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, outreach and education, integrated pest management, water conservation and water quality management. The fourth course, the Fazio Canyons, is part of the Audubon Signature Program, demonstrating a land management commitment with Audubon International prior to any type of construction.
Homeowners at Barton Creek are encouraged to adopt stewardship of their portion of Barton Creek by using native and adapted native landscaping, properly operating and maintaining their irrigation systems, and by using integrated pest management techniques to eliminate or reduce the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
In 1994 Stratus purchased 4,000 acres of Hill Country land on the southern banks of Barton Creek, and took action to ensure permanent conservation by donating it to the Texas Nature Conservancy. The Barton Creek Preserve now serves to enhance regional water quality and also to protect the habitat of endangered species including the Golden Cheeked Warbler and the Black Capped Vireo.
One of the longer running water quality programs in the state of Texas, the Barton Creek program ran continuously from 1993 until 2005. Monitoring stations along Barton Creek and its tributaries provided samples above, within and below the community to ensure that water quality was not compromised by development. During the program, tests were conducted by an independent consultant and analyzed by an independent lab. Independent consultants continue to monitor Barton Creek.