Our Park, Our Power: Celebrating Earth Day at Zilker Park
Zilker 351 and TreeFolks volunteers fill in the tree canopy with 140 new trees to protect Barton Springs from the runoff from nearby roads.
Earth Day falls on April 22nd this year, and the global theme — Our Power, Our Planet — couldn't feel more personal for those of us who call Zilker Park home turf.
The idea behind this year's theme is refreshingly honest: environmental progress doesn't hinge on any single election or administration. It lives in the daily choices of communities, families, and neighbors who show up for the places they love. And if that doesn't describe the Zilker 351 community to a T, we don't know what does.
A Park That Was Always a Gift
Zilker Park has been a gift from the very beginning — literally. In 1917, Austin businessman Andrew Jackson Zilker donated 35 acres surrounding Barton Springs to the City of Austin. He gave more land in 1923 and again in 1931, eventually handing over his entire ranch to the city so that its springs, fields, and creekside beauty could belong to everyone. By 1934, the park bore his name.
What started as a generous gesture from one man has grown into 351 acres of public land sitting at the convergence of Barton Creek and Lady Bird Lake — one of the most beloved green spaces in Central Texas. The Civilian Conservation Corps shaped much of its landscape during the 1930s, deliberately designing trails and structures to work with the natural topography rather than against it. That philosophy still guides how we think about the park today.
The Work That Keeps It Alive
Here's something easy to forget when you're lounging on the Great Lawn or cooling off in Barton Springs Pool: this place requires constant, loving attention to stay healthy.
Volunteers, city staff, and nonprofits like Zilker 351, Austin Parks Foundation, TreeFolks, and Keep Austin Beautiful work year-round to control invasive species, replant native grasses and wildflowers, expand the tree canopy, and keep the creek banks clean. That work isn't just cosmetic. The restored waterways along Barton Creek filter pollutants from stormwater runoff, reduce erosion, slow flash flooding, and support the wildlife habitat that makes this park feel alive in a way that most urban green spaces simply don't.
The springs, in particular, need us. Barton Springs Pool is fed by the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer, one of the most ecologically sensitive water systems in Texas. Protecting that water — from what flows into it, maximizing how much flows into it, and how the watershed is managed — is an ongoing effort that depends on community engagement.
"Our Power, Our Planet" Starts Here
This Earth Day, the call to action from organizers worldwide is to focus on local organizing: town halls, community cleanups, teach-ins, grassroots campaigns to protect environmental laws. It's a framework that fits perfectly with what the Zilker 351 community already does. In March alone volunteers planted 140 trees in Zilker Park and mulched a large area on the South bank of Barking Springs to reduce erosion. The love for Zilker Park continues to flow.
How You Can Plug In
You don't have to travel far to find your corner of the planet worth protecting. It might be a Saturday morning pulling invasive plants from a creek bank. It might be showing up to a city council meeting about park policy. It might just be introducing an Austin transplant to the park and watching their face when they first lay eyes on Barton Springs.
Other ideas include:
Join a volunteer event at Zilker or along Barton Creek — although spring planting season is over, keep an eye out for the many fall plantings we have in store.
Spread the word about why Zilker matters. Share a photo, tell a story, invite a friend.
Stay engaged with park planning — Zilker's future is shaped by public input, and your voice counts.
Come to the park. Seriously. Use it, enjoy it, feel why it's worth protecting.
Zilker Park has been a gift for over a century. This Earth Day, let’s commit to keep that gift alive.
Happy Earth Day from the Zilker 351 community. See you on the lawn. 🌱