Radio-Television-Film professor Karen Kocher created the Barton Creek Time Stream, a multimedia educational website dedicated to telling the history of Barton Creek’s conservation efforts.

Looking at Kocher’s portfolio, one will find many projects dedicated to Austin’s history, especially Barton Creek. Kocher said she thinks of Barton Creek as “a singular, amazing resource” threatened by the city’s growth. 

She described a photograph where the lights from the city’s skyscrapers reflect off the spring’s surface. “At the same time, (it’s) beautiful and scary,” Kocher said. “You can feel the presence of the growth of Austin weighing on that pool. That photograph really encapsulates that.”

Kocher said her documentary work covering Barton Creek started in 1997, curating the “first educational installation” at the Beverly S. Sheffield Education Center. Returning to the exhibit in 2010, she said no changes were made to the exhibit’s content while she worked on other projects.  

“I was really shocked that they were showing the same film that had been showing since 1997,” Kocher said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this place has so many more stories to tell.’ Basically, the springs touch everything — the history, science and culture of Austin.”

Kocher said she didn’t want her team’s extra research to go to waste after completing the updated exhibit at the education center. She said she put what she couldn’t fit in the exhibit on a website, which became the Barton Creek Time Stream. The website provides multiple ways to explore the history of Barton Creek, including a timeline and a map. 

“Multimedia allows you to attack a story from many different angles,” Kocher said. “If you’re doing a documentary, you have a main character, and you want it to be story-driven. Multimedia is a way to make a more inclusive type of story because you can include many people’s stories.”

Kocher said environmental science teachers in Austin Independent School District use the Barton Creek Time Stream and its included lesson plans, encouraging students to dive deep into the website’s timeline and connected events. She said school districts in the San Antonio area also use her curriculum.

“I hope (the students) realize the sustained effort that went into creating the assets we have in Austin,” Kocher said. “It didn’t just sort of happen. It was a group of people that made it happen.”

Kocher said her research for the Barton Creek Time Stream will contribute to her next project, which dives into the history of the Barton Creek Greenbelt.

Pat Gordon-Brodnax, the managing director of Save Our Springs Alliance, said education is critical to conserving Barton Creek. She said SOS Alliance runs Barton Springs University, a year-long program culminating in Barton Springs University Day, which includes speakers and snorkeling tours.

Gordon-Brodnax said she hopes Barton Springs University and other educational resources inspire the next generation to become “environmental stewards and activists” in an article she wrote for Austin Woman Magazine.