Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, National wildlife refuge in Texas Hill Country, United States.

Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge lies northwest of Lago Vista, Texas, on a deeply dissected part of the Edwards Plateau where tributaries of the Colorado River cut steep-banked canyons into limestone. Oaks, elms and Ashe juniper, called cedars in Texas, grow on the slopes, and beneath the surface lie caves, sinkholes and springs above the Edwards Aquifer.

The refuge was created in 1992 to conserve habitat for two endangered songbirds, the golden-cheeked warbler and the black-capped vireo, and to preserve Texas Hill Country habitat for other wildlife. It complements the similarly named Balcones Canyonlands Preserve in Austin.

The name Balcones comes from the Spanish word for balconies, referring to the stepped limestone cliffs of the Edwards Plateau. The refuge is part of a network that includes the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve in Austin, and together they protect habitat for the golden-cheeked warbler, which nests only in the Edwards Plateau.

The refuge lies northwest of Lago Vista in Travis County, reached from the Austin area; its canyons cut into the Edwards Plateau limestone. Trails and observation points are the way to see the oaks, elms and Ashe juniper that the warblers and vireos nest in. Go early in the day, when birds are most active.

Below the surface lies a network of caves, sinkholes and springs where spiders and beetles found nowhere else in Texas live. Deeper still, the Edwards Aquifer stores billions of gallons and supplies drinking water to almost one million people, feeding springs that flow to the Gulf Coast.