Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Council Approves Over $580,000 in Conservation Grants

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AUSTIN – Yesterday morning, the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Council approved over $580,000 in land trust funding for two conservation easements. The grants will help bring more than 1,400 acres of the state’s high-value working farm and ranch lands under long term protection.

The Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program (TFRLCP) received nine funding applications for projects in nine counties, ranging in scope from working cattle ranches to rice production and crawfish farming. Habitats considered for conservation easements were equally diverse, ranging from limestone outcrops in the Edward’s Plateau to riparian areas and freshwater wetlands.

Criteria used to rank and score each project include: threat of development or other conversion of productive working lands, value (cost effectiveness), watershed value, fish and wildlife value, contribution to a conservation landscape, and terms of the conservation easement.

"The Council has completed two rounds of funding for grant applicants wishing to protect the state’s high conservation value working farm and ranch lands,” said Council Chairman S. Reed Morian. “This round of project funding has exhausted the appropriation for the current biennium; however we are hopeful the legislature will consider the success of the program and appropriate additional funding in the next biennium.”

The following projects have been approved for conservation easement funding. All projects are perpetual in term:

  • Dreamcatcher Ranch: 211 acres in Hays County near the Spring Lake preserve and other conservation properties. Dreamcatcher ranch is a working cattle ranch with native and improved pastures for grass production and rotational grazing. Habitat consists of hardwoods in some pastures and steeper areas in native oak-juniper forest. $378,089. Submitted by Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust.
  • Santa Anna Ranch: approximately 1,200 acres in Coleman County, an area underrepresented by properties in conservation. Santa Anna Ranch, which lies along a half-mile of the Colorado River, is a working cattle ranch and wheat farm with undeveloped limestone breaks. The limestone breaks provide habitat for native wildlife, including some species of greatest conservation need. $208,515. Submitted by Texas Agricultural Land Trust.

The goal of the TFRLCP is conservation of working lands with high values for water, fish and wildlife, and agricultural production, especially lands at risk of development. The program is administered by, and supports the mission of, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to encourage stewardship of private working lands for conservation of natural resources. TPWD objectives within this program include generating interest and awareness among land trusts and landowners, attracting significant numbers of qualified applicants, and leveraging the available money to fund as many high quality projects as possible.

Texas leads the nation in the loss and conversion of working farm and ranch lands. TFRLCP hopes to stem the tide by providing grant funds to purchase long term conservation easements on high value working lands. To date, Texas land trusts, which serve as the brokers for conservation easements, have brought more than 1.6 million acres of working lands into long term protection from development.