TEXAS LAND CONSERVANCY
THE WATER ISSUE
The Pedernales River, one of six priority rivers in TLC’s Land for Water initiative. Photo by Beverly Guhl.
FALL 2013
TLC AT A GLANCE
1 Upcoming TLC Events 1 Land for Water 2 Spotlight on Baird Ranch 3 Austin Launch of Land for Water 4 Getting Outside in Dallas! 5 Conservation Made Visible 7 Letter from the TLC Board 9 Welcome New Board Members 10 Llano River, Featured Watershed
• 84,424 acres protected • 109 conserved properties across Texas • In top 2% of land trusts nationwide for acreage conserved • 1 of 5 accredited land trusts in Texas • Statewide, independent, land conservation non-profit • Founded in Dallas in 1982, by Edward C. “Ned” Fritz • Average size of properties protected by TLC - 635 acres • Created “Land for Water,” a strategic conservation plan that focuses on six key Texas watersheds
Please join us: Fall & Winter TLC Events BY MARK STEINBACH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
november 13 | 7 pm - 9:30 pm bounty: giving thanks for the land Fall fundraiser for TLC in partnership with Austin’s Fresh Chefs Society Springdale Farm 755 Springdale Rd Austin, TX Free admission, cash bar texaslandconservancy.org/events
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november 15 | 7 pm tlc member happy hour Location TBA Dallas, TX See Facebook for details, or texaslandconservancy.org/events
The sentiment captured in those few lines is what drives the work we do. But the Texas that is reminiscent in that song is changing, and in some cases not changing for the good. We know Texas is expecting unprecedented growth in the coming years placing extraordinary demands on land resources, and more importantly water supply. It is for that reason that TLC has become more strategic in our efforts of conservation. We have adopted a plan that emphasizes working in areas where land conservation will have the most impact for water conservation. This plan, the Land for Water initiative, is what will focus our efforts in the coming years. By working in key river basins around the state, we can achieve greater land and water conservation success, and hopefully keep some of those wide open spaces for the next generation to write songs about.
november 16 | 9 am - noon oak cliff nature preserve volunteer work day & guided nature hike Oak Cliff Nature Preserve 2975 Pierce Street Dallas, TX texaslandconservancy.org/events To sign up e-mail: rachael@texaslandconservancy.org
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f you’ve never heard it, or haven’t heard in a while, Gary P. Nunn’s iconic Texas tribute song “What I like about Texas” says a lot about why Texas Land Conservancy exists. The opening lines say this:
You ask me what I like about Texas I tell you it’s the wide open spaces! It’s everything between the Sabine and the Rio Grande. It’s the Llano Estacado, It’s the Brazos and the Colorado; Spirit of the people down here who share this land!
Brushy Top Ranch in the central Hill Country 1,612 acres conserved with TLC in 2004
Spotlight on Baird Ranch
Millers Creek on Baird Ranch
BY LEIGH STUEMKE, TLC STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR
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n 1951 Faye B. and Roland W. Baird (of the Baird’s Bread family) purchased a Texas Hill Country ranch near Johnson City. Both Roland and Faye shared a passion for the Hill Country and were excited to share the outdoors with their family and future generations yet to come. After her husband’s death in 1988, Faye sought options to protect the property so that the Ranch could continue to offer the family a place to connect with nature and recharge. It was her wish that the property remained in the healthy ecological condition that both she and Roland worked so hard to achieve. (Prior to their ownership the Ranch sustained heavy grazing resulting in a landscape that was well worn.) After meeting Ned C. Fritz, Faye knew she’d found a solution where her desire to protect the ranch could be met. Thus, in 1990 Faye B. Baird granted a conservation easement to the Texas Land Conservancy. After Faye’s passing, her son Roland Baird, Jr. along with Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Walker (Ranch Manager), and Drew Walker (Ranch Foreman) have continued to maintain and protect the property in accordance to Faye’s wishes. Today a visit to the ranch will reward the visitor with breathtaking views and for the quiet observer a chance to see roadrunners, Texas earless lizards, jack rabbits and more. The ranch is also host to a variety of plants including a few rare and uncommon species such as the chatterbox orchid (Epipactis gigantea). Most of the property is comprised of rolling oak-juniper uplands ringed by forested water carved canyons, some of which contain springs and seasonal creeks. One of these springs provides water for Millers Creek, a clear limestone-based creek that forms a boundary of the ranch and flows into the Pedernales River. Millers Creek has not only provided hours of celebrated memories for the Baird
family but also supports a variety of native wildlife. In one portion of the Ranch the creek has cut away at the limestone bed and created an overhanging bluff that provides nesting
Top: Lucky the longhorn Bottom: Roland Baird, Jr. and Ranch Foreman Drew Walker
habitat for swallows and a favorite wildlife observation spot. Baird Ranch is truly a Texas treasure!
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Drink up! TLC’s Austin Launch of “Land for Water” BY CALLIE THOMPSON, DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
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his spring, after two years of data analysis and strategizing, Texas Land Conservancy publicly launched its conservation plan, the Land for Water initiative with an event in Austin and concerted outreach to local media outlets. TLC hosted a happy hour at East Austin’s Salt & Time Butcher Shop and Salumeria to raise awareness of Land for Water, our strategic conservation initiative and raise funds for land conservation projects. Several Austin businesses signed on as supporters and donated items for a silent auction, and Salt & Time, on E. 7th St., generously hosted the event as well as donated some refreshments for guests. Thank you to Bricolage Curated Florals, East Austin Succulents, Barley Swine, Eden East, Foreign & Domestic, Hillside Farmacy, Cypress Valley Canopy Tours and in.gredients for sponsoring our silent auction. The announcement of Land for Water garnered news stories in CultureMap Austin and the Texas Tribune, helping bring the Land for Water initiative to broader audiences who will ultimately benefit from this initiative but otherwise would never hear of it. Links to both articles are on texaslandconservancy.org. Since Land for Water focuses on land around six key Texas rivers, TLC will be expanding our outreach methods over the course of the next couple of years, to share the findings of this multi-year GIS analysis on key conservation variables (such as water resources, geology, scenic viewsheds, elevation and plant communities, among others). Want a copy of the plan? Contact the TLC office at: 512.301.6363 or info@texaslandconservancy.org and we’ll mail you a copy.
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Above: Partygoers at the Austin event | Below: Poster for event
Excited volunteers after a morning of volunteering at Oak Cliff Nature Preserve
Getting Outside in the Ninth Largest City in the United States BY RACHAEL GARBOWSKI, OUTREACH COORDINATOR
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n this digital age of gadget dependency and excessive screen time, it’s becoming increasingly rare for children to get to spend quality time outdoors. As a conservation organization, part of TLC’s mission is to engage everyone with nature in meaningful ways. In keeping with this mission, TLC offers a volunteer work day at Oak Cliff Nature Preserve each spring and fall to give Dallas-area kids, and kids at heart, the opportunity to get outside, enjoy the fresh air and help out the natural world. For those who have never been, Oak Cliff Nature Preserve, or OCNP as we sometimes call it, is a 121-acre public nature preserve in the heart of Dallas owned by TLC. It is home to eight miles of mountain biking trails and offers trail running, mountain biking, birding and hiking opportunities to thousands of people from the Dallas area each year. From trail building to litter pickup to invasive species removal, the work accomplished during OCNP volunteer days is hands-on, fun, and benefits both the people volunteering and the ecological balance of the preserve itself. Many volunteers experience sheer joy at the satisfaction of using a Weed Wrench for the first time to extract a particularly snarly invasive privet plant from the ground. The OCNP trails resound loudly with whoops and hollers of accomplishment when the privet plants come up. This June, for National Trails Day, TLC hosted a volunteer work day at OCNP which resulted in many of the aforementioned cheers. Dozens of volunteers, including a Boy Scout troop, dedicated the morning to improving the preserve. The Scouts worked hard and also spent time learning about native plant species on a hike around the preserve guided by TLC staff. “Identifying native plants is one of the requirements all Scouts must complete in order to advance to the rank of First Class Scout,” said their troop leader Mark Murray, “From the BSA Handbook: First Class
Requirement 6: Identify or show evidence of at least 10 kinds of native plants found in your community.” The Scouts were
Leigh Stuemke, TLC Stewardship Director, leading the Boy Scouts on a guided nature hike after the work day.
happy to be rewarded with handmade popsicles provide by Dallas foodie business, Popstar Handcrafted Popsicles. The dry ice the popsicles were packaged in turned out to be quite a draw for scout science experiments as well! (above) Being outside provides us all with benefits, whether it’s exercise, relaxation, play, or learning new things. TLC is glad to be able to offer Oak Cliff Nature Preserve as a community resource for Dallas-area people to get outside and get away from those pesky glowing screens. If you need more outside time in your life, join us at our next workday, November 16th at OCNP, from 9 am to noon!
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10 TLC Conservation Properties In Land for Water “Priority Watersheds�
Llano River Watershed
Birk-Sommerfeld Heritage Ranch, 444 acre working ranch on the Llano River that has been in the Birk family since 1876
Lower Trinity River Watershed
Kachina Prairie, 30 acre public nature preserve in Ennis, TX
Big Creek Ranch, 517 acres of nearly untouched cypress & tupelo wetland
Lower Brazos River Watershed Nigbor Ranch, 430 acres, a dense woodland with Brazos River frontage
Malone Preserve, 146 acres containing the Nolan River
Pedernales River Watershed Cypress Mills Ranch, 440 acres adjacent to Pedernales Falls State Park
Kendrick-Ralston Ranches, 596 acres with unique granite outcrops
Medina River Watershed
Bear Springs Blossom, 31 acres of old-growth woodlands & canyons
Elam Creek, 120 acres including old bigtooth maple & chinquapin oak trees
Neches River Watershed Pineywoods Mitigation Bank, 19,079 acres in Angelina, Polk & Jasper Counties
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A Willing Recruit for Land Conservation, Letter from the TLC Board
Sunset on a TLC Preserve in the Hill Country, May 2013 BY PAT SPILLMAN JR., TLC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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n 1987, while in SMU Law School, I attended a talk by Ned Fritz, who I had not previously met. Afterwards, I buttonholed Ned with questions and expressed interest in his state-wide conservation efforts. Before I knew it, I was assisting Ned and his Texas Committee on Natural Resources with legal research and visiting his and Genie’s North Dallas home to work on forest preservation issues. Not long thereafter, Ned and I were writing articles opposing clear-cutting in the national forests, and advocating funding for Trinity River State Park. Thus, like so many others over the years, I joined Ned and Genie as a willing recruit in Pat Spillman and the coolest bird ever the cause to protect seen, just out of frame. Texas’ s natural areas. After two years overseas, a move to Houston, and volunteering with other conservation groups, I was honored to be contacted by Genie in 2007 to consider joining the Texas Land Conservancy board. During the past five years, I have been pleased to work on board governance matters, Land Trust Alliance
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accreditation, and TLC’s long-term strategic vision. It is a critical time for TLC and other Texas land trusts. Rapid loss and fragmentation of open lands in Texas– where less than three percent of the land area is publicly owned and protected as parks, forests or wildlife refuges– make it imperative that private land trusts identify and conserve critical habitats and scenic landscapes before they disappear. Today, only a small percentage of the state’s native prairies remain intact and only in isolated remnants. Bottomland hardwood forests, South Texas scrub lands and other native habitats are under pressure from development. The beloved Hill Country landscape is fragmenting as large land holdings are broken up and residential developments proliferate. The state’s urban centers continue to expand outward with new roads and subdivisions cutting up and checker-boarding open lands. By some estimates, open space in Texas is being lost at the rate of several hundred acres per day. This rate of loss shows no signs of abating. Texas’s economy is booming and tens of thousands are moving here every year. Recent statistics show the state’s population is heading for over 40 million by mid-century. Let’s not despair over the numbers, but rather consider them a challenge to TLC and other Texas land trusts to create and seize opportunities to protect open lands. I am confident TLC is up to the challenge because we are unique among Texas land trusts in our statewide orientation, size, and diversity of conservation easements. We are protecting properties across the ecological spectrum– from
Pitcher Plants at Soutendijk Bog, a 16 acre TLC conservation property in Wood County containing over 120 species of plants
pitcher plant bogs to Central Texas grasslands to riparian forests and Post Oak Savanna with easements in nine of the state’s ten eco-regions. We have a solid record of working with large ranch owners to prevent future fragmentation of their lands. Individuals and families have sought out TLC for three decades to protect small but ecologically important properties other land trusts might not take on. TLC also holds easements in several mitigation banks establishing us well for future large easement acquisitions. Guiding TLC’s efforts is its Land for Water initiative, a data-driven, science-based approach to identify high priority areas for conservation in six of the state’s most threatened watersheds. TLC’s ambitious goal to conserve
the most critical 1% of lands in these watersheds will focus our efforts and resources for years to come, and will put TLC on the forefront of protecting lands vital to conserving Texas’ diminishing water resources. TLC’s track record– 31 years, 109 protected properties in 54 counties covering more than 85,000 acres, and growing year by year- shows we are up to a Texassize challenge. With our long-term conservation strategy under way, and a growing profile in the land trust and donor communities, I believe TLC’s most successful and productive years lay ahead. I look forward to continuing our vital conservation work with Ned’s many recruits, TLC staff and board, and our landowner partners and supporters.
Cattle at Pike Davis Ranch in the Hill Country, a 1,415 acre historic ranch owned by the same family since the 1870’s
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Four New Leaders Join Texas Land Conservancy Board Michael Grimes Mr. Grimes is the Founding Partner of Imperium Public Affairs, a Texas-based and non-partisan public affairs consulting firm providing strategic public affairs communications and business development efforts on behalf of the firm’s select clientele. Before founding IPA, Michael spent over 5 years as a Partner and President of Capitol Alliance Public Affairs, a full service public affairs and political consulting firm representing clients at all levels of government. Michael is a
Wayne Graham, Treasurer
Michael and his family in Colorado.
native of Fort Worth, Texas who grew up roaming the land and waterways of Texas, and attended and graduated from TCU and UT Austin.
Merritt Johnson Ms. Johnson is a partner in the Houston law firm of Winston and Strawn LLP. Her practice focuses in patent litigation, including analysis of infringement, validity, and enforceability of patents, as well as in intellectual property counseling. Her cases are in a variety of industries, with a concentration is those related to biotechnology, but also in litigation matters related to mass storage systems, computer software, and oil and gas exploration technology. She received a B.S., cum laude, in Biology from Texas Christian University in 1995. She
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Mr. Graham has been employed at the accounting firm Bounds Chatelain & Pharr, PC in Austin since 1997 and currently serves as a senior audit manager. He has experience in tax, audit and non-profits with expertise in construction contractor accounting. Wayne was born in Midland, TX and obtained his accounting and information technology degree from the University of Texas, Permian Basin. As a landowner in east and southwest Texas, Wayne is very interested in helping preserve the natural habitats, waterways and
Wayne and his girlfriend, Michelle Loy, in Austin.
lands of Texas. Mr. Graham is assuming the post of Board Treasurer, a role handed down to him by previous Treasurer Janell Morgan.
Jason Hill
Merritt and her children at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri.
received an M.S., summa cum laude, in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997 and her J.D., cum laude, in 2000 from the University of Houston Law Center in 2000.
Mr. Hill is a partner in the Austin law firm of Lloyd Gosselink in the firm’s Water Practice Group. He received a B.A. in 1997 from Texas Tech University and a J.D. in 2004 from the Baylor University School of Law. His practice focuses on counseling clients on water resources management, water rights, public water utilities and other water supply planning issues. Jason represents a wide spectrum of client interests across and beyond Texas, including commercial and industrial interests, landowners, municipalities, pubic water utilities,
Jason Hill and his kids in Wimberley.
groundwater conservation districts, and other State political subdivisions. Before joining the firm, Jason served as a policy advisor to Texas State Senator Robert L. Duncan on agricultural, water, natural resources and other environmental issues.
Featured Land for Water Initiative Watershed THE LLANO WATERSHED The Texas Land Conservancy strives to conserve Texas’ wide open spaces. As Texas’ urban areas expand and grow, the state’s wide open spaces are rapidly diminishing. Population pressure in the Llano watershed is still relatively low, but is growing. If we conserve ahead of development we can prevent future loss of wide open spaces and protect our natural heritage.
THE LLANO - 253 MILES OF RIVER CORRIDOR
The Llano Watershed contains 10 Counties: Edwards, Kimble, Llano, Mason, Menard, Real, San Saba, Sutton, Gillespie & Kerr. It also contains three Cities of Growth: Junction, Mason & Llano. Of the Llano Watershed’s 2,861,604 acres, only 8,584 acres are currently conserved.
MASON MOUNTAIN WMA
MASON
LLANO
LLANO RIVER
BIRK-SOMMERFELD HERITAGE RANCH (TLC)
JUNCTION Golden-cheeked
SOUTH LLANO RIVER STATE PARK
ki
: Steve Maslows
Warbler, Credit
CURRENT CONSERVATION IN THE LLANO • Birk-Sommerfeld Heritage Ranch (TLC) • South Llano River State Park • Walter Buck Wildlife Management Area • Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area
THE LLANO RIVER
Widely known for its scenic beauty and recreational uses, the Llano flows eastward across the watershed, the Llano River joins the Colorado River and contributes to the waters of Lake Lyndon B. Johnson. Two spring-fed tributaries of the Llano, the North and South Llano, stretch across the drier land of West Texas before merging just east of Junction to form the headwaters of the Llano River.
SPECIES OF CONCERN IN THE LLANO WATERSHED
The Llano is the only major watershed containing a genetically pure population of Guadalupe bass.
Let’s protect this wild river today to prevent future ecological damage.
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Nonprofit Org US POSTAGE PAID Austin, Texas Permit No. 258
P.O. Box 162481 Austin, TX 78716
TEXASLANDCONSERVANCY.ORG MISSION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
STAFF
Since 1982 the Texas Land Conservancy has been working to protect the nature of Texas.
President - P. Michael Jung Vice President - Earl Matthew Secretary - Travis Phillips Treasurer - Wayne Graham Adam Jochelson Anne Rowe Eileen McKee Janell Morgan Jason Hill Merritt Johnson Michael Grimes Pat Spillman, Jr. Robert J. O’Kennon Sharon C. Reed
Mark Steinbach, Ph.D. Executive Director
The mission of the Texas Land Conservancy is to conserve natural areas in Texas and to protect the physical and ecological integrity of their wildlife habitat, native plant communities, and scenic landscapes for the benefit of present and future generations.
/texaslandconservancy
/texaslands
texaslandconservancy
@texaslands
Daniel Dietz Stewardship Director Leigh Stuemke Stewardship Director Callie Thompson Development Director Rachael Garbowski Outreach Coordinator