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SAVING OUR RURAL LAND HERITAGE |
"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.
When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." — Aldo Leopold |
Frank Dietz, Comal County resident,
CCCA Board Member, &
Herald Zeitung monthly columnist
Cherish! Encourage! Affirm! Comal’s Rural Heritage…
May 1, 2021
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Hike, cycle or drive across the expanse of Comal County and one notes considerable turning of soil surfaces or drastic clearing for home or commercial development. When the turned or piled topsoil is placed in a mound it is easy to imagine how that soil was previously supportive of crops and pasture. Speak with many newcomers as well as old timers and they’ll soon speak of the cherished rural heritage that has characterized much of Comal farms and ranches. Note, too, their excitement in describing the gifts of springs, rivers and a lake. This defines the attraction to become a Comal resident for their family future and home.
My own interest in agricultural production began very early with an in town “victory garden” alongside our family residence in a New Orleans neighborhood. The garden provided produce for our family and some of our neighbors at a time when so much we take for granted in our retail stores was rationed. In a very good week, we sometimes headed to the historic French Market. Though famous for the “fragrant” fish market, in another extension for vendors was an early version of what we know as our farmers’ markets. My parents knew a few of the vendors and brought our surplus items to add to their offerings for shoppers. One of the recipients handed out items to those known to be unable to purchase much during those very challenging times. Just down the vending area were mule or horse drawn carts loading to move through the neighborhoods with a hand bell in hand and a forceful voice promoting “fresh, ripe” items. Later in my life and professional work networking with churches statewide, I received an invitation to join a meeting of some “agricultural interests.” (Lots of Texas churches are gathering places for a host of folks in that category.) Among the invitees were Texas Ag Department representatives, Texas Extension specialists and a representative of singer Willie Nelson. |
The focus was on the rapidly rolling “farm crisis” racing south through the center of our country. Two objectives for action emerged. A Farm Crisis Hotline funded by FARMAID which the churches would coordinate and regional farmers’ markets that at first were located in shopping mall or church parking lots. Both activities reminded me of early conversations with those who toiled with the land and climate gifts and challenges.
When I was asked “why are we doing this?” I explained that underneath the obvious immediate needs are the commitments to “encourage, affirm and enhance” essential agriculture near where folks live and shop. Among many was a cherishing of the possible and for the future a way of life and commitment to cultivate the gifts of the land in our various Texas regions. Stroll through our Comal farmers’ markets on any given day and in addition to healthy purchases from the vendors when they have a break, ask about their homestead and productivity as well as the challenges. You’ll find as I have some fascinating committed folks eager to engage. Let’s broaden and deepen this conversation lest the cherished rural heritage vanish with the dozers once acres are repurposed. Join the efforts to encourage and affirm our rural acres still in production here in Comal County! Indeed, it will take the most cunning planning to provide good space for incoming folks while protecting needed farming and ranching. You’re invited to hear from and talk with some area ranchers trying to protect and produce on family acres. Find the May 11th 6PM virtual event at www.comalconservation.org. “See you on screen!” |
Chase Foundation
Saving Private Lands
Lone Star Land Steward Winners Reflect on the Program’s Impact After 25 Years.
By Megan Radke
TPWD's press office.
November 2020
TPWD's press office.
November 2020
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2020 would have been the 25th year of the annual Lone Star Land Steward awards banquet, where private landowners from multiple Texas ecoregions are celebrated for their land and wildlife management efforts. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed.
The conservation and stewardship work by landowners, however, never stops. “Lone Star Land Stewards aren’t just doing great things on their land — these landowners can tell you how and why they’re doing it,” says Justin Dreibelbis, private lands and public hunting program director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “They want to take care of their land and steward it. They do their research. They’re being an example for other landowners and want to be able to tell their story.” The Private Lands Advisory Committee was formed to advise TPWD in 1992. The Lone Star Land Steward program that sprang out of it began simply as an idea to shine a light on private landowners who were doing good work for Texas habitats. In 1996, the first event took place at the Capitol, a small group gathering held in the lieutenant governor’s chambers. Over the years that meeting |
grew into a ceremony that typically welcomes some 400 guests, including landowners, biologists and more.
“The mission derived from that first meeting remains the same,” Dreibelbis says. “This is a celebration of land stewards who are doing the right thing for the land, wildlife and people of Texas.” The Private Lands Advisory Committee recognized that private landowners, by taking care of their own property, were contributing to the well-being of the general public through soil and water conservation and grassland restoration, as well as the management of fish and wildlife species and other ecosystem services. “Texas is predominantly privately owned. Irrespective of who you are and where you live, if you care anything about where the raindrops fall and where our aquifers are recharged and where our springs, creeks and rivers flow, our fish and wildlife habitats, where our clean air and water are derived, those places are largely found on private lands in Texas,” says Carter Smith, TPWD executive director. “Private landowners are the ones who wake up every day and work on stewarding those things that we all get to enjoy — sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly.” |
Chase Foundation
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DK Langford_Tamu Press
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Smith says that one of the best ways for the public to appreciate private lands stewardship is to simply go for a drive in the country and experience the drop in blood pressure that comes from admiring the diversity and richness of the Texas landscape.
Richard Taylor and his partner Suzie Paris own Blue Mountain Peak Ranch in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Their property, originally purchased by Taylor and his late wife, sits atop blue-gray limestone hills, the highest reaching more than 2,000 feet in elevation. Blue Mountain Peak Ranch received the Lone Star Land Steward award for the Edwards Plateau ecoregion in 2011 and then received the Leopold Conservation Award, the highest honor bestowed in the program, in 2016. Thanks to the extensive Ashe juniper (often called cedar) tree removal Taylor initiated on the ranch, more rainwater is able to fill the Edwards Aquifer. The aquifer supplies water to a large portion of south-central Texas, including San Antonio. “Back in the day, when my wife and I went on this quest to find a place, we were looking for ‘interesting’ land, and this property fit the bill,” Taylor says. “With this property being on top of the aquifer, we’re at the top of the watershed. We can do good stuff, all while making sure we’re improving the aquifer.” Taylor says that when they first began work on Blue Mountain Peak Ranch in 2002, they saw many signs of water on the land in the way of calcified rock, tiny streams and “frozen” water, as Taylor describes the evidence of where water used to flow. Because of the dense Ashe juniper throughout the ranch, |
though, any and all rain and spring water was being absorbed by the tree’s roots before it had a chance to contribute to the aquifer, much less feed the ravines Taylor found strewn across the property.
“So, we began the process. We sectioned off 200 acres, above the frozen water, started cutting cedar, and low and behold, the water started to flow,” Taylor says. “I would guess in the ravines we have 50 springs that connect together and stay running now regardless of rainfall. It’s a miracle, the most amazing part of the process that we’ve done, to see all of this water.” Taylor says he and Paris drive or hike the property almost daily to see what work needs to be done next. Over the years, the couple have utilized the help of multiple agencies to assist with land management techniques, including prescribed fire, to reach their overall goal: increasing species diversity and providing clean water to the Edwards Aquifer. In addition, Blue Mountain Peak Ranch, similar to many Lone Star Land Steward award-winning properties, serves as a place where nearby schoolchildren, older students aspiring to work in a wildlife or forestry-related field and others can come and experience a natural, native landscape at its best. “The native stuff is so beautiful,” Taylor says. “To me, it’s the little things — finding tadpoles, watching them grow. We have bullfrogs and leopard frogs in all the springs; because we have frogs, we have snakes. It just keeps waterfalling with all the improvements. We have harvester ants, a much smaller population of fire ants, so we find horned toads now. Black-capped vireos [delisted in 2018]. It’s just fun to know we are providing an ecosystem that allows for species to come back.” |
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Daniel Kunz is a TPWD technical guidance biologist who works with landowners daily, answering their questions and providing them direction on ways they can better manage their properties based on their goals.
“We rely on landowners to maintain the habitat of the state. This program showcases those who are spreading a conservation and land ethic message across Texas,” Kunz says. “These landowners are acting as examples to other landowners. It’s my job to give them advice and guidance on things that might be good for the habitat, potentially point out a lack of management practices on some lands and sometimes advise that just leaving it alone is the practice.” Landowners, no matter how many acres they have on their property, can reach out to a TPWD biologist in their county should they have questions or need advice. Kunz encourages owners to investigate all the resources that are available to them so that they can do what’s right for their specific habitat and ecoregion, as one size does not fit all. Properties across the state that have earned the Lone Star Land Steward title are just as unique as Texas itself. Land and habitat management efforts on a ranch in the Trans-Pecos region of far West Texas will vary significantly from practices implemented on a parcel of land in the Pineywoods. Similarly, work done to manage land where cattle graze will differ from land that isn’t a working ranch. |
Richard Taylor of Blue Mountain Peak Ranch.
Chase Foundation
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“We have to care for the natural landscape to make sure those things under our care do well, and that includes the wildlife, the flora and the fauna of all kinds." — 2014 Lone Star Land Steward winner David Langford of the Hillingdon, Laurels and Leslie Ranches |
“With this property being on top of the aquifer, we’re at the top of the watershed. We can do good stuff, all while making sure we’re improving the aquifer.” — 2016 Lone Star Land Steward statewide winner Richard Taylor of Blue Mountain Peak Ranch |
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Langford hopes to show others that the footprint of private lands management goes far beyond property lines. The Hillingdon family of ranches, like Blue Mountain Peak Ranch, lie in a contributing area of the Edwards Aquifer. In addition, Block Creek, a stream that flows through the ranches and for another four miles outside the property, is a major tributary to the Guadalupe River. The Guadalupe River empties into San Antonio Bay on the Texas coast, which serves as an overwintering site for whooping cranes. This endangered species relies upon clean water and a pristine habitat to survive.
“In my case, it’s easy. I just want my heritage to continue,” Langford says. “Those of us who care about it — all seven generations of us — or those of us who still hang around, this is our heritage and we’re going to do the best we can.” The Lone Star Land Steward recognition banquet is expected to resume in 2021, honoring a new set of private landowners who work tirelessly to take care of Texas. As Langford says, “It’s your responsibility to be the best steward you can be. You’re supposed to do the best you can do for the land. Our gift is our heritage.” The Hillingdon, Laurels and Leslie Ranches are just such a working property. The ranches are all owned and operated by the same family and have been since 1887. Founded by Alfred Giles after he moved to Texas from Hillingdon (Middlesex, England), the land is named for Giles’ homeland. The Hillingdon Ranch family is committed to preserving their heritage and the land they occupy, all while raising cattle, sheep and goats. “There are two philosophical cornerstones that were laid down by my great-grandfather: always plan for drought so that you’re surprised when it rains, and if you have to feed, you have too many,” says David Langford, referring to the practice of keeping only as many cattle as your land can support. The ranches are in Langford’s family, and he, along with many others, continue the necessary work to make sure the property is functioning and healthy. “Our cattle, sheep and goats have to get by on what the natural landscape provides for them,” Langford says. “We have to care for the natural landscape to make sure those things under our care do well, and that includes the wildlife, the flora and the fauna of all kinds. The cattle have been here as long as we have. My great-grandfather acquired three Angus in 1890, and the cattle on the ranch now are descendants from those.” The Hillingdon, Laurels and Leslie Ranches were named a Lone Star Land Steward winner in 2014. Langford’s work and advocacy for land and habitat management dates back many years, as he served on the original Private Lands Advisory Committee. |
DK Langford_Tamu Press
DK Langford_Tamu Press
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Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program
| tfrlcp2020evaluationreport.pdf |
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The vast expanse of Texas lends itself to encompass some of the most diverse and ecologically rich landscapes in the United States. Much of the land is characterized as open-space and falls under the designation of privately-owned working lands, or farms, ranches, and forestlands that support agricultural systems, foster healthy environments, and support recreational and other intrinsic needs. Despite their importance, working lands in Texas are under threat of increasing land conversion and fragmentation pressure, due in large part to rapid population growth and rising land market values.
To help safeguard the public benefits derived from working lands, the Texas Legislature created the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program (TFRLCP, or hereafter, the Program) in 2005, with the purpose of funding agricultural conservation easements on private lands. Conservation easements are a voluntary tool that support the permanent conservation of private lands—through perpetually restricting development rights on contracted properties while enabling the continuation of agricultural practices. The goal of this report was to examine the conservation easements executed under the TFRLCP. Specifically, we evaluate ecological and economic values secured through the protection of these properties as well as the fiscal efficiency of state funds to protect working lands with high agricultural value at a relatively low cost for state residents. |
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Historical, Heritage, and Rural Community Organizations in Comal County
New Braunfels Conservation Society
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NEW BRAUNFELS CONSERVATION SOCIETY
The Society endeavors to save disappearing historic fabric of New Braunfels and Comal County for present and future generations through acquiring, saving, preserving, restoring, displaying and exhibiting historic buildings, artifacts, ephemera and their collective rich history. |
Texas Museum of Handmade Furniture
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HERITAGE SOCIETY OF NEW BRAUNFELS
The Society exists to preserve, promote, and interpret, for the public, the 19th century heritage of New Braunfels, Comal County, and Texas through The Museum of Texas Handmade Furniture and Heritage Village. |
Sophienburg Museum & Archives
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SOPHIENBURG MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
Take the journey with Prince Carl and his group of German colonists as they cross the ocean and make their way into central Texas. Admire their courage and determination to establish a new colony at the edge of Indian Territory. Exhibits, rich in local artifacts, photographic images, maps and documents, take visitors through the history and cultural heritage of New Braunfels and Comal County. |
Fischer Hall
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THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF FISCHER'S STORE
The Society includes a dance hall and bowling alley and the society remains an active party of the community of Fischer. |
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ANHALT GERMANIA VEREIN
The Hall is a Texas dancehall, beer garden, and venue for forums owned and operated by the Germania Farmer Verein, an organization started by German settlers in Central Texas in 1875 to help protect their livestock. |
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NEW BRAUNFELS CEMETERY COMMITTEE
The New Braunfels and Comal Cemeteries are a valuable historic part of our heritage. The cemeteries serve as a resource for the living, connecting the past with the present. The New Braunfels Cemetery Committee serves to preserve the records of community history, cultural history, landscape heritage and architecture. This is accomplished through conservation, preservation and education. |
NEW BRAUNFELS LANDMARK COMMISSION
The Commission oversees the design review process for exterior alterations to historic landmarks and districts. |
SCHERTZ HISTORICAL COMMITTEE
A small group of 14 Schertz volunteers interested in preserving the historic remnants of our city’s rich past. The City’s heritage dates back to the mid-19th century and the arrival of the first European settlers to the Cibolo River Valley.
A small group of 14 Schertz volunteers interested in preserving the historic remnants of our city’s rich past. The City’s heritage dates back to the mid-19th century and the arrival of the first European settlers to the Cibolo River Valley.
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COMAL COUNTY GENEALOGY SOCIETY
The purpose of the Society is to create, foster, and maintain interest in history and genealogy and to work with other organizations to preserve historical/genealogical publications and records. |
COMAL COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION
The primary purpose of the Comal County Historical Commission is to continue a survey focusing on the retention, conservation, and preservation of historical buildings and other historical sites, private collections of historical memorabilia, or other historical features within Comal County. |
What Is a Conservation Easement?
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Conservation Easement Resources |
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A conservation easement is a voluntary, written agreement between a landowner and a qualified land conservation organization under which a landowner voluntarily restricts certain uses of the property to protect its natural, productive, or cultural features.
CEO of Texas Agricultural Land Trust, Blair Fitzsimons states, “In application, ..., a conservation easement is often a land steward’s expression of their love of the land, enacted because they cannot bear the thought of their cherished land being broken up.” |
Hill Country Landowner Workshop
October 2020
Listen and learn from regional experts on land stewardship tools and financial resources, conservation easements, and what to expect in terms of eminent domain and other rural landowner issues in the upcoming legislative session.
Listen and learn from regional experts on land stewardship tools and financial resources, conservation easements, and what to expect in terms of eminent domain and other rural landowner issues in the upcoming legislative session.
Land Conservation Menu: Model Projects, Options & Opportunities, A Guide
| themenu-final-4.2_digital_.pdf |
Conservation Easements: "Beyond The Fence Line"
The reasons landowners decide to put family land under a conservation easement are as varied as the landowners who make them. TALT closes several conservation easements a year, forever protecting the wide-open spaces of Texas. In our latest podcast, Chad Ellis explores conservation easements with several landowners who recently went through the easement process.
Texas Lands Trends
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Texas is comprised of 142 million acres of private farms, ranches and forests, leading the nation in land area devoted to privately owned working lands. These lands provide substantial economic, environmental and recreational resources that benefit all Texans.
Rapid population growth is driving suburbanization, rural development and ownership fragmentation that increasingly threatens working lands. These threats result in a fundamental change in the Texas landscape, impacting:
The Texas Land Trends project monitors the status and changes in land use, ownership size and land values of working lands. Research results are published as topic-based reports through the txlandtrends.org, an award-winning interactive website. Users can also explore and query the Texas Land Trends data through the web-based mapping service. Texas Land Trends provides decision-makers and stakeholders with timely information to support the conservation and strategic planning of working lands within a spatially explicit context. Here's a preview of a few tools we've developed through the Texas Land Trends GIS project: DATA EXPLORER
TEXAS EARLY NOTIFICATION TOOL
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READINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION INTEGRATION PLAN (REPI)
TxMAP -- currently under construction
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