Conservation Successes
The Nature Conservancy Buys Texas Ranch in Prime Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Texas made significant in-roads in the conservation of prairie birds with its purchase of a 6,000-acre ranch in the High Plains of West Texas. The Fitzgerald ranch is adjacent to more than half a million acres of contiguous prairie spanning from Roosevelt County in New Mexico to Terry County, Texas — a veritable habitat haven for Lesser Prairie-Chickens and other prairie birds. This is TNC’s first land purchase in the Texas Panhandle, and probably not its last.
“We’ve always wanted to do something in the Panhandle, but the projects weren’t available,” said Jeff Francell, Director of Land Protection for TNC Texas. “The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was able to step up with some funding. That gave us the courage to do it. This deal is opening the door to others.”
The seeds of the deal were sown more than 10 years ago when Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologists began working with area ranchers on Lesser Prairie-Chicken research projects. Trust developed between TPWD and landowners over the years, and when the Fitzgeralds were no longer able to ranch the property, they turned to TPWD for help to find a stewardship-minded buyer. TPWD was able to provide a $1.2 million grant through the Federal Aid Wildlife Restoration Program to help TNC purchase the ranch.
“We started off on a very good foot,” said Heather Whitlaw, Lesser Prairie-Chicken Interstate Working Group Coordinator with TPWD. “The people of Yoakum County seem to be very comfortable and agreeable with this purchase. They know the Fitzgeralds and trust our agency, and by extension granted that trust to The Nature Conservancy.”
“I’ve been really impressed with the stewardship ethic of landowners I’ve dealt with in the area,” Francell said. “They are proud of how this has all turned out.”
Local prairie-chicken advocates and conservation groups played a big role in drawing attention to this project by TNC. Individuals from organizations like the Sibley Nature Center, June Leland Wildlife Foundation, TNC New Mexico, TPWD and individual TNC Texas board members were integral to the success of the project.
“We kept hearing rumblings from all over. Everyone was talking about this project,” Whitlaw said. “This led TNC to see that there was a grass roots effort with a bunch of partners and variety of people interested. It’s quite powerful when you can motivate these people to speak their mind and support a project.”
Although this is TNC Texas’ first purchase in the Panhandle, the conservation group would like to do more in the area, including hiring a full-time staff position. TNC is currently fund-raising for a position and for additional acquisitions near the Fitzgerald Ranch.
“There is an awful lot of development pressure in the Panhandle. Conversion of grasslands to wind farms and irrigated cropland are just a few.” Francell said. “It’s nice to be able to hold onto some big chunks of good habitat.”
For more information on this project or how to contribute to TNC’s efforts in the Texas Panhandle, contact Jeff Francell.
~December 2007
Cattlemen "Stampede" for Chance to Run Smith Ranch
More than 100 cattlemen from seven states showed up to tour the Smith Ranch in Lincoln County, Colorado, in the hopes of one day running the 50,000-acre property. The tour, which took place Sept. 21, was organized by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Colorado in an effort to find a suitable rancher to manage the property for cattle and conservation.
“It was a crazy day,” said TNC Smith Ranch project manager Frogard Ryan. “We had some 40 pickup trucks lined up. We piled people into more than a dozen passenger vans to try to reduce the impact on the land.”
The Smith Ranch is an exceptional property with more than 200 playas, thousands of contiguous acres of pristine short grass prairie and the headwaters of Steel’s Fork creek. The property is owned by the Colorado State Land Board. Partners involved in the acquisition recently submitted a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant to assist with the purchase. TNC holds the lease on the land, and the conservation group plans to sublease it to a ranching family to run the property according to a wildlife-friendly management plan.
The huge turnout of potential operators signals that there is strong demand for properties of this size and condition, said Ryan.
“It doesn’t happen very often that there is a large lease that becomes available. Around here, a big property is 5,000 or 10,000 acres. People jumped at opportunity to explore a 50,000-acre property,” she said.
Several young ranchers, in their 30s and 40s, also showed up for the tour.
“That was encouraging to me and a sign that we should explore ways to find opportunities for young ranchers in Colorado,” Ryan said.
The tour was mandatory for those planning on submitting a proposal to lease the ranch. The proposal deadline closed Oct. 22 and now TNC and partners are reviewing applications. The original owners, the Smith family, have first right of refusal if they should decide to continue operating the ranch under the plan. Ryan expects that a ranch manager will be in place by March 2008. For more information on this project, contact Frogard Ryan.
~November 2007
Nebraska's Wildcat Hills Protection Expands by 8,800 Acres
Platte River Basin Environments (PRBE) is making headway in preserving Nebraska’s Wildcat Hills for future generations. The conservation group recently closed several deals to protect 8,800 acres of contiguous ranchlands on the escarpment’s western edge. The area is the largest expanse of native range to come under PRBE’s protection since the group began working with Wildcat ranchers in 1995.
“This new acquisition is significant,” said Hod Kosman, PRBE President. “The entire property is large, has a diverse range of escarpments and canyons and includes wheat production which is important winter grazing for big game animals. The Bighorn sheep already decided this is one of their favorite places.”
The Wildcat Hills are a unique feature in western Nebraska. The tabletop escarpment juts out of the flat prairie and stretches 55 miles between the North Platte River and Pumpkin Creek. The Wildcat’s mix of woody and prairie vegetation attracts a wide diversity of wildlife, and is the convergence point for many eastern and western birds such as the Indigo and Lazuli Bunting and Eastern and Mountain Bluebird.
These latest purchases put conservation holdings in the Wildcat at around 22,000 acres of ranchland in two contiguous areas of about 11,000 acres each. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, The Nature Conservancy of Nebraska and the Nebraska Environmental Trust have all been key players along with PRBE in raising money, buying properties and easements, and developing management plans that benefit wildlife and ranching operations.
Ranchers are just as interested as conservation groups in preserving the Wildcat Hills, and owners on more than 5,000 additional acres are currently in negotiations to sell with PRBE.
“It’s exciting for us every day to work on these projects and meet the needs of ranching families and conservation,” Kosman said. “They have all been wonderful stewards and love this land. It is comforting for them to know this same vista they have looked on as a child will still be there in the future.”
PRBE’s overall goal is to acquire and manage 60,000 acres of ranchland and place easements on 60,000 acres of conservation buffers. They are getting help from the PLJV in drumming up landowner interest through the JV’s State Capacity Grant program.
“PLJV has really been instrumental in helping us and being a resource for us,” Kosman said. “We have received Capacity Grants which have allowed us to do some of the outreach, education and extension for the region. They are consistently a resource for us to contact when we need support or guidance. We look forward to working with PLJV as we move forward.”
For more information on PRBE and the Wildcat Hills conservation project, email Hod Kosman. You can also listen to a recent Playa Country Radio interview with Kosman here.
~July 2007
TNC Protects 200+ Playas with CO Ranch Purchase
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Colorado is making history by being the first to protect a major playa complex in one fell swoop. Last month, TNC announced it was purchasing the 23,000-acre Smith Ranch in Lincoln County, Colorado. The property adjoins another 26,000 acres of conserved ranchlands, which together contain more than 200 playas.
“This is a unique property in that there are so many playas, and so many large playas, none of which have been substantially altered,” said TNC’s Peak to Prairie Project Manager Frogard Ryan. “That’s quite unusual. Most of the time we are looking at properties with just one playa, and in many cases it’s been pitted. This property certainly got our attention.”
The Smith Ranch purchase marks the first, major on-the-ground accomplishment of the newly formed Shortgrass Prairie Partnership — a coalition of wildlife agencies, conservation organizations and landowner groups working to protect native grasslands, rivers and wetlands of the Central Shortgrass Prairie in harmony with working landscapes and local economies. The partnership includes representation from the Colorado State Land Board, The Nature Conservancy, Playa Lakes Joint Venture, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, among others.
The Smith property’s uniqueness extends beyond playas, and includes the headwaters of Steel’s Fork, a groundwater-fed stream, and is home to a multitude of species of conservation concern, including: Mountain Plover, Burrowing Owl, Cassin’s Sparrow, Swift Fox, Plains Leopard Toad and Arkansas Darter. The property and adjacent ranch make up nearly 50,000 acres of native grassland, and is one of the largest contiguous expanses of native prairie in the area.
Once the purchase is finalized, the property will be transferred to the State Land Board which will lease it to TNC. TNC intends to sublease the agricultural management to a ranching family. Ranching operations will be run according to a management plan which will be developed by the State Land Board, TNC, Natural Resources Conservation Service and local agricultural producers. The arrangement will be similar to the neighboring ranch which is also owned by the State Land Board and leased to a ranching family.
Project organizers expect that the ranches will serve as a model to attract other landowners to consider conservation easements.
“We are already getting lots of calls from neighboring landowners,” Ryan said. “I think this project will be a catalyst of things to come. We are creating a hub for nature and agriculture alike, and conservation will radiate out from there.”
Playa Country radio recently aired a program on the Shortgrass Prairie Partnership.
~May 2007
Mitigation Dollars Proposed for EQIP-Like Playa Program in NM
New Mexico partners are tapping into an innovative source to fund traditional conservation programs. Partners are advocating for a playa protection program in Curry County which would use $459,000 in Superfund site mitigation money to start an EQIP-like program to pay private landowners to enroll playas in 10 to 30-year conservation easements. If successful, this may be a new funding model for PLJV partners in other states.
The Nature Conservancy of New Mexico, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Curry County Soil and Water Conservation District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and staff from the Playa Lakes Joint Venture have been hard at work for the past few years conceiving the program and urging the USFWS and New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee — the agencies in charge of deciding how mitigation funds are used in the state — to select the playa program from the two options currently under consideration.
Both options are detailed in the “Natural Resources Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for the AT&SF (Clovis) New Mexico Superfund Site, Clovis, New Mexico.”
The Curry County playa restoration project is the preferred option of the deciding agencies, largely because the project would benefit natural resources within the vicinity of the Superfund site.
“The Trustees sat down and the playa lakes project ranked out ahead,” said Laila Lienesch of the USFWS Ecological Services Division, and who serves on the Trust Committee. “The project is very closely tied to the area that was impacted to begin with and the resources that were injured — playas and migratory birds. This gives it a higher ranking.”
The Clovis Superfund Site is a 140-acre area located one mile south of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad yard in the city of Clovis in Curry County, New Mexico. Santa Fe Lake, a 40-acre playa on BNSF-owned property, was used for wastewater discharge from the yard beginning in the early 1900’s when the yard was first constructed. In the late 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a site investigation which found heavy metals, including cyanide, and the area was designated a Superfund site in 1983.
If approved, implementation of the playa protection program would begin right away. The Natural Resources Conservation Service and Central Curry Conservation District field offices in Clovis would take the lead in marketing and administering the program — an unprecedented commitment from the agencies which are already hard at work implementing Farm Bill programs to benefit playas and other natural resources in eastern New Mexico.
~April 2007