Promoting healthy watersheds through sustainable land management
Please visit this recent article in the Borderlands Research Institute’s Desert Tracks newsletter to read about current research into pronghorn diet and carrying capacity on our Mimm’s Unit ranch in Marfa, Texas.
https://bri.sulross.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/v13i1_Desert-Tracks_draft-4.pdf
One of our partners, Kids On the Land, has come up with some activities for families to do outside while learning from home. With spring programming being canceled, and schools being closed, Kids On the Land are looking for ways to stay engaged and for children to get outside and learn.
We’re happy to share these activities. There are 4 activities so far with more to come! Click the links below to access the activity details.
Activity #1 – Let’s Go Outside – Use Your 5 Senses
Activity #2 – Hurry and the Monarch
Our West Texas ranching operations work in partnership with Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program to raise cattle in a way that’s also beneficial to grassland bird species. Audubon has been building this program and developing more ways to deliver beef raised under this certification to the consumer.
Blue Nest Beef is a subscription-based delivery service that is now offering Audubon-Certified beef. Click for more information.
HOUSTON — (Dec. 3, 2019) – Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy has initiated a working group to develop a United States protocol for paying ranchers and farmers to store carbon in their soil. The current system for voluntary carbon transactions is broken and needs to be fixed, group founders said.
The group is co-led by attorney Jim Blackburn, a professor in the practice of environmental law at Rice, Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar and co-director of the university’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center (SSPEED), and Kenneth Medlock, the James A. Baker III and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics and senior director of the Center for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute. Robin Rather, CEO of Austin-based Collective Strength, is the group’s facilitator.
Most accepted carbon transactions in the world today occur based on standards that originated from the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. These standards impose significant and unnecessary impediments to U.S. landowners, so few or no transactions actually happen, Blackburn said.
“We formed this group out of necessity,” Blackburn said. “While there are specifics of the existing standards that are useful, an overall new approach is needed, and the Baker Institute was willing to act as our host in convening this working group. We have assembled a diverse group that I feel sure will develop an excellent, defensible concept.”
There are many ranchers and farmers in the southwestern and central U.S. whose land has substantial potential to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to the working group. However, they are being kept from participating by the current standards for voluntary carbon trading — standards that were not developed to optimize carbon storage in the soil, the group said. The need for a defensible new standard has led to the formation of the group, Blackburn said.
“This protocol is intended to enable a market system for the voluntary trading of carbon removal and storage in the soil,” Medlock said. “This is an exciting idea that has the potential to add a scalable alternative into the portfolio of companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint.”
Natural photosynthesis removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in the wood of trees and the soil of the country’s prairies and coastal marshes and soils of agricultural lands. “In the United States, the potential exists for the removal of 1 to 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide or more by these natural systems, yet to our knowledge, only one grassland project has been approved in the U.S. for carbon sales,” Blackburn said. “As we move toward attempting to avoid, minimize and remove the U.S.’s 7-billion-ton carbon dioxide footprint from the atmosphere, we are going to need a range of alternatives that remove and store carbon.”
Through carbon farming, farmers and ranchers could reap an additional source of cash flow, one that also would help restore native ecological systems that would generate fish and wildlife benefits, according to the working group. Additionally, industries and businesses that emit carbon dioxide will be provided with a scalable and affordable carbon dioxide removal process. “If enabled, this system will be a win-win on many levels,” Blackburn said.
Over the next several months, the working group will convene to discuss topics such as general principles of eligibility, measurement protocols and buyer needs. The goal is to develop a set of principles for these transactions that will be endorsed by the diverse group of 45 stakeholders from nongovernmental organizations, governmental entities, Native American nations, corporations, universities and consulting firms.
The 45 stakeholders include but are not limited to experts from Gensler Inc., King Ranch Inc., the Nature Conservancy, Audubon Texas, Applied Ecological Services Inc., Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Texas Coastal Exchange, the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, GSI Environmental Inc., Texan By Nature, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Lone Star Coastal Alliance, the Quivira Coalition, Sprint Waste Services, the Dixon Water Foundation, Climate Action Texas, the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, Valero Energy Corp., the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, America’s Wetland Foundation, the Soil Value Exchange, the Western Landowners Alliance, Batker Consulting, the Meadows Foundation and the Savory Institute, as well as the Baker Institute, the SSPEED Center, Rice’s Energy and Environment Initiative and Earth sciences department, and several subject matter experts.
When completed, the working group’s concept will be available and open to anyone who wants to buy or sell carbon.
Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu
www.txaglandtrust.org/bill-george-family-leaves-a-legacy-on-the-marfa-grasslands/
MARFA, TX. The Texas Agricultural Land Trust (TALT) is pleased to accept the donation of an agricultural conservation easement in Presidio County from the Bill George estate. At the bequest of Mr. George, the 5,117-acre George Ranch will remain undeveloped and open forever.
“Mr. George devoted 20 years to managing his ranch and stewarding his grassland pastures with great care. Enacting the conservation easement through his will creates a conservation legacy that will benefit all Texans,” says Blair Fitzsimons, CEO of the Texas Agricultural Land Trust.
A working cattle ranch, the George Ranch was once part of the neighboring Mimms Ranch. Both properties are now owned by the Dixon Water Foundation and are home to the famous Marfa grasslands which are rich in nutrients for cattle and wildlife alike. The proximity of the George Ranch, plus its pasture and paddock infrastructure, made it an attractive purchase for the Foundation, whose mission is to promote watershed health through sustainable land management and planned grazing.
Honoring Mr. George’s request, the Foundation worked with the George estate to ensure that a conservation easement was in place at closing.
“The ranch and the Texas Ag Land Trust easement are a natural fit for us. Both are in complete alignment with our mission,” said Robert Potts, CEO of the Dixon Water Foundation.
A conservation easement is a voluntary, perpetual restriction on future non-agricultural development. Each easement is individually tailored to meet the needs of the landowner and his or her goals for the property. To date, TALT has negotiated agricultural conservation easements on 233,000 acres throughout Texas, including 101,037 in the Greater Big Bend region.
The enactment of the George Ranch conservation easement comes at a time when the loss of agricultural lands is accelerating. According to a recent update of Texas A&M’s Land Trends study, Texas loses approximately one million acres of open space and agricultural lands every five years. This loss impacts not only food production, but rural economies, water and air quality, and wildlife habitats as well.
Thanks to the George family’s commitment to conservation, a piece of Texas’ wide open space, with its unique grasslands, is permanently conserved for future generations to enjoy. TALT is proud to partner with the George estate and the Dixon Water Foundation to keep Texas’ working lands productive for future generations.
The Audubon Society’s 2019 North American Grasslands and Birds Report details the loss of more than 60% of historical grasslands. This loss has led to degraded soils, dysfunctional watersheds, and loss of habitat for native wildlife. Grassland bird populations have subsequently seen a decline of more than 40% since the 1960s.
The Dixon Water Foundation’s mission is to promote healthy watersheds through good land management. We manage our land through regenerative cattle grazing practices that allow disturbed land to rest and recover, resulting in sustained nutrient cycles and ecosystem functionality. This creates benefits for our ranching efforts while creating better habitat for native wildlife and sequestering carbon in the soil.
Audubon “protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation”. Audubon has acknowledged the role that ranchers can play in saving grassland bird populations from further declines, which resulted in the creation of the Conservation Ranching program. Dixon Water Foundation is a partner in the Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program. The Foundation is happy to announce that we recently received Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Land seal, which certifies that cattle grazed on our land was grazed in bird-friendly habitat. Consumers can find more information on where they can purchase beef that was grazed in bird-friendly land here.
The Dixon Water Foundation announces the closing of the walking/running trail on its Mimms Unit pending review and development of a new public access policy.
For almost ten years the first two miles of the main road into the Mimms Unit of Dixon Ranches has been open for the public to use as a hiking and running trail during daylight hours. Along the public access section of the road, the Foundation has installed signage to interpret the importance of prairie ecosystems and the role of livestock grazing in maintaining those ecosystems.
Over the past year the amount of unauthorized use of the property outside the open-access road has increased to the detriment of the land, cattle and wildlife of the ranch. “We regret closing the road to public use” said Robert J. Potts, President of The Dixon Water Foundation. “We know that there are many responsible users of the trail that really enjoy the opportunity to be on the ranch and respect the rules of access. Unfortunately, there are also too many people who are disrespectful of the rules, the land and even our employees.”
During this public access review period, The Dixon Water Foundation will continue to provide access to groups interested in desert grasslands and the role of livestock grazing in maintaining and improving those grasslands. For more information or to arrange for group access contact Philip Boyd pboyd@dixonwater.org.
Foodtank.com recently posted Texas Ranches Manage Cattle to Improve Habitat and Watershed Health, an edited excerpt from Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity by Sandra Postel, published by Island Press.
“Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function” is a new teacher’s workbook by Didi Pershouse, now available as a “sneak preview” for educators preparing their fall lessons. The Dixon Water Foundation supported the production of this resource, which was a joint project of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the USDA Southern Plains Climate Hub, The Soil Carbon Coalition, and Redlands Community College.
