The Dixon Water Foundation provides major support to the Promoting Agriculture and Conservation Education (PACE) Project, a collaboration between North Central Texas College and the Gainesville Independent School District.
Under the direction of professor Lisa Bellows, PACE students learn about sustainable ranching on a holistically managed property south of the Gainesville High School. Currently 43 Dixon steers graze the property in five-acre paddocks for three-day rotations, alongside 56 goats who help reduce woody and invasive plant species. The property is owned by the school district and leased by the college.
“The land is on I-35, where 47,000 motor vehicles pass by each day,” says Bellows. “What a way to capture all that carbon. Steers helping make rich, diverse soil to capture carbon, plus clean the water that will enter Elm Fork of the Trinity after leaving the property.”
Learn more about the PACE Project
- “NCTC project helps local soil” (Gainesville Register, November 2013)
- “A change of PACE” (North Texas Farm & Ranch, May 2014)
