Mimms Unit :: Dixon Water Foundation

HMI Grazing Workshop at Mimms Unit September 20-21, 2022

August 29, 2022 by Dixon Water Foundation

September 20-21, 2022 | 8:30AM – 5:00PM CST
Marfa Visitor Center USO Hall, 302 S. Highland Ave., Marfa, TX 79843
and Mimms Ranch of Marfa, TX

This two-day Advanced Grazing Workshop is for ranchers and those who want to learn how livestock grazing management strategies benefit rangeland and businesses with a focus on land literacy. Land and livestock managers who practice Holistic Planned Grazing monitor for results and rely heavily on their observations to effectively manage and adapt when conditions require. In doing so, they’re able to mitigate risk and loss.

Click here to read more and register

Holistic Planned Grazing

DWF in Recent Episode of Marfa Public Radio’s Nature Notes

July 1, 2022 by Dixon Water Foundation

The central grasslands stretch from Canada to West Texas, and extend into the desert highlands, from Arizona to the Marfa Plateau and Chihuahua. For many Americans, they remain as foreign as they were for Cather’s 19th-century narrator. Grasslands are thought to lack the “charisma” of mountains and forests – to some, they epitomize “fly-over country.”

But the grasslands in fact contain an immense natural and cultural richness. And they’re deeply imperiled. Of the 600 million acres of historic grasslands, two-thirds have been lost or degraded. There’s a growing effort to preserve and restore them. And in Trans-Pecos Texas, the Dixon Water Foundation is committed to that effort…

Dixon Water Foundation’s Mimms Unit becomes host to first Motus station in the Chihuahuan Desert

January 28, 2022 by Dixon Water Foundation

In Mid-December, 2021, Dixon Water Foundation’s Mimms Unit ranch in the Marfa Grasslands became the first location in the Chihuahuan Desert to host a Motus wildlife tracking station. Motus is an international network of tracking stations that will document when radio-tagged migratory wildlife species come within the range of the a deployed station. This range is typically around 15-20km (9-12 miles). The station utilizes several radio antennas that coincide with widely used radio collar technologies, as well as a solar powered logger that catches observation data which is uploaded over a cellular network.

The Mimms Unit was selected as a host site due to the presence of over-wintering grassland birds that are the focus of several studies researching habitat requirements and causes of population declines for species of concern. Many birds spend their breeding seasons in the Northern Great Plains and migrate south to the Chihuahuan Desert for the winter. The goal of this station is to record the presence of radio-tagged birds to help answer questions about when and where birds spend various portions of their life cycle.

Dixon staff worked with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies to locate a site for the new station and chose to repurpose an out-of-service utility pole on a hillside overlooking large pastures.

Researchers and the public alike can learn more about Motus at their website, motus.org

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies technicians talk to seasonal survey teams about the newly deployed Mimms Unit Motus station, December 2021.

Grass workshop and trail opening at Mimms

September 30, 2015 by Administrator

The Overlook Trail at Dixon Ranches Mimms Unit officially opened September 26, 2015, in conjunction with a grass identification workshop with Dr. Michael Powell of Sul Ross State University. About 45 people attended the workshop, and many of them stayed for a group interpretive hike to the Overlook viewing area, designed by Marfa’s Joey Benton. Local flora and fauna experts from the Texas Master Naturalists Tierra Grande Chapter answered questions along the way.

The Big Bend Gazette featured the trail opening and workshop in an article in its October issue, available here as a PDF.

Powell is Director of the Herbarium at Sul Ross State University, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology, and author of numerous books and journal articles on plants native to the Chihuahuan Desert Region. Dr. Powell was assisted during the workshop with his wife Shirley Powell, a retired science teacher and the president of the board of directors at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute.

The 2.5-mile walking trail at Mimms is open during daylight hours and features exhibits about grazing management and the high-desert environment. The trail ends at the Overlook viewing area, where visitors can sit and appreciate spectacular views of the Marfa grasslands and surrounding mountains.

The foundation’s West Texas office and the trailhead are at the north end of Austin Street in Marfa. Please read and respect the guidelines for trail visitors posted at the entrance to the ranch. Dogs must remain leashed. Bicycles, motorized vehicles, camping, and firearms are not permitted.

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Ian Mitchell-Innes at Mimms Unit

July 25, 2015 by Administrator

Ian Mitchell-Innes, Holistic Management Educator and mob-grazing expert, held a workshop with Dixon Ranches staff, board of directors, and advisory board members at Mimms Unit in July. The South African rancher discussed grazing strategies, animal performance, and other topics.

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You can learn more about many of the principles and practices he covered in this online presentation, Ranching in Sync with Nature:

Ian Mitchell-Innes Ranching in Sync with Nature from ffbroadwell

Environmental excellence award in Alpine newspaper

April 2, 2015 by Administrator

A film crew visited Dixon Ranches Mimms Unit this week to shoot a video for the Texas Environmental Excellence Awards ceremony in May, during which the foundation will receive one of the prestigious TCEQ awards for agriculture. Alpine Avalanche reporter Jim Street joined the crew and penned this article about the foundation.

Rodent recovery at Mimms in Texas Wildlife magazine

October 8, 2014 by Administrator

The recovery of small mammals at Dixon Ranches Mimms Unit in Marfa, following the 2011 Rock House Fire, was featured in the September 2014 issue of Texas Wildlife magazine. Writing for the Texas Wildlife Association publication, graduate student Bobby Allcorn and Professor Bonnie Warnock of Sul Ross State University‘s Borderlands Research Institute describe their Dixon-supported research on rodents at Mimms and a neighboring ranch in Presidio County. They write:

Rodents are such an integral part of their ecosystems that management plans for a landscape, or a species, should take into account the potential state of the small mammal population. The research being conducted here will help landowners and wildlife professionals make more informed decisions and develop better strategies to achieve their goals.”

Society for Range Management to visit Mimms and Alamito Creek

October 2, 2014 by Administrator

“Borderland Conservation: Two Countries, One Cause,” the 65th Annual Meeting for the Texas Section of the Society for Range Management, is being held in Alpine and Marfa October 7-9. A ranch tour of Dixon Ranches Mimms Unit is scheduled for Wednesday, with presentations on field recognition of ecological sites, soil interpretation, map unit design, and soil inclusions.

“The Marfa Triptych: The Desert” on Mimms Overlook

October 2, 2014 by Administrator

The Overlook at Dixon Ranches Mimms Unit will be the site of Ballroom Marfa’s second performance by Austin-based composer Graham Reynolds on Saturday, October 4. More information on this event is on Ballroom Marfa’s website.

“The Desert is a solo performance for layered piano, a production that uses means both digital and site-specific to process the acoustic instrument’s sounds. With The Marfa Triptych, Reynolds is composing three musical portraits of West Texas. While the first and last parts examine people and their place in this part of the world, The Desert focuses on the natural world itself. In researching the piece, Reynolds has been exploring the landscape and the natural history of the area. When he performs the concert, the hope is for the audience to focus a bit less on the performer and more on being part of nature.” — Ballroom Marfa

Open Gate at Mimms on Marfa Public Radio

September 10, 2014 by Administrator

You can now listen to the Sept. 8 Talk at Ten interview with Dixon Ranches Mimms Unit manager Casey Wade. He spoke with K. Yoland at Marfa Public Radio about the upcoming Open Gate, sustainable ranching, and other news at Mimms. Ann Adams from Holistic Management International also called in for the interview, and Megan Wilde, who manages communications for the foundation, joined them in the studio.