Managing for drought
Holistic habitat approach is good for wildlife and livestock at historic San Pedro Ranch.
From the springs that flow even during periods of historic drought to the notable wildlife and habitat diversity throughout the property, San Pedro Ranch is a shining example of many generations of conservation know-how and adaptability. Located near Carrizo Springs in southwest Texas, San Pedro Ranch is the 2021 recipient of the Texas Leopold Conservation Award, the state’s highest honor for private land conservation.
The Leopold Conservation Award is presented to private landowners in 22 states to recognize excellence in land and wildlife management. The award, given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, celebrates farmers, ranchers and forestland owners who are dedicated to the land, water and wildlife resources in their care. In Texas, the award is presented annually by the Sand County Foundation and national sponsor American Farmland Trust in partnership with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Lone Star Land Steward Awards Program. San Pedro Ranch received a Lone Star Land Steward Ecoregion Award representing South Texas in 2016.
San Pedro Ranch
San Pedro Ranch holds a stunning mix of natural resources, all expertly groomed and protected through careful management practices. There is more to the property than meets the eye — the land is steeped in cultural and family history and heritage.
“Our grandfather bought this ranch in 1932,” says Joseph Fitzsimons, co-owner of San Pedro Ranch with his sister, Pamela Howard, and their families. “Our father operated it for many years; my sister and I have been very fortunate to operate the San Pedro as well.”
Their families weren’t the first ones on the land, though — San Pedro Ranch was originally part of a Spanish land grant in 1812. A large stone marker reading “Kings Highway” (part of El Camino Real) sits within the ranch boundaries. El Camino Real was an 18th century thoroughfare during the Spanish colonial era. The highway trail was vital to the settlement and development of Texas as we know it today. San Pedro Springs was mentioned in journals of early conquistadors and explorers dating back to the early 1700s.
Once the ranch was part of their family, Fitzsimons and Howard’s father, Hugh Fitzsimons Jr., adopted a holistic approach to land and wildlife management in the 1970s. Hugh believed that if you worked to improve an area’s natural habitat, an ecosystem would not only produce more wildlife, but would also be conducive to healthier livestock.
Cattle plus wildlife
“Our cattle operation is part of our wildlife management operation,” says Fitzsimons. “Holistic management doesn’t treat those as being on separate lands, because they’re not. Our father always told us to manage for the drought, and the times of rain and plenty will take care of themselves.”
Ensuring that San Pedro remains a working ranch is very important to the family, but in a land of frequent droughts, the climate can create many challenges when managing habitat for livestock or wildlife. The 23,000-acre ranch is home to a registered herd of Beefmaster cattle, a breed known for being heat-, drought- and insect-tolerant. For the betterment of the land and cattle, the ranch has employed regenerative grazing practices and implemented prescribed burns and brush management, which help increase native plant diversity and growth and aid in water infiltration into the watershed.
“While the cattle are important from an economic standpoint, they’re also very important in what we do here on the ground to manage for a more complete landscape,” says Chase Currie,
ranch general manager. “Bottom line, we manage for diversity.”
Currie says that the ranch is very diligent in keeping a grazing schedule that keeps cattle on the move to ensure that one area is not overused. Other areas of the ranch, like sensitive creek bottom ecosystems, have been protected from (and are off limits to) cattle grazing altogether.
Plants Matter
Each year Currie takes a walk across the property alongside Daniel Kunz, a TPWD technical guidance biologist, to evaluate the wildlife browsing pressure on the ranch’s woody plant species. The evaluation process consists of looking closely at the smallest plant tips to determine how much deer have been eating, which in turn helps the ranch and biologists determine how many deer may be in the area.
“We come out and count stem tips with Chase, monitoring this over the long term and setting harvest rates also based on this,” Kunz says. “It’s been very enjoyable to work with the San Pedro Ranch every year.”
The work being done on San Pedro Ranch is certainly making for healthy cattle and a sustainable deer population, but this work also has a trickle-down effect to other natural resources.
Each year Currie takes a walk across the property alongside Daniel Kunz, a TPWD technical guidance biologist, to evaluate the wildlife browsing pressure on the ranch’s woody plant species. The evaluation process consists of looking closely at the smallest plant tips to determine how much deer have been eating, which in turn helps the ranch and biologists determine how many deer may be in the area.
“We come out and count stem tips with Chase, monitoring this over the long term and setting harvest rates also based on this,” Kunz says. “It’s been very enjoyable to work with the San Pedro Ranch every year.”
The work being done on San Pedro Ranch is certainly making for healthy cattle and a sustainable deer population, but this work also has a trickle-down effect to other natural resources.
Each year Currie takes a walk across the property alongside Daniel Kunz, a TPWD technical guidance biologist, to evaluate the wildlife browsing pressure on the ranch’s woody plant species. The evaluation process consists of looking closely at the smallest plant tips to determine how much deer have been eating, which in turn helps the ranch and biologists determine how many deer may be in the area.
“We come out and count stem tips with Chase, monitoring this over the long term and setting harvest rates also based on this,” Kunz says. “It’s been very enjoyable to work with the San Pedro Ranch every year.”
The work being done on San Pedro Ranch is certainly making for healthy cattle and a sustainable deer population, but this work also has a trickle-down effect to other natural resources.
“Our father always told us to manage for the drought, and the times of rain and plenty will take care of themselves.”
This trickle-down is what often makes Lone Star Land Stewards worthy of recognition. Not only are these landowners protecting their own property, but they’re also taking care of natural and cultural resources that are vital to the greater public. With over 95 percent of the land in Texas under private ownership, the conservation and stewardship efforts of landowners are of vital importance to all Texans.
“When you have very little herbaceous grass cover, you get a lot of runoff,” Kunz says. “You lose a lot of water off your property. So, they try to catch as much water as they can in the soil. You can really see that in the fact that the springs are still running in the midst of this historic drought we’re under right now in this part of South Texas.”
Kunz adds that through the livestock and wildlife management practices used by San Pedro Ranch, residual, functional habitat still exists across the property and is as healthy as ever, even in dry times.
The ranch has worked hard to repair riparian function to many areas and creekbeds, even enlisting out-of-state partners to restore those that were previously eroded.
“By correcting these longstanding erosion problems we’ve been able to slow the water down and help it percolate to the water table for the San Pedro Springs,” Howard says.
All this and Ducks, Too
What was previously a caliche pit on the property, consisting of nothing but gravel and arid landscape, has now been reseeded and turned into a wetland area. With the help of Ducks Unlimited, the 14-acre pit was hydroseeded with a mix of 42 native grasses and forbs. Today, as one of the most productive areas on the ranch, the wetland serves as a wintering ground for waterfowl.
In addition to waterfowl, the careful attention the Fitzsimons and Howard families have dedicated to the ranch’s ecosystems has provided improved habitat for dove, quail, Rio Grande wild turkey and other rare species such as the Texas tortoise and Texas horned lizard.
A conservation easement through the Texas Agricultural Land Trust will prohibit fragmentation of San Pedro Ranch and will restrict industrial and commercial development on the ranch. The conservation easement ensures that the ranch will remain an important ecological site regardless of ownership.
“This is in perpetuity; this is forever,” Howard says. “You are saying to your children and generations on that we value these very special sensitive areas and that they are worth protecting.”
The family believes that the conservation easement, as well as the care they put into the ranch, is a tribute to their father and grandfather to keep the San Pedro Ranch heritage alive.
“I hope my children and grandchildren have the opportunity to experience the challenges of managing a great piece of habitat like this,” Fitzsimons said. “Running a working ranch, you learn a lot managing through tough times.”
Regional Winners
Six other properties were recognized this year as Lone Star Land Stewards in multiple Texas ecological regions.
The Dunn O’Connor River Ranch in Goliad County in the Coastal Prairies is a property that has been in the family since 1836. Currently, the ranch is owned by three sisters: Morgan O’Connor, Kelly Schaar and Bridey Greeson. The family implements a thoughtful approach to cattle production and actively manages their land to improve wildlife habitat. In 2007, the ranch worked closely with state and federal partners to serve as a release site for the highly endangered Attwater’s prairie chicken on the intact, remnant coastal prairie. The property continues to serve as an important site for research and recovery efforts.
The 7 Oaks Ranch in the Edwards Plateau was originally founded in 1934 and has been operated by the Walker family for three generations. Since 2005, the ranch has been jointly managed by ranch owner Kelly W. Walker and his three sons, Wayne, Philip and Caton. In March 2020, the three sons took on the leading role in managing the ranch following the passing of their father.
The brothers have forged creative partnerships with organizations and volunteers to help them manage their property for a variety of Texas wildlife. They actively implement prescribed fire, brush management and community outreach to carry on their father’s legacy of land stewardship and education of others on land management practices.
Shady W Ranch in Brazos County, part of the Post Oak Savannah, exemplifies the patience and persistence that stewardship requires. While owner Parten Wakefield has experienced successes and setbacks in his restoration efforts through the years, he continues to work at doing what’s right for their land. Shady W Ranch is very active in the local community, particularly through programs like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, allowing the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Agrilife Extension and TPWD staff access as a demonstration site for grassland restoration. It has an active outreach component that focuses on hunter and angler recruitment and takes part in multiple grassland restoration projects through prescribed burning, TPWD’s Pastures for Upland Birds Program and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners Programs.
Chimney Creek Ranch in Shackelford County is a historic ranching operation that has been in the same family since the 1920s. The ranch, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, puts income from hunting and livestock sales back into ranch improvements, focusing on conserving quality Rolling Plains habitat. Ranch owners Ted and Hank Paup work to restore, protect and share the historical and cultural resources of the property and area with the public. Chimney Creek Ranch has worked to rebuild Smith’s Station on the Butterfield Trail and Bud Matthews Switch, a Texas Central Railroad shipping point. Artifacts found on the property are used for education and outreach with the local community. The ranch’s owners have also created endowed scholarships at Texas A&M University and Tarleton State University in wildlife science and horticulture.
The Moore Ranch in Jeff Davis County was settled by the Moore family in 1888. Jane Moore Crittendon and her husband, Lynn Crittendon, continue to actively manage the property that once belonged to her parents and grandparents. Both in their 90s, the Crittendons have lived on and made a living on their Trans-Pecos land for more than 60 years. Their family ranching heritage is a way of life. They focus their efforts on reducing erosion, improving water distribution and managing brush to benefit both wildlife and cattle. When asked what she was most proud of after all the year’s spent managing the ranch, Jane answered, “Survival.”
The Brushy Creek Co-Op in Anderson County consists of more than 10,000 acres that provide habitat for Eastern wild turkey and further their restoration in East Texas. Co-op Chairman Gary Costlow owns property within the co-op — property that has been in his family since 1859. Costlow unites the cooperating landowners and organizes their efforts for brush control, native grassland restoration, forestry logging and thinning operations, food plot establishment and prescribed burning. These efforts have created ideal habitat for Eastern wild turkey reproduction.
Megan Radke writes about wildlife issues for TPWD.
Related stories
» Like this story? If you enjoy reading articles like this, subscribe to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine.
