The sun casts a golden glow across the native grasses of the Duke Ranch as Wexford Ranches foreman Kai Buckert walks with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist Meagan Lesak. The pair are studying the native grasses and shrubland that have been a decades-long restoration and conservation project for the property, part of Wexford Ranches of South and West Texas, a group of ranches owned for generations by the O’Connor family.
“We need landowners like the O’Connors protecting these places. Without management, we could lose all this open habitat,” says Lesak.
For their longstanding commitment to conservation and land stewardship, the Wexford Ranches of South and West Texas received the 2026 Texas Leopold Conservation Award, the highest honor bestowed as part of the Lone Star Land Steward Awards Program. The prestigious Leopold Award, named after author and conservationist Aldo Leopold, recognizes landowners who have gone above and beyond in their contributions to land, water and wildlife stewardship.
The founder of Wexford Ranches, Thomas O’Connor, came to Texas in 1834 from Wexford County, Ireland, and nearly 100 years later, the family has a deep multigenerational tie to the land. Through more than 190 years, the O’Connors have had one constant goal: to enhance and maintain the land, wildlife and livestock for the benefit of future generations.
“The O’Connor family has stewarded these lands since Texas came into existence,” says Tim Siegmund, leader of the Private Lands Program for TPWD’s Wildlife Division. “Their management allows a glimpse into what portions of our state looked like prior to settlement and allowed the species dependent on these systems to thrive.”
Keeping Management in the Family
Louise O’Connor is Wexford Ranches’ fifth-generation owner and author of a historical memoir, Cryin’ for Daylight: A Ranching Culture in the Texas Coastal Bend. The book documents the lives of fellow ranchers, cowhands and camp cooks, chronicling more than 155 years of history of the Mexican American, Anglo and African American families who ranched in Goliad, Refugio, Victoria and surrounding counties.
Ranch foreman Buckert has been part of the operation for over four decades and has led the ranches into the 21st century by shifting the ranching focus from traditional agricultural practices to conservation and hunting. The current generation of O’Connor upcomers are in their 20s and enjoy ranching and the outdoors.
“Whether it be Attwater’s prairie-chickens and alligators near Goliad or desert bighorn, mule deer and pronghorn out west at the Lado [Ranch], the O’Connor family, Kai Buckert, and [straw boss] Andrea Wilson have put in the work, cooperation and time to bring their vision to sustain the land and their family to fruition,” says Siegmund. “It has set up the next generation for success as Steele O’Connor looks to lead the family’s management into the future.”
“I’ve got lots of things that I want to teach Andrea and Steele,” says Buckert. “As long as I am able, I have lots of teaching to do.”
