Archive for January 13th, 2009

Pierce Ranch: Wildlife and Water

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

The Pierce Ranch is great. They’re motivated and they’re, they’re looking to do things from a wildlife and habitat standpoint.

Pierce Ranch is the Lone Star Land Steward Award Winner for the gulf prairies and marshes eco-region. David Forrester, a Parks and Wildlife Biologist, says managing for wildlife and habitat is only part of the equation.

Of course they’re looking at these things from an economic standpoint, too. But they always keep in mind, trying to preserve and enhance what they have.

Through careful planning, and work with Parks and Wildlife, Laurence Armour, III—the great-great grandson of the Ranch’s founder cattleman Shanghai Pierce—maintains the health of the habitat, wildlife and even his wallet.

This is a wetland that we flooded up because it was easy to put water in, and it was a nice little duck hole. It’s not hunted—this is sort of a resting pond for ducks. And then we started seeding with crawfish; and this year is our most productive crawfish pond. And we’re pulling up between two and three hundred pounds a day of crawfish out of this one pond here.

Learn how to nominate a landowner for a Land Steward Award at passportototexas.org.

That’s out show…with support from the Wildlife restoration Program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Habitat Enhancement Program… for Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.