Lone Star Land Stewards: Llano Springs, 2
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife
Tom Vandivier and his family have worked tirelessly to restore the natural balance to their 51-hundred acre Llano Springs Ranch in Edwards County. They did this in part by removing acres upon acres of cedar trees.
(birds) My family and I have cleared approximately 27-hundred acres out of the 51-hundred acres we have here.
The ranch contains the headwaters of the South Llano River, which flows into the Colorado. Years of work to remove water-sucking cedar and restore water-friendly native grasses have paid off.
(water) We’ve got one spring that wasn’t existent at all when we got here that’s running now. Things are working.
With less cedar and more water and native grasses, wildlife is abundant on the ranch, and that brings visitors.
It’s lots of fun to see people come out and discover pretty sights, or find a big deer, of fish in the river and catch a fish. All sorts of people have come out and enjoyed this. That’s one of our true pleasures is seeing folks enjoy this ranch. (birds)
The Vandivier family’s efforts have earned Llano Springs Ranch this year’s Leopold Conservation Award from the Sand County Foundation and Texas Parks and Wildlife, as part of the department’s Lone Star Land Steward Awards program.
The Leopold Conservation Award recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation by private landowners. Learn more at passporttotexas.org.
That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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