The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), in partnership with the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), has secured a conservation easement on O’Connor Ranch in Goliad County. The easement protects about 6,410 acres of coastal prairie, which is considered the largest remaining habitat of its kind in Texas.
Steven Schar, Deputy Executive Director with TCEQ and Governor Greg Abbott’s designee to the RESTORE Council, said, “This is a huge milestone, not only for Texas, but the entire Gulf Coast. This is the largest conservation easement acquired to-date by the RESTORE Council and ensures critical coastal habitat will remain intact for future generations.”
The purchase price for the conservation easement was $8.863 million. Of this, $7.6 million came from a grant administered by TCEQ as the State of Texas’ representative to the RESTORE Council, while TNC provided the remaining funds.
Mary Walker, Executive Director of the RESTORE Council, stated, “The RESTORE Council is very pleased to support the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality’s and The Nature Conservancy’s efforts to protect critical coastal prairie habitat on Texas family ranchlands. Conservation of such valuable natural habitat is a key strategy to support ecosystem health, and effective partnerships such as this one are essential to Gulf restoration success. We commend TCEQ and TNC for this meaningful effort to advance Gulf Coast restoration and maintain the productivity of these important agricultural lands.”
The RESTORE Council includes governors from all five Gulf states and leaders of six federal agencies. This acquisition marks both the first conservation easement approved by the RESTORE Council and the largest land protection project in the Gulf funded under the RESTORE Act. O’Connor Ranch will continue operating as a private cattle ranch, but now with protections in place to prevent development and fragmentation of its coastal prairie. The grassland will continue to offer benefits such as flood and hurricane buffering, air and water purification, and carbon storage.
Jeff Francell, associate director of land protection for TNC in Texas, said, “The O’Connor Ranch marks conservation milestones from one of the first major permanent protections in Texas’ largest intact coastal prairie to the first conservation easement purchased with RESTORE funding. The Nature Conservancy is grateful for this collaborative effort that helped make securing a family legacy in a key conservation area possible.”
The RESTORE program in Texas manages funds from civil penalties related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill under the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE ACT). These funds are used for ecological restoration, economic development, coastal protection, and community resilience projects along the Texas Gulf Coast.
The Nature Conservancy describes itself as a global conservation organization focused on protecting lands and waters through science-based solutions.
