Contacts: Victoria Fox, 505-248-6455
Elizabeth Slown, 505-248-6909
David Johnston, 512-472-4542 or by e-mail: hickorypass@hotmail.com
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just approved a remarkable example of cooperation between private landowners and the Service for the benefit of endangered species through the establishment of the Hickory Pass Ranch Conservation Bank Private Land Stewardship Agreement," announced the Service’s Southwest Regional Director H. Dale Hall.
Hickory Pass Ranch consists of 3,000 acres in the beautiful Texas Hill Country situated not far from Austin, Texas. Jacquelyn Mouton Johnston and David Johnston, who value the ranch as a natural legacy for their three daughters and the generations to come, are the owners of the long-standing family ranch. "Preserving the ranch intact for future generations, however, is a great challenge," said David Johnston. "Now, however, by working with the Service and drawing on principles of private land stewardship and economic incentives, we have achieved a winning solution."
Hickory Pass Ranch is located within the acquisition boundary of the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. The ranch provides an excellent habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler, and, as a large, contiguous parcel of an undisturbed habitat, is considered important for its preservation. Previously, the Johnston’s gratefully worked with the Service by selling almost 700 acres of the larger, original ranch to the Refuge. Funds for refuge acquisitions are always in short supply, and the Hickory Pass owners do have a preference for keeping the ranch in the family. Under the agreement with the Service, both objectives will be achieved.
Under the agreement, the owners commit to the perpetual preservation and management of the property for the warbler. In exchange, the Service recognizes the creation of "conservation credits" that can be sold by the landowners to businesses and local governments needing to mitigate impacts to lesser quality habitat areas within the region. The program is a win-win-win. The environment wins as the ranch is preserved for the warbler and the landowners win because they now have an economically viable
method to maintain their property intact for future generations. Other businesses and local governments win because they will now have an efficient and beneficial option available to them for mitigating the impacts of their activities.
This success did not come easily, as the landowners and the Service worked for over a year to review the biology of the property, develop a detailed management outline, evaluate financial requirements, and consider various alternatives. Yet, the parties consider the result of this effort a major achievement for others to follow in Texas and elsewhere.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses nearly 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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