The Cattleman Talks: Texas Farm & Ranch Lands Conservation Program

The program supports responsible stewardship and conservation of working lands, water, fish and wildlife, and agricultural production through:

• Generating interest and awareness in easement programs and other options for conserving working lands
• Leveraging available monies to fund as many high-quality projects as possible
• Highlighting the ecological and economic value of working lands and the opportunities to conserve working lands for the future

Fitzsimons says the program would especially be of interest to landowners whose land is not providing enough income to qualify it for a donated conservation easement.

'This is an alternative where they can get paid for the value of their conservation easement,' she says.

Additionally, Fitzsimons says, anyone whose farm or ranch land has significant water resources should look into the program. That's because the legislature showed so much interest in conserving working lands where the rain falls that the program received a $2 million appropriation last session. [TALT is accepting applications for conservation easements through the TFRLCP until February 1, 2017. APPLY TODAY!]

She says that from the beginning, those involved with creating the program have worked hard to make sure it would serve farmers and ranchers well.

'There's no question - priority was always to conserve and protect productive agricultural lands,' she says. 'To have a program that was administered in a way that did not interfere with the ability to run a farm or a ranch. That's why the steering committee included leaders from Cattle Raisers as well as representatives from Texas Farm Bureau and Texas Wildlife Association.'

Another Tool in the Box

Carter Smith, who serves as the executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, says the program is a tool ranchers can use to try to keep their lands in the family.

'It's by no means the only one, but it's certainly an important tool for ranchers who are thinking about how to effectively pass along their family ranch or ranches to future generations. At the very least, I think it's important to be aware of the option, particularly given the income tax and estate tax planning -related considerations,' he says.

Smith adds he see it as a 'very positive step forward' that the state is able to offer such a program, partnering with landowners to help them protect their heritage.

'This is one of these rare programs that hit the bulls-eye on a number of important statewide priorities,' Smith says. 'That's true whether we're talking about keeping farmers and ranchers on the land, keeping working lands working, protecting the source of our drinking water, conserving our wildlife habitat, maintaining what makes Texas so special, and supporting our rural economies and communities across Texas. This program helps expand all of those goals in different ways and we're excited to be a small part of helping to bring that to fruition.'

He emphasizes that the program is completely voluntary.

'There's nothing compulsory about it, and so landowners can make their own decisions as to whether or not this is something they want to pursue and it's certainly not applicable in every situation or for every ranch by any stretch of the imagination,' Smith says.

Although it may not be for everyone, it is for a lot of ranchers - that's evident by the ever-increasing interest, Smith says. 'There's no shortage of demand for it,' he says. 'The only thing impeding it is a fact of resources.'

In the first year of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's funding the program, it was a qualified success by almost any measure. They were able to leverage every dollar on an 8 to 1 basis and work with land trusts and participating landowning families to conserve important working lands from West Texas to the Gulf to the Hill Country. They helped conserve and protect a wide variety of working lands from traditional rangelands to working ranches to hay fields to agricultural fields, and conserve priority watersheds and aquifers from the Colorado River to Edwards Aquifer to the Gulf Coast.

And Smith couldn't be prouder.