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. This move protects about 6,410 acres of coastal prairie, one of the largest remaining habitats 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 $8.863 million purchase was made possible through a $7.6 million grant administered by TCEQ as the State of Texas’ representative to the RESTORE Council. The remaining funds were provided by TNC.
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 is the first conservation easement approved by the RESTORE Council and represents the largest land protection deal in the Gulf funded by the RESTORE Act. The O’Connor Ranch will continue to operate as a private cattle ranch while the easement protects it from development and fragmentation. The grassland will continue to provide 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 the federal RESTORE Act of 2012, which are sourced from civil penalties related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These funds support ecological restoration, economic development, coastal protection, and community resilience projects along the Texas Gulf Coast.
The Nature Conservancy is an international organization focused on conserving land and water resources to benefit both nature and people.
