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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