San Pedro Ranch Receives Texas Leopold Conservation Award

San Pedro Ranch, located near Carrizo Springs, will be awarded the state’s highest honor for private land conservation, and a $10,000 award, at the Lone Star Steward Virtual Awards Banquet on May 27. Anyone can join the livestreamed banquet and can find more information on how to tune in, along with information on other award winners, on the Lone Star Land Steward page of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) website.

The ranch is owned by siblings Joseph Fitzsimons and Pamela Fitzsimons Howard and their families. Their father Hugh Fitzsimons Jr. embraced a holistic approach at the ranch in the 1970s. He believed if you improved native habitat, the ecosystem would not only lead to more wildlife, but to healthier livestock. Today, the family approach shows how cattle, hunting and other activities can all coexist in a sustainable way that benefits the native ecology and a wide range of wildlife species.

Fitzsimons’ children and their children’s families continue that land ethic today.

San Pedro Ranch is a unique confluence of geologic, riparian, biologic, herbaceous and cultural resources. The property sits atop an ancient seabed, on the southern edge of Texas’ Tamaulipan and Chihuahuan Biotic Provinces. Its 23,000 acres are covered by 26 different soil types and 36 different plant communities. The land has been inhabited over time by four distinct cultural groups. On the map, it straddles Dimmit and Maverick counties, about 30 miles southwest of Carrizo Springs, near the Rio Grande River.

The ranch is home to a herd of registered Beefmaster cattle, a breed known for being heat, drought and insect resistant. Regenerative grazing practices coupled with prescribed burns and brush management, have helped to increase n

 

ative plant diversity, water infiltration and enhance herbaceous cover.

The Fitzsimons and Howard families designed more than 100 rock and earthen structures to trap sediment, build soil and establish vegetation as part of a riparian restoration project. Over 22,000 feet of a degraded creek channel was

 

restored across a 700-acre watershed.

Elsewhere, Ducks Unlimited helped convert a 14-acre gravel pit into an ephemeral wetland. After being hydroseeded with a seed mix of 42 native grass and forb species, the wetland serves as a wintering ground for waterfowl species.

The ranch is a stopover point along the flight corridor for many migrating birds and monarch butterflies. Butterflies will be tagged to help researchers monitor their numbers. The Fitzsimons and Howards have also compiled 90 years of rainfall data to improve management in the drought-prone region.

In addition to installing miles of water line and supplying new watering stations, the careful attention the Fitzsimons and Howards have dedicated to environmental conservation has provided habitat for dove, quail, Rio Grande wild turkey, and other rare species such as the Texas tortoise and Texas horned lizard.

A perpetual conservation easement through the Texas Agricultural Land Trust restricts industrial and commercial development and prohibits fragmentation of the ranch. The easement ensures it will remain an important ecological site and riparian corridor for native and migratory wildlife species.

The conservation success and land ethic of the Fitzsimonsand Howard families earned the ranch a Lone Star Land Steward Ecoregion Award (representing South Texas) in 2016. They say they are just getting started and learning to ranch in nature’s image.