We are 10 Years Old!

The tenth anniversary for the Cibolo Conservancy brought new easements and new challenges. The Cibolo Conservancy now holds 20 conservation easements, totaling over 7,690 acres. This is more than twelve square miles of conserved land - no small accomplishment for a small land trust that was conceived by a few volunteers associated with the Cibolo Nature Center a decade ago – volunteers who just wanted to learn how to save some of the beautiful ranches of the Texas Hill County.

Conservation easements benefit the public by addressing one or more of the following values:

• The protection of a relatively natural habitat of fish, wildlife, or plants, or similar ecosystem.
• The preservation of open space (including farmland and forestland) where such preservation is for the scenic enjoyment of the general public.
• The preservation of land areas for outdoor recreation by, or the education of, the general public. (Note: most easements do not permit public access).
• The preservation of an historically important land area or certified historic structure.

 
Since our early days, we have conducted volunteer river clean-ups, as well as clean up projects at Boerne Lake. We have offered public seminars about keeping family lands in family hands. And, we have continued to inform property owners of land preservation methods. We established our field office at the Cibolo Nature Center, where land-owners can attend a variety of workshops on land stewardship and wildlife management.

We have learned plenty in the last ten years. Keeping abreast of national issues and state issues requires our land trust to attend conferences, workshops, as well as frequenting the web site of the Land Trust Alliance to ensure that our information is as up to the minute as possible. We also feel a responsibility to keep the public informed about changes in rules and regulations about conservation easements.