Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program Featured at Texas Land Trust Conference

The 11th Annual Texas Land Trust Conference, “Conservation at Work in Your Community,” featured a tour to the 497-acre historic Gibson Ranch, now known as the Ragsdale Ranch, near Dripping Springs. Located about 30 minutes outside of Austin, the Ragsdale Ranch features a park-like setting in the Texas Hill Country with Onion Creek flowing down the rocky embankments, springs bubbling out of the rocks and the native prairie grasses swaying in the wind. The steep bluffs and rolling hills afford spectacular vistas of the Texas countryside in every direction. Native wildlife is also abundant on the land with whitetail deer, turkey and dove.

About 30 conference attendees toured the Ragsdale Ranch on Feb. 21 and learned about the history of the ranch from R.B. Wilson, a Hays County native and neighbor who grew up playing on the ranch and later leased it from the owners.

Conservation real estate broker Michael Luigs, of land/water/sky, purchased the Ragsdale Ranch several years ago to save the heritage of the land in the forefront of a rapidly developing area. He made improvements to the land and worked in a collaborative effort with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the city of Austin, and Hill Country Conservancy to utilize funding to create a conservation easement to protect the ranch’s water, pastures and wildlife habitat forever. In addition, the original chimney, hand-dug well and log cabin on the 1870s home site have been certified by the Texas Historical Commission and will be preserved to commemorate the regional heritage. Through this purchase of the conservation easement, the ranch is protected from future development or fragmentation.

Claude Ross, manager of NRCS’s Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP), gave an overview of how the program can provide matching funds to help purchase development rights to keep productive farm and ranch lands with prime, unique or statewide and locally important soils, or with historical or archaeological sites, from conversion to non-agricultural uses.

George Cofer, executive director of the Hill Country Conservancy and Frank Davis, project manager, gave an overview of their participation in the easement and Dan Potter of the Texas Historical Commission explained how they helped with the historical history and documentation for FRPP.

From 2003 to 2007, the NRCS in Texas provided $5.2 million under the FRPP to support the purchase of, and provide permanent protection for 2,981 acres of agricultural land on five farms across the state. These FRPP funds leveraged $8.4 million in local funds and landowner contributions for a total easement value of $13.6 million.

USDA-NRCS has made $50.2 million available for FRPP nationwide thus far this fiscal year. Future funding is contingent upon the outcome of debate on the new farm bill. FRPP's authority expires with the 2002 Farm Bill.

FRPP, authorized in the 1996 Farm Bill, has protected about 533,000 acres on 2,764 farms and ranches nationwide from 1996-2007. Since this period, USDA-NRCS has invested $536 million into this program across the country working with 348 cooperating entities.

On Saturday during the conference, about 40 people attended the session where Ross spoke more in-depth about the FRPP and how the program works with land trust organizations which have offers with private landowners on the purchase of development rights.

The FRPP is a voluntary program that helps farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. The program provides matching funds to State, Tribal, or local governments and non-governmental organizations with existing farm and ranch land protection programs to purchase conservation easements. FRPP was reauthorized in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Farm Bill) and funding for the FRPP comes from the Commodity Credit Corporation, the same federal entity that finances farm income support payments and conservation payments. NRCS manages the program and can provide up to 50 percent of the fair market easement value.

Sheri Land with the Texas General Land Office (GLO) also gave an update on the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program, which identifies qualified agricultural land and maintains its natural productivity through conservation easements. The program was created as result of Senate Bill 1273 which was passed by the 79th Texas Legislature and created the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program Council to advise and assist the commissioner with administration of the program. NRCS State Conservationist Don Gohmert serves as an ex-officio member along with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Peter Holt who represents the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. While this state program is still in its infancy and funding is limited, it is the hope of program organizers that financing will be provided through state and/or federal authorizations and grants, along with private donations.

Click on thumbnail for larger image.

R.B. Wilson talks about the sugarcane mill that was used on the ranch as he stands in front of what is left of the boiling vat.	Claude Ross explains the FRPP to the conference attendees who toured the Ragsdale Ranch.
Spring water at the Ragsdale Ranch flows into Onion Creek.	A scenic overlook of the Ragsdale Ranch.

< Back to Highlights