Pristine Texas Coastal Habitat Forever Protected through Conservation Collaboration
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 28, 2023
Pristine Texas Coastal Habitat Forever Protected through Conservation Collaboration
TALT, NFWF, TPWD, GLO & USFWS Partner on Conservation Easement in Matagorda County
Thanks to a creative collaboration and a Texas landowner who wants to ensure his family land is never developed, 3,547 acres of precious coastal habitat is forever protected by a conservation easement held by the Texas Agricultural Land Trust (TALT).
The tract is owned by the Cornelius family. For more than 100 years, the family has been working cattle in Matagorda County in Southeast Texas. Herff Cornelius’ grandfather bought the original tract in 1917.
The ranch is bordered on the south by the Intracoastal Waterway and has 4.3 miles of frontage on Caney Creek. It is a premiere piece of coastal prairie rangeland, providing productive grazing land and exceptional wildlife habitat.
When Herff Cornelius’ father died in 2013, followed by his mother’s passing in 2014, the family had a tough decision on their hands as they contemplated the transfer of family land from one generation to the next. With seven sisters, and literally dozens of other family members to consider, it was not an easy decision. One thing they all agreed upon was that it had to be a unanimous decision: either keep it all or sell it all.
About that time, Cornelius learned about TALT and how a conservation easement might help their family.
“One thing led to another, and we began serious discussions about how we might keep this land together to benefit everybody,” said Cornelius.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the Texas General Land Office (GLO) provided significant funding to make the transaction possible, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) helped coordinate the effort. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which manages the nearby Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuge, assisted by providing some of the transaction’s due diligence costs.
“Working with private landowners to maintain and steward important coastal habitats like those of the Cornelius Ranch is critical to achieving conservation goals for the Texas coast,” said Tom Kelsch, NFWF’s senior vice president for the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund. “These new conservation lands not only provide excellent wildlife habitat, they also protect the viability of the region’s agricultural economy.”
The conservation partners got involved because of the tract’s significant natural assets, and the property location adjacent to Matagorda Bay, which is a conservation priority for government agencies and conservation NGOs alike. TPWD officials recognized the property as an outstanding example of coastal wildlife habitat that would be a significant contribution toward a state, federal and private collaborative to protect as much pristine habitat around Matagorda Bay as possible.
That recognition led TPWD to nominate the project for funding from NFWF’s Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund. The nomination and selection process took a couple of years to complete, and then additional time was required to craft easement terms that worked for both the family and the NFWF. In the interim the appraisal grew stale and had to be re-done. The new appraisal revealed a funding gap, and TPWD turned to the GLO’s Coastal Management Program for assistance. Through dollars provided by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) fund, the gap was closed.
“Here at the General Land Office, we understand the importance of keeping farmlands in production, protecting coastal wildlife and habitats, and cultivating meaningful agricultural developments,” said Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham. “Through our Coastal Management Division, we have been honored to safeguard the preservation of over 3,500 acres of precious coastal land in Matagorda County through a perpetual conservation easement held by TALT. This conservation easement will make Matagorda Bay one of the most protected bay systems in the state and help us preserve more of these untouched working lands for future generations of Texans.”
“TPWD and its coastal conservation partners recognized the strategic significance of the Cornelius Ranch early on,” said former TPWD Land Conservation Director Ted Hollingsworth. “The protection of this ranch after years of effort demonstrates why conservation partnerships are so critical and so successful in Texas.”
More than six years after the Cornelius family began considering the idea, the conservation easement finally closed in January 2023, forever protecting 3,547 acres of precious coastal habitat.
“This transaction is a testament to some creative minds that came together to seek out every funding option available to make it all work,” said James Oliver with TALT, who helped shepherd the transaction through to closing. “When like-minded organizations and individuals are all pushing toward the same conservation goal, good things can happen. We are very grateful to the Cornelius family for hanging in there with patience and perseverance. Thanks to them, this land will be preserved for generations to come, benefitting us all by helping to keep our air and water clean.”
Like his father and grandfather before him, Herff Cornelius will continue to work the land that has given his family so much. Thanks to the conservation easement held by TALT, his children and grandchildren, and those of his seven sisters will have that same option.
“I think everybody’s just really happy that future generations will be able to continue to use this property for ranching, hunting and conservation of the wildlife we all enjoy,” said Herff. “Everybody is just very happy about that.”
The Texas Agricultural Land Trust is a private non-profit organization founded by farmers and ranchers for farmers and ranchers. As the largest state-based land trust in Texas with more than 260,000 acres under conservation easements, TALT promotes the conservation of open space, native wildlife habitats, and natural resources of Texas’ private working lands.
Media Contact: Kacie Hatsfelt
985-351-9867
khatsfelt@txaglandtrust.org