Pearl Jackson Ranch

Andrea Jackson didn’t anticipate that she would become the steward of a ranch in Oklahoma when she married her husband Bob Jackson in 1965.

She grew up in Manhattan, and the pair met in law school. They got married and lived in New York, New Jersey and Washington D.C. for a few years before settling in St. Louis, Missouri. Bob practiced tax law in St. Louis for more than 50 years.

In the 1980s, Bob inherited a family tract of land in Oklahoma about 12 miles from Tulsa. At first, he wanted to sell it, but there was no market for it at the time, so he hung on to it. He was advised to operate the ranch and found a ranch manager he trusted to run the place while he was busy practicing law in St. Louis and raising his family.

“Bob was a person who got into the details of things,” recalled Andrea. “He and the ranch manager would talk for hours each week about everything from fences and barns to what kind of cattle to buy, to whether we could acquire this or that neighboring tract to square up the edges of the ranch. By the time he died in early 2023, the ranch was more than 12,000 acres.”

Bob would visit four times a year, sometime taking Andrea along for the ride.

“I didn’t take to it terribly well, to be honest,” Andrea said with a laugh. “We would get in the truck, and we’d go poking along on a dirt road, and then we would stop, get out and look at a fence. Or some grass. Or a barn. Eventually we’d run across a herd of cattle. It was fun watching the cows, but still. And it was always either too hot, too cold, or raining.”

Andrea observed that you get out of something what you put into it, and while she was not invested wholeheartedly in the ranch at first, Bob certainly was.

The ranch is in the eco-region in Oklahoma known as the Cross Timbers, and encompasses a mosaic of forests, woodlands, grasslands, old growth forest, tallgrass prairie and riparian woodlands.

Four named creeks run through it and it is a haven for fish and wildlife.“Bob just loved the ranch,” she said. “Towards the end of his life, he started worrying about what would happen after he was gone. He would say over and over again that he didn’t want to see it paved over.”

The land’s proximity to Tulsa has been a big draw for developers. For years before he died, the Jacksons were inundated with requests to sell. Had it sold, it would have been a devastating loss of natural habitat, because not only is the land adjacent to the Oklahoma Department of Conservation’s Heyburn Wildlife Management Area, it also lies within the heart of the 430,000-acre Keystone Woodlands Conservation Area, a significant natural area for the protection of the region’s biodiversity.

In the early 20th century, Bob’s grandparents moved to nearby Sapulpa from Iowa. His grandfather practiced law, and he often helped Native Americans with their legal issues at time when most lawyers would not represent Native Americans. His clients would often pay him with land, which became the nucleus for today’s ranch. Bob’s grandmother Pearl fiercely loved the land and did all she could during her lifetime to increase the family’s holdings.

Bob made it clear to Andrea what his wishes were regarding the future of the ranch. The couple knew their two children had no interest in taking over ranch operations, and in the years before his death, they explored ways to protect the ranch in perpetuity.

At one point about eight years ago, Bob reached out to the Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma and met Chad Ellis, who worked there at the time. The Noble Foundation was unable to accept the property as a donation because of operational considerations. The couple persevered, and in the years before Bob’s death, they decided to put it under a conservation easement and donate the property to The Nature Conservancy. Attorneys for The Nature Conservancy reached out to the Texas Agricultural Land Trust (TALT) about holding the easement and they connected with Chad Ellis, who now serves as TALT’s CEO.

“When I realized who the landowner was and that this was an effort to forever protect the Pearl Jackson Ranch, we jumped on board,” said Ellis.  “This will be our first conservation easement in Oklahoma, and we are pleased to do whatever we can to help. One of TALT’s founding partners is Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, which operates in Oklahoma and other southwestern states, so this is an ideal way to extend our reach.”

Honoring Bob Jackson’s final wishes gives Andrea comfort. The Nature Conservancy plans on opening the Pearl Jackson Crosstimbers Preserve in the future to welcome visitors.

“Bob would have been so happy to see this conservation easement finally come to fruition,” said Andrea. “It’s gratifying to know the land that he and his grandmother Pearl cherished will be forever protected for future generations to enjoy.”