By Gary Jonier
TFB Radio Network Manager
Texas landowner participation in land conservation easements and their value to agricultural production, water and wildlife are addressed in a new Texas Land Trends report of Texas A&M’s Natural Resources Institute (NRI).
About 83 percent of lands in Texas are classified as privately-owned working lands. Land-use conversion, including fragmentation, accounted for the loss of about 1.1 million acres of working lands in Texas between 1997 to 2012, according to NRI.
“Privately-owned farms, ranches and forests that produce food and fiber support rural economies and provide wildlife habitat, clean air and water and recreational opportunities,” NRI Director Dr. Roel Lopez said. “But increasing population growth and development has put extra pressure on working lands, often leading to their fragmentation into smaller parcels or conversion to other land uses, such as residential development.”
The amount of land fragmentation and conversion is likely to increase over the next decade, as lands will likely pass to younger generations who may have less experience and lack financial capital or the motivation and interest needed to sustain family operations, Lopez noted.
According to the Texas Land Trust Council, conservation easements have been an effective tool used by land trusts, government agencies and conservation groups to protect about one million acres of private land in Texas. It offers a voluntary alternative to assist private landowners in keeping their lands intact while promoting good stewardship and land management practices.
Most of the conservation easements in Texas have been implemented in the past two decades.
“A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement between a landowner and a qualified nonprofit land trust or government entity through which the landowner commits to minimize or avoid certain types of non-agricultural development on their property by selling or donating certain property rights,” Lopez said.
Lopez said the institute, in collaboration with the council and Texas Agricultural Land Trust, incorporated several datasets, including those from the Texas Comptroller and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture, to develop a framework for evaluating the conservation value of lands currently protected under conservation easements.
“We were able to assess the value of all conservation easement acres in Texas within three broad categories of ecosystem services—agricultural production, water and wildlife—to illustrate the value of the natural goods, services and benefits conservation easements provide,” Lopez said.
Texas has about 248,000 farm and ranch operations, accounting for more than 142 million acres of land use, Lopez noted.
“In 2017, these agricultural operations generated about $23 billion in cash receipts and are reported to contribute over $100 billion annually to the food and fiber sector,” he said. “And agricultural employment also plays an important role in the state’s labor force.”
Lopez said using Texas Comptroller land productivity data, which captures the value of the land based solely on its ability to produce commodities, conservation easements in Texas can potentially provide more than $63.1 million in agricultural commodities annually.
He said another value of conservation easements to the state is in protecting land-water contributions for current and future water supplies.
“According to the latest Texas State Water Plan, the state will have a nearly nine million acre-feet water deficit by 2070,” he said. “Conserving undeveloped, permeable working lands can help mitigate both issues by capturing rainfall, reducing water runoff and increasing groundwater recharge. And by conserving vital floodplains, we can also reduce the risk of flooding.”
Lopez said a NRI study concluded conservation easements are six times more efficient than non-land conservation strategies.
He noted wildlife also plays an important role in both the state’s economy and ecological well-being, and many landowners are now managing their lands to benefit wildlife.
The use of conservation easements could bring more than $5.8 million per year in value to wildlife.
“Texas Land Trends data shows wildlife management on Texas working lands has increased by over 5.6 million acre