77 Ranch Receives the 2007 Leopold Conservation Award in Texas

From left to right: Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission Chairman Joe Fitzsimons; Texas Governor Rick Perry; Sue & Gary Price; Gary Price Jr., Jubilee Dickson; and David Allen of Sand County Foundation

AUSTIN, TX - May 23, 2007 - Sand County Foundation, in partnership with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, presented its Leopold Conservation Award Wednesday to Texas landowners Gary and Sue Price of 77 Ranch.

"We are very proud to honor the Prices' work by presenting the Leopold Conservation Award to them," said Dr. Brent Haglund, Sand County Foundation President. "They are part of Texas' long tradition of private landowners who practice sustainable conservation."
 
The 1,900 acre 77 Ranch in Navarro County is designed to be run both economically and environemntally sustainable. The Prices do not make a business decision without first considering its environmental impact.

“Our main goal is sustainability,” said Gary Price. “We’re trying to run a family operation. My son runs a ranch in West Texas, and I’d like him to have the option to come back here and run this place. It’s the old standard of leave it better than I found it.”

A majority of the ranch's income is derived from a cow-calf operation that utilizes an intensive rotational grazing system. Seven large stock ponds provide water for both livestock and waterfowl and are leased annually to fishermen and waterfowl hunters. The ranch has 200 acres of cropland rotated between corn, cotton, and milo. The cropland is enrolled in two USDA cost share programs for planting native grasses and forbs as critical habitat buffers. Conscientious management also provides forage and cover for many birds, including a small population of Northern bobwhites, rare in Navarro County.

To see those plants and grasses and their ability to produce a lot of animal forage and respond in all different drought situations, it’s really shown me what the potential of the land can be,” Price said. “Many people have said that’s how this land probably looked when the bison roamed through here. And that’s what we’re trying to simulate with rotational cattle grazing.” 

 

The 77 Ranch is a prime example of successful landowners who have made the, sometimes difficult, choice to keep their operation ecologically sustainable. 

 

"You have to be remarkably in tune with the land, and then you have to be courageous enough to make the choice," said David Allen, vice president of operations for Sand County Foundation.

 

The Leopold Conservation Award, which consists of an Aldo Leopold crystal and $10,000, is presented annually in five other states. The Award is presented in Texas in partnership with the Texas Parks and Wildife Department as part of its Lone Star Land Steward Awards Program.