Replenishing Our Hills: Protecting Lands in the Heart of the Hill Country

By Brent Evans, John Freud, David K Langford and Andrew Sansom

The Hill Country, “sweet spot of Texas,” is in danger of being loved to death, or so it seems. The good news is that all the growth and development has triggered some serious conservation efforts. Folks are joining forces to protect the lands and waters of this extraordinary region—families have been partnering with land trusts to save their legacies; citizens have been creating parks, greenways, trails, natural areas, wildlife refuges, and nature centers, thoughtful stewardship is helping damaged lands recover; a network of conservationists has been hard at work; and Texas voters have been supporting conservation measures.

Featuring photography by John Freud and a compelling narrative by longtime conservationist Brent Evans, this unique book on the Texas Hill Country includes inspiring images of conserved land, provides a history of conservation efforts, and highlights the contributions of regional land trusts, county programs, community projects, a community-based nature center and farm, and private landowners. With a goal of celebrating and inspiring grass-roots conservation, Freud and Evans showcase, through words and imagery, places that have been cared for and preserved by a generation of local landowners, local governments, and local nonprofits. As Evans writes in the preface, “the Hill Country is saving some of itself, and this is our story.”

As a record of the many conservation efforts in the Texas Hill Country, Replenishing Our Hills serves as an invaluable and inspiring resource for those new or familiar to land stewardship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Release date: Sep 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9781648430299

Brent Evans

Author Brent Evans has been a social worker for 40 years and has helped develop the Cibolo Nature Center, the Cibolo Conservancy Land Trust, the Kendall County Partnership for Parks, and the Living History Festival. He coauthored The Nature Center Book. The vintage photographs in this collection came from the Boerne Public Library and from private donors.

Book preview

Replenishing Our Hills

MYRNA AND DAVID K. LANGFORD BOOKS ON WORKING LANDS

Courtesy of the Hill Country Alliance

Replenishing Our Hills

Protecting Lands in the Heart of the Hill Country

Brent Evans

Photography by John M. Freud

Introduction by

David K. Langford

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY PRESS

COLLEGE STATION

Copyright © 2024 by Brent Evans and John M. Freud

All rights reserved

First edition

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

Binding materials have been chosen for durability.

Manufactured in China through Martin Book Management

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Evans, Brent, 1947– author. | Freud, John M., 1946– photographer (expression) | Langford, David K., 1942– writer of introduction.

Title: Replenishing our hills : protecting lands in the heart of the Hill Country / Brent Evans ; photography by John M. Freud ; introduction by David K. Langford.

Other titles: Myrna and David K. Langford books on working lands.

Description: First edition. | College Station : Texas A&M University Press, [2024] | Series: Myrna and David K. Langford books on working lands

Identifiers: LCCN 2023052505 (print) | LCCN 2023052506 (ebook) | ISBN 9781648430282 (cloth) | ISBN 9781648430299 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Nature conservation—Texas—Texas Hill Country. | Natural resources conservation areas—Texas—Texas Hill Country—Citizen participation. | Wildlife management—Texas—Texas Hill Country. | Natural resources conservation areas—Texas—Texas Hill Country—Pictorial works. | Photography, Artistic. | Texas Hill Country (Tex.)—Pictorial works.

Classification: LCC QH76.5.T4 E93 2024 (print) | LCC QH76.5.T4 (ebook) | DDC 333.7209764/882—dc23/eng/20231222

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023052505

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023052506

Book Design by Kristie Lee

You can define prosperity as what you have or what you are giving. We hope our book inspires the latter.

—John Freud

We dedicate this work to all the folks who have given relentlessly to save the Texas Hill Country and its way of life—individuals and families and communities and nonprofits and public servant and voters, who have helped the sweet spot of Texas stay sweet. And we admit, this is a love call.

—Brent Evans

Contents

Foreword, by Andrew Sansom

Preface

Acknowledgments

Note on Photography

Introduction: From Skeptic to Advocate, by David K. Langford

1. Heading for the Hills

2. The Uphill Battle

3. We the People

4. Nonprofit Collaborations

5. Perfect Public Projects

Gallery 1. Preserves and Public Lands

6. Cibolo Nature Center: A Community Conservation Model

Gallery 2. Cibolo Nature Center and Herff Farm

7. Trusting Land Trusts

Gallery 3. Private Lands

8. What Now?

Epilogue: A Win for the Hill Country

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Foreword

I grew up on the Texas coast near Houston and spent time most summers with my family in the Texas Hill Country. The rest of the year, I dreamed about swimming in the Guadalupe, dancing at Garner State Park, and cooling off in the Springs along the Balcones Escarpment. Today, those childhood dreams are difficult to recall as the Hill Country is now one of the fastest growing regions in the United States. This explosive growth threatens those springs, mars the hills with increasing urban and suburban development, and has all but obliterated our ability to experience the night sky.

And yet, the alluring beauty of the Texas Hill Country has not disappeared, as Brent Evans and John Freud so eloquently express here in Replenishing Our Hills. Brent has been an amazing leader in Hill Country land conservation, having led efforts to pass the first land conservation bond issue in the history of Kendall County. John chairs the Cibolo Center for Conservation in Boerne, which is one of the most remarkable and inspiring nature education centers and environmental research centers in Texas.

Together, with the support of Pam and Will Harte and Kathie and Ed Cox Jr., who created the Natural Resource Publishing Endowment that made this beautiful book possible, they have produced both a vivid portrayal of one of America’s most beloved regions and an impassioned cry for its preservation. It is a fitting addition to the Myrna and David K. Langford Books on Working Lands for the fiftieth anniversary of Texas A&M University Press.

—Andrew Sansom

General Editor, Myrna and David K. Langford Books on Working Lands

Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, was a well-known Old Testament Commandment in pioneer times. Texans certainly have been fruitful and multiplied in the Hill Country, having three of the fastest growing counties in the nation. But, like so many compelling places, this neck of the woods has come up short on the replenishing part.

Preface

The Hill Country, the sweet spot of Texas, is in danger of being loved to death, or so it seems to many of us old-timers. The first recorded name for the Hill Country was Lomeria Grande, meaning the Great Hills. Certainly, the Hill Country is great and is the reason we now find ourselves in such a land rush. The good news is that all the growth and development have triggered some serious conservation efforts. Folks are joining forces to protect the lands and waters of this extraordinary region: Families have been partnering with land trusts to save their legacies. Citizens have been creating parks, greenways, trails, natural areas, wildlife refuges, and nature centers, which tend to animate communities with a shared passion for the natural world. Thoughtful stewardship is helping damaged lands recover. A network of conservationists has been hard at work. And Texas voters have been supporting conservation measures. The Hill Country is saving some of itself. This is our story.

*   *   *

I was born and raised in the Sierras, so my first impression of Texas was scrub country—they call the bushes here trees. I was transferred to Fort Sam Houston as Captain Evans in the Army Medical Service Corps in 1973 and was definitely looking for diversion. So I canoed down the Guadalupe, through galleries of giant bald cypress, saw white-tailed deer crossing the river, saw turkey vultures soaring in the sky, felt the lushness of the land, and instantly fell in love with this strange world of wet and dry. Then I fell in love with a local girl, she let the air out of my tires, and I was in the Hill Country to stay.

Hill Country conservation started as a shared passion with my life partner, Carolyn. We brought babies into the world, Jonah and Laurel, and then founded a baby nature center. We were adopted by compassionate and talented neighbors who shared a fascination with nature. Politics didn’t matter. Religion didn’t matter. Courageous friends and volunteers worked their magic and created something more meaningful and far-reaching than we ever imagined.

We had hoped to save a few favorite spots, but soon enough all kinds of places were being appreciated and protected. Over the years we developed various parks and trails, historic preservation programs, watershed protection projects, horticultural therapy, children’s gardens, a chicken school yard, nursing home gardening, and an environmental service program at a psychiatric hospital. Our flagship endeavor was the community-based Cibolo Nature Center, founded by a handful of volunteers in the heart of the Hill Country in 1988. This center for education and land stewardship has been attracting serious naturalists and creative characters ever since. It was this dream of a local nature center that brought out so much goodwill, greened up our town, and pushed conservation into the mainstream thinking of the broader community.

When Carolyn and I wrote The Nature Center Book in 2004, the annual budget of the Cibolo Nature Center was $235,000. Now it is about a million more. We never dreamed the idea could be that powerful in our little conservative Texas town.

*   *   *

For more than thirty-five years, gifted people have been arriving at the Cibolo Nature Center at crucial times and made good things happen. Several years ago, photographer John Freud became a volunteer and then a board member, working on a Nature Preschool project. When he started sharing his photographs, we were all blown away. Then he suggested that we team up to create a book of his photographs and my words. I hesitated for a tiny fraction of a second. John’s photographs resonate with everyone who sees them, and each one tells a story. Much of the written narrative speaks to landowners and other folks in a position to save some of the Hill Country. The mission of this book is to inspire more conservation of priceless natural areas and encourage more replenishment where it is needed.

The reader is invited to look in on lucky lands that are safe from harm and learn about working ranches that are still finding ways to make it work. Looming challenges are discussed. Private efforts, nonprofit activities, and public projects are reported. We tell the story of the Cibolo Center for Conservation—how volunteers started a nature center, a land trust, a demonstration farm, a nature preschool, and other initiatives that impacted the wider community and eventually other communities. And we throw in a few not-so-subtle suggestions for stewardship for good measure.

The photographs in this book focus on timeless moments in these hills, those universal experiences of getting lost in appreciating the wonder of it all. It seems that when we witness the naked reality of our natural heritage, we have intermissions between the dramas of our lives. Maybe we have an epiphany, or maybe we just goof off. Whatever, we instinctively know this is good.

Many scenes displayed here are from private properties hidden away from public view. These conservation easement lands are family estates, not open to visitors and not widely known or celebrated. So they are safer from abuse and neglect. The specific locations photographed here are not identified to protect them from too much attention and too much traffic. These places are legally protected, to be cherished for generations to come. For the property owners, this protection is a dream come true—land they love will never be destroyed or developed. A conservation easement is simply a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that permanently limits future uses of the land, protecting its flora, fauna, ground, and water. As an incentive, the owner gets a significant tax deduction and continues to own the land (see chapter 7). And many conservation easements replenish the land with management plans that enhance the conservation values of the property.

John Freud’s photos inspire appreciation of the natural beauty of the Texas Hill Country and just may kindle more conservation efforts by property owners and folks who love the outdoors. John has been into photography for many years, studying under world-renowned professionals, finding his artistry, and selling his art for the joy of it. Lately, he has been engaged in planning and developing an expanded nature preschool at the Cibolo Nature Center’s Herff Farm in Boerne, all the while finding ways to be out on the land with his camera. Rachel Carson spoke about giving children the chance to find a sense of wonder in nature. John’s photographs somehow capture that sense of wonder and pass it on to us.

—Brent Evans

Acknowledgments

We have had lots of help with this book project and want to especially recognize David K. Langford for his guidance and the introduction to Texas A&M University Press and Emily Seyl, who provided great patience in walking us through the publication labyrinth. In addition, vital help came from Candace Andrews, David Bezanson, Chanda Day, Nancy Drukker, Ben Eldredge, Margaret Lamar, Steve Lewis, Jerry McFarlen, Milan Michalec, Lorie Olson, J. W. Pieper, James Rice, Kathryn Romans, Andy Sansom, Donna Taylor, Jeff Weigel, Peter Wilt, and the board of directors of the Cibolo Conservancy Land Trust.

Special thanks to Pam and Will Harte and Kathie and Ed Cox Jr. for their generosity in making this book possible.

Big thanks also go to the many property owners who permitted photography of their private lands in hopes that more conservation would be inspired.

We also want to thank our life partners, Carolyn and Virginia, who have encouraged us, helped us, and tolerated us in this passion to save our hills.

Note on Photography

I began my professional career with Arthur Andersen & Company and from there entered the field of executive recruiting. I spent the last ten years of this career with Russell Reynolds & Associates involved in recruiting board members, CEOs, and executives to Fortune 100 companies. In 2006, my wife, Virginia, and I moved to Boerne, Texas. After retirement and upon turning seventy years young in 2015, I decided to take up photography as a profession and passion. Studying under world-renowned professionals, I found my artistry and combined it with another passion, the natural world.

I have found that courses can teach you how to do the stuff, but they cannot teach you to be a creative artist. That is a gift, and I have a bit of it. I am not a photography purist. Storytelling and artistry are part of my photos. I want people to want to walk into my images, to feel the emotion of the scene.

Joining the board of directors of the Cibolo Nature Center and leading the finalization of the strategic and financial plans for a new nature preschool, the Nest, commenced a quest to develop an image portfolio of what the center gives to the community. Like our