Note: Portions of this story were taken from Texas Agricultural Land Trust (TALT) writer Lydia Saldana, with photos provided by Brandon Ray.
A beautiful, sweeping stretch of privately-owned land along one of Texas’ most iconic landscapes, Palo Duro Canyon State Park, is now being permanently protected. The property, known as Rim Ranch, sits atop the rim of the Canyon and will be conserved through two easements finalized by the Texas Agricultural Land Trust (TALT) around Oct. 17, according to Texas Agricultural Land Trust Communications Director, Kacie Hatsfelt.
According to officials with TALT, the first easement covers 1,725 acres with funding from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Agricultural Conservation Easement Program and Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation’s Buffer Lands Incentive Program. Both programs support voluntary conservation efforts near Texas state parks, wildlife management areas and other protected areas.
Officials added that the second easement, totaling 1,323 acres, is expected to close by the end of the year. TALT officials said Rim Ranch, a property that spans Armstrong and Randall counties, has been in the Owens family since the late 1940s. The view that Rim Ranch provides to the Pioneer Amphitheater will now be protected thanks to the Owens family and conservation partners.
The daughter of original owners Dr. and Mrs. Guy Owens, Ginger Owens Campbell, now 98, has lived long enough to see her family’s legacy endure.
“My parents poured their hearts into this place,” Campbell said. “To know that Rim Ranch will remain intact, that our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy it just as we have, it means everything to me. I love to think of it going on and on and on, not just for our family, but for everyone who comes to see this beautiful canyon.
“My parents were so delighted to find this property,” she recalled. She said as they raised cattle, they built a larger home and poured their hearts into it. “I’m so glad it has stayed in our family all these years.”
It has been a source of solace after Campbell’s daughter, Becky, tragically lost two husbands, one to a brain tumor just five months after their marriage and later, her children’s father to a premature death.
The Rim Ranch became a family gathering place with its own heartbeat. Ginger’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren grew up with the ranch as their touchstone, even as they lived in big cities. For her daughter, Becky Monning, it meant bunking up with cousins from up east.
“We would all sleep in one room in bunk beds,” she said. She commented that it was interesting living in Texas and having cousins from the north, saying “they were different.”
The ranch’s location looks directly across to the iconic play, TEXAS, which has been staged for nearly 60 years. DeWitt, Becky’s brother, said that one night they were out cooking hot dogs and singing so loudly that they stopped the play and turned the spotlights on them to see where the noise was coming from.
Campbell’s parents first bought the property in the late 1940s, according to TALT. Over time, they built a home, raised cattle and poured their hearts into what became known as the Rim Ranch at Palo Duro Canyon, which covered 3,074 acres along the edge of the second largest canyon in the United States. According to the TALT website, Texas’ privately-owned farms, ranches and forestlands account for 139 million acres, about 81% of the state. However, Texas leads states in the loss of rural lands, currently losing them at rate of 42.6 acres per hour. This loss has economic, social, and environmental consequences and threatens Texas’ dominant position as a food producer, its sources of drinking water, and the privately managed habitat.
Private lands impact more than 82 family legacies and number 728 species of concern, according to figures posted by TALT. It also affects 300,407 acres of land, which amounts to $82.5 million and 70+ billion gallons of water, which is scarce in many Texas areas.
TALT’s conservation easements protect lots of open space. They state that they don’t measure success merely by acres. They value diversity in the land they protect. Their conservation footprint spans far and wide, and they own easements in all 10 ecoregions across the state. Each of their unique conservation easements work to not only protect acres of land, but family legacies, too. Their work also supports rural communities in areas of the state that rely on agriculture and working lands for thriving economies.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Rim Ranch along Palo Duro Canyon being saved for future generations
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
