Owners Sell Their Land… to Conservation

Located in Texas, the United States, near the border with Mexico, the Big Bend National Park will soon expand by 1,544 hectares after a local family sold their unused land in the name of conservation, benefiting ecosystems and biodiversity alike.

“All of the precious resources included in that space, I think, create a very important addition to the park,” states Loren Riemer, executive director and CEO of the Big Bend Conservancy.

Big Bend Conservancy raised $780,000 to acquire the Fulcher family’s nearby plot covering 1,544 hectares. The nonprofit is working in partnership with government officials to help Big Bend National Park to expand its 323,748-hectare area by adding a total of 2,428 hectares of nearby unused private plots. Previously used for ranching, the new addition could host a cottonwood restoration project to help native gray hawks and yellow-billed cuckoos thrive, and the endangered minnow which lives in Terlingua Creek. Big Bend’s expansion is featured in Netflix’s Our Great National Parks narrated by former U.S. president Barrack Obama.