The Zesch Family Ranch in Mason, led by Hal and Amy Zesch, has received the 2023 Lone Star Land Steward Ecoregion Award for the Edwards Plateau region. Launched in 1996, the Lone Star Land Steward Awards applaud private landowners in Texas for exemplary contributions to land, water and wildlife stewardship. Funding generated by the award supports TPWD’s Private Lands Program, helping TPWD field staff and partners strategically apply habitat conservation in partnership with landowners.
“In a state like Texas, where private owners hold 95 percent of the land, landowners play a crucial role in conservation and stewardship efforts,” said TPWD Executive Director David Yoskowitz. “That’s why it’s so important we take this opportunity each year to celebrate those creating a legacy of land stewardship.
By employing a coordinated suite of practices to help them achieve their land management goals, Hal and Amy Zesch have continued a family tradition on their Hill Country ranch. These certified Texas Master Naturalists have designed a grazing program for their cattle that emulates the movement of bison herds, varying rotations based on rainfall and pasture conditions to help maintain a desirable cover of native grasses, regardless of precipitation. They have also built a series of diversion dams to slow water flow and soil loss during heave rainfall, and have worked with TPWD to reintroduce prairie dogs and install burrowing owl next boxes. Their goal is to restore tall grasses to hold soil and provide cleaner, more plentiful water for their operation.
