From the CEO Is to Support Wildlife El Sauz El Sauz
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© Wyman Meinzer “Our Mission FROM THE CEO is to support wildlife El Sauz El Sauz. The eastern edge is bounded by conservation Redfish Bay (of the Laguna Madre) and the The East Foundation owns and town of Port Mansfield. Along our western and other public operates six ranches, each having a unique benefits of fence-line is HP El Sauz and the Rockefeller’s blend of cultural and natural history. Being Hacienda Campo Alegre. ranching and the largest of the group, our San Antonio private land Viejo Ranch gets lots of attention. But let’s stewardship. turn our attention for a while to the El Sauz Our mission is Ranch. achieved through research, education and outreach.” Board of Directors Richard W. (Dick) Evans, Jr. Dan W. Kinsel, III El Sauz is home to the largest single group of Stephen J. (Tio) Kleberg endangered ocelots in the United States. Our research is Bryan Wagner, Chair directed at ocelot conservation in concert with a working cattle ranch. Professional Advisors Our team is doing some great work Lynn Drawe, PhD. on the El Sauz ranch. You might know Alice (Lisa) Flowers, PhD. David Hewitt, PhD. about our work with prescribed fire – we Clayton D. Hilton, DVM. are looking at the influence of prescribed Stephen J. (Tio) Kleberg, Chair fire on forage quality, grazing behavior Richard V. (Rick) Machen, PhD. El Sauz’s native rangelands, visibly under the and wildlife habitats. You might know Clay P. Mathis, PhD. influence of southeasterly winds and shifting sand dunes, Fred C. Bryant, PhD. (Emeritus) represents some of the most unique habitat along the about our work with endangered ocelots lower Texas Coast. – we are investigating the factors leading Investment to conservation of a large part of the US Committee The East Foundation’s El Sauz Ranch population of 80 ocelots, of which the El Richard W. (Dick) Evans, Jr. covers more than 27,000 acres in Willacy Sauz is home to about 30. You might know Harry M. Flavin Phillip M. Plant and Kenedy Counties. East’s El Sauz is about our work fighting cattle fever ticks bordered on the North by King Ranch – El Sauz is on the northern boundary of February 2018 (Norias Division), and on the South by HP a recent infestation of cattle fever ticks in South Texas. You might know about our behind-the- Henrietta King. This was a branch of the family that had gates programs – we annually host over 1500 fifth- moved to Chicago and had seemingly lost interest in graders from IDEA Public Schools for a week on the ranching in South Texas. The events of the next 35 years ranch. can’t fully be covered here, but they are an interesting Being at the southeastern extreme of the South human drama. Texas Sand Sheet, the shifting sand dunes of El Sauz In 1952, The East Brothers’ partnership acquired are a continuing challenge for cattle ranching – but the 13,616 acres from members of the Atwood family. A results of wind and sand create one of the most dramatic Chicago attorney by the name of Thomas Hart Fisher, landscapes found anywhere. who represented another member of the Atwood family, acquired portions of the ownership through a highly- contested estate settlement. Upon his death in 1969, Thomas Hart Fisher left his widow – Ruth Page Fisher – as the owner of what was known as the “El Sauz – Tenerias pasture.” Being an internationally famous ballet dancer, Ruth Page Fisher was as far from a South Texas rancher as you could get. So, in 1971 she sold her holdings to Frank Yturria, a neighboring rancher. Over the succeeding two years, the Easts and Yturria made a series of conveyances and transactions, finally resulting, in 1972, in the East’s © Wyman Meinzer current boundaries of the El Sauz ranch. The current ownerships of neighboring HP El Sauz, along with The towering sand dunes of El Sauz – several of them spreading over 500 acres – are driven by the dominant southeastern winds. Dune divisions of mineral ownerships were also formed during migration to the northwest creates a complex topography that is constantly this period. changing. The description above is overly summarized, and the full story of El Sauz is more dramatic than any Some Human History fiction. The final point, however, is that something drove The East Brothers –Tom East Jr, Lica East, and Robert the East Family to work hard to acquire El Sauz. The way C. East – acquired what is now the East Foundation’s El we see it, that something probably had to do with both Sauz ranch through a series of transactions and trades family and a love of a rugged fascinating piece of land over a 20-year period from 1952 to 1972. The Family and the unique part of wild Texas that it represents. interest in those lands, however, reaches back for over 100 years. Starting in the 1890s, the El Sauz pasture was part of the King Ranch holdings. Captain King, and later his wife Henrietta, acquired El Sauz from the heirs of Jose As you will read later in this issue, we are currently Narciso Cavazos. Cavazos himself had acquired the land restoring the East’s old house on the El Sauz. Matt as part of the San Juan de Carricitos land grant from the Robinson is leading this effort, and there are several East Spanish Crown in 1792. At just over 600,000 acres, the Foundation staff that are proudly getting involved in the land grant to Cavazos was the single largest ever made to work. an individual. The King Ranch portion of the original The East Foundation’s work on El Sauz is only just San Juan de Carricitos was approximately 326,790 acres beginning – stay tuned. – just over half. - Neal Wilkins In 1935, the Trustees of the Estate of Henrietta King partitioned and conveyed the El Sauz pasture to four siblings of the Atwood family – heirs of Henrietta Maria King Atwood, being a daughter of Captain Richard and East Foundation February 2018 Page 2 PROJECT PROFILE East Foundation Non-breeding Survey details follow: Bird Surveys • 24.5 miles of roadways, with a point every 0.5 miles • Conducted on Santa Rosa, San Antonio Viejo, and El Undeveloped tracts of land are critical for the Sauz ranches conservation of many bird species. In Texas, most of these lands are privately owned. The East Foundation • Occurred from early October to early December is committed to monitoring trends in bird numbers • 3 minute counts of all birds present within a 200 yard across its native rangelands on private lands…because radius of each point private lands do matter. Key findings: • From 2015 to 2017 documented 5,070 individual birds • For Santa Rosa Ranch, bird numbers increased in 2017 compared to 2015 and 2016 • For San Antonio Viejo and El Sauz ranches, bird numbers decreased in 2017 compared to 2015 and 2016 On the Santa Rosa Ranch, a large-scale herbicide brush management effort in 2017 likely created favorable habitat for many non-breeding birds (mainly Mourning © Wyman Meinzer Dove, White-winged Dove, Bewick’s Wren, and Sandhill Non-breeding bird surveys have occurred on Cranes). Foundation lands over that past several years aimed On the San Antonio Viejo and El Sauz ranches, at determining what species are present and whether below average rainfall in 2017 played a role in the populations are increasing, remaining stable, or reduced number of birds. Drought conditions reduce decreasing. food availability, abundance, and productivity of many birds. The East Foundation is committed to conducting research that makes a difference and we focus on factors that threaten the productivity of native rangelands – threats such as drought, disease, invasive plants, and non-native animals. Future efforts will seek to determine the drivers of rangeland bird abundance and diversity. - Tyler Campbell Partner: Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute East Foundation February 2018 Page 3 ALUMNI ANCHER ESOURCES PROFILE R R Where Does it All Start? throughout the South Texas Sandsheet. We provided access to several of our ranches for The Soil Under Our Feet NRCS staff to take additional soil samples The initial design and layout of the across a large area and better map and 18,500 acre Coloraditas Grazing Research characterize the Delmita soils. This project and Demonstration Area (CGRDA) started is part of the ongoing National Cooperative with a blank slate—new water systems, Soil Survey (NCSS) efforts to update soils revised pasture layout, fences, pens, etc. maps to current standards. The updated We took a ground up approach, closely maps will assist ranchers and landowners considering various soil and associated manage resources. Aleyda Galán range site characteristics when considering Aleyda Galán grazing systems and pasture layout. Why focused her thesis worry about soils? It is simple. Soils work on small influence every aspect of the landscape from mammal, tick, and the type of vegetation, the quality of forage tick-borne pathogen biodiversity across it produces, what minerals are available to the East Foundation’s meet basic nutrition requirements, water San Antonio Viejo, El availability, to carbon storage and much Sauz, and Santa Rosa more. It is one of the most important ranches. She used natural resources we manage. live-trapping methods to capture and collect As planning for the CGRDA progressed small mammals, we noticed there were several significant from rodents to bats, features on the landscape that were not to build a scientific collection housed at accurately reflected in the most recent soil the East Foundation survey of Jim Hogg county. No surprise as and the Biodiversity it was conducted several decades ago.