FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Texas ranch wins top environmental award

FORT WORTH, Texas, July 21, 2005 – Richards Ranch of Jacksboro, Texas, has been selected as one of seven regional winners nationwide of the 2005 Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP).
            The annual award program recognizes cattle producers whose stewardship practices are innovative, cost-effective and contribute to environmental conservation. Now in its 15th year, the program is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences L.L.C. and the Natural Resources Conservation Service and is administered by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
            Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association nominated Richards Ranch for the program after the ranch won the first Environmental Stewardship Award presented jointly by TSCRA and the Texas Section Society for Range Management last March.
            Richards Ranch is the sole representative of NCBA’s Region IV, which includes Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. One of the seven regional winners will be selected as the national winner and announced in February 2006 at NCBA’s annual convention in Denver.
            “This program acknowledges cattle producers who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to preserve natural resources,” explains Stacey Katseanes, coordinator of the ESAP. “People who devote their lives to working the land embody the true meaning of environmentalists.
            “Conservation is a lifetime commitment that has greatly rewarded this Texas family,” he continued. “Richards Ranch demonstrates how today’s cattlemen utilize creative technologies and innovations to operate a profitable and environmentally-friendly business.”
            The 139-year-old north Texas ranch encompasses 15,000 privately owned acres and runs approximately 950 head of cattle. It is primarily a cow-calf operation with additional income from stocker cattle and retained ownership of feeder calves. Other ranch activities include hunting, fishing, a lodge/retreat facility and nature tourism activities.
            “Conservation efforts are vital to the success of Richards Ranch,” explains Katseanes. “These management practices include intensive rotational grazing, brush control, proper stocking rate, management during drought and prescribed pasture burning.”
            After more than two decades of the planned rotational grazing, grasses are much denser and the land is able to use rainfall much more effectively. Stock numbers have been increased, and the ranch is planning to increase herd size to 1,200 head. Wildlife populations such as deer and turkey have also increased, and quail remain on the ranch while populations are declining in other parts of the state. 
            “John Hackley and Henry Richards just don’t believe you can have good livestock habitat if it isn’t also good wildlife habitat,” says Katseanes. The success of their efforts was recognized recently by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which presented Richards Ranch with the 2005 statewide Lone Star Land Steward Award.
            John Hackley has been general manager of the ranch for the past 25 years. He is a direct descendant of James and Elizabeth Hensley who founded the ranch in 1865.
            “We want to be able to enjoy our heritage of ranching, its way of life and to live off the land,” Hackley says. “We want to be able to sustain this heritage for future generations of our family and to be able to leave the land better than we received it.”
            He proudly shares the Richards Ranch mission statement: “To preserve our land base by improving the ecosystem so that we can contribute to the welfare, happiness and economic levels of the family, employees and industries identified with ranching, the local community and the world at large.”
            The Richards family has spent extensive hours researching environmental stewardship and attending seminars, workshops and field days. They have utilized information from the NRCS, Alan Savory and Holistic Resource Management, Stan Parsons Ranching for Profit and the Texas A&M University System. The ranch has also hosted countless range and pasture judging contests.
            “John Hackley has a strong conservation ethic,” says Wayne Hanselka, professor and Extension program leader for rangeland ecology and management with Texas Cooperative Extension. ”He has a genuine love of the land and is very proactive. He believes the ranch business needs optimum management with a strong resource base to be successful. The Richards Ranch is a testimony to his stewardship.”

 – TSCRA-27-2005 –