| District conservationist, Randy Ward (left, kneeling) takes a look at fresh grass with ranchers David Hardison (center) and Allan Hardison. |
Aug. 14, 2006
LLANO COUNTY — In 1874, eight cowboys defeated a band of raiding Apaches in the foothills of Packsaddle Mountain and paved the way for Llano County settlers. Since then, the Ligon family ranch has worked the land where that battle was fought.
The family’s roots run deep, indeed, in the sandy soil at the base of the mountain. Today, family member David Hardison and his son Allan run a herd of black cattle on the ranch. They bale their own hay, and use it to supplement the rangeland grazing. They manage the land in a way that benefits wildlife as well.
Over the past nine months, the Hardisons have embarked on a ranch restoration project that included selective brush control and range reseeding under the LCRA Creekside Conservation (319 grant) Program.
Much of the ranch had become overgrown with mesquite, prickly pear and ashe juniper, also called cedar. “The land was just solid with brush,” said Allan Hardison. “It was overgrown and in a big mess.”
“The brush had grown so thick that a deer or cow could barely get through it,” David Hardison added.
The dense brush thicket prevented native plants and trees from growing. With a lack of vegetation to hold topsoil together, rainwater runoff eroded the loose earth and carried some of it into waterways feeding the Colorado River.
This prompted the Hardisons to join with the Llano County Soil and Water Conservation District and LCRA in the Creekside program, a 15-year-old effort to help farmers and ranchers in Central Texas reduce soil erosion and keep topsoil from washing into the waterways.
The program recently received a boost when the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided a $500,000 grant to augment the effort in the Highland Lakes region. Under the grant program, landowners may be eligible to receive up to a 50 percent reimbursement for conservation practices like selective brush control, cross fencing and range reseeding.
“This program shows what can be done when we all work together in the interest of land stewardship,” said Randy Ward, district conservationist with the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service in Llano.
At the Ligon ranch, Eugene Bible, a Burnet County contractor and his crew selectively removed 123 acres of cedar and mesquite and stacked it into piles. They left behind brush strips that Bobby Humphrey, LCRA Creekside Conservation coordinator likes to call “wildlife corridors.” The corridors give deer, turkey and quail easy access to grazing areas and brushy hide outs. The Hardisons reseeded the cleared land with native Klein grass, Wilman lovegrass and Old World bluestem, which will stabilize the soil.
“Native Americans taught us that fire can be an excellent tool for range management,” Allan Hardison said. Prescribed burning and rotational grazing will not only allow livestock to better utilize the forage on the ranch, but will enhance wildlife habitat as well.
“We want to be good stewards of the land, and pass this tradition on to the next generation,” David Hardison added.
For more information on the LCRA’s Creekside Conservation Program, contact Bobby Humphrey, conservation specialist, LCRA Conservation Services, at 1-800-776-5272, Ext. 7155. |
Editor's note: This is one of a series on landowners who are tapping an LCRA program to implement best management land conservation practices. 
