Communities from across Texas are represented by members of our volunteer Board of Trustees. In a practical sense, community-based conservation means working in partnership with neighbors, private landowners, businesses and conservation organizations to conserve ecologically significant land in ways that benefit communities. Educational and research opportunities, sharing of information and best practices, and methods of compatible agricultural, industrial and ecotourism development are among the potential benefits of community-based conservation. We make voluntary payments in lieu of taxes on the lands we own to support local communities. The Nature Conservancy of Texas conserves habitat for native wildlife, using science-based research and a cooperative approach to protect the animals and plants that represent Texas' precious natural heritage.
People depend on nature to survive.
Without the medicinal, economic and aesthetic resources provided by wild species and natural ecosystems, our lives are greatly impoverished. The Conservancy works to reduce the spiraling rate of extinction and loss of natural lands so that future generations inherit a world as plentiful and beautiful as the one we inhabit today. Currently, we own 31 nature preserves and manage an additional 34 conservation projects on private lands, protecting more than 180,000 acres of our incredible natural legacy throughout the Lone Star State. With others, we have protected nearly half a million acres across Texas. The Nature Conservancy emerged in 1951 from a professional association of ecologists seeking a way to turn their knowledge of nature into positive action for conservation.