Saving the Woodpecker: How a Texas Oil Billionaire Rebuilt a Forest
One Texas oil and gas billionaire is getting special recognition for what he has done to help a little bird.
The Sand County Foundation and Texas Parks and WildlifeĀ DepartmentĀ pickedĀ the Cook’s Branch Conservancy for the 2012 Leopold Conservation Award, the state’s highest honor for habitat management and wildlife conservation on private land. The conservancy is part of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation.
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- A Red-cockaded woodpecker, an endangered species, in a forest at the Cook’s Branch Conservancy.
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- ‘It’s a false sense of security if people think it doesn’t matter that one species is disappearing. To me, that tells me the whole system is in trouble” – Sarah Scott Mitchell, granddaughter of George Mitchell
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- The Cook’s Branch Conservancy is located on 5,600 acres in Montgomery County. The land was purchased by Texas oil & gas billionaire George Mitchell in 1964.
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- “We’re now getting close to the condition the settlers found it in. We’re restoring grasses and doing controlled burns.” -Sheridan Mitchell Lorenz, daughter of George Mitchell
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- Naturalists improve breeding of the woodpecker by climbing old pines to build nests and remove predators like squirrels
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- Watching woodpecker return to feed hatchlings
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- Woodpecker nest in old-growth pine
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- Woodpecker hatchling
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- “I can hear the difference. You can hear so many more song birds that I didn’t hear before. We’ve actually doubled our population of (woodpeckers) in 10 years” -Kathy Hutson (center), Conservancy Manager
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- Wildflowers in a restored meadow
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- Flock of Eastern Wild Turkeys on the conservancy, one of many species that benefited from the restoration.
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- Early evening at the conservancy
Watch a video about the restoration.
