Winter 2016

TEXAS LAND / Lifestyle Issue
and it’s hard to convince people we need to conserve—and
consider the future.”
With her eyes firmly on the future, Rhodenbaugh brings her
message of water and land to Texas’ youngest citizens. She
regularly speaks to pre-K, kindergarten and first grade classes
about the importance of conserving natural resources.
“You have to get them early in their lives to help them
understand that conservation is important for all of our lives,”
Rhodenbaugh said.
She chose TALT to hold the easement because “an agfriendly
land trust was the best solution for me.” Her family has
embraced the notion.
“This is not a big project for TALT or big by Texas
standards, but I hope it will be example of what can be done
on smaller acreages,” Rhodenbaugh said. “It doesn’t have to
be 10,000 acres to be important. We’re conserving land—and
it all matters.”
CASE STUDY 3: HERFF FARMS
Throughout history, Cibolo Creek has been an important water
source. The first to name it were the Coahuiltecan Indians, who
dubbed it “Xoloton.” Beginning in 1691, it appears in the records
of Spanish explorers, who called it various things, until 1721 when
Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo identified it as “Arroyo del
Cibolo” or “Río Cibolo.” The name stuck and became a landmark
identifier throughout the region. Many local institutions bear its
name including the Cibolo Nature Center and Farm.
“As a child growing up in the Hill Country, I knew Cibolo
Creek was beautiful, but I didn’t understand it was important,”
said Carolyn Chipman Evans, executive director of the Cibolo
Nature Center and Farm in Boerne.
Cibolo Creek rises 10 miles northwest of Boerne in
southwestern Kendall County and runs southeast for 100 miles,
forming the Bexar-Comal and the Bexar-Guadalupe county lines
and crossing Wilson County, to its mouth on the San Antonio
River, five miles northwest of Karnes City in Karnes County.
“Although it was part of my life, I didn’t understand its
connection to my life until I had the opportunity to learn from
a host of researchers who have come in and out of the Nature
Center through the years,” Evans said.
Cibolo Creek provides critical recharge to the Edwards
and Trinity aquifers; therefore, is responsible, in part, for the
quality and quantity of drinking water for the surrounding region
including San Antonio and Austin.
The realization of Cibolo Creek’s importance to the health
and well-being of the entire region was a major factor that
motivated the Friends of Cibolo Wilderness, Inc. to enact a
conservation easement, held by TALT, on the Herff Farm, a
60-acre farm located in the riparian area of Cibolo and Menger
creeks. The farm, founded in 1854 by Dr. Ferdinand Herff, a
German immigrant physician, is adjacent to the Nature Center. It
is one of the earliest working farms in the region.
“The farm was ripe for development,” Evans said. “We knew
a development would irreparably damage the watershed and
the overall atmosphere of the Nature Center and adjoining
preserve. The staff and board of directors went through hell and
brimstone to raise the money and purchase the property.”
As the board was working to acquire the property, a project
that began in 1999, the population of Boerne exploded,
increasing by 87 percent between 1997 and 2014. The
population growth increased demand on local water supplies
and exacerbated the ongoing land fragmentation.
“Conserving Herff Farm fits into the overall goals of the
Nature Center,” Evans said. “We advocate and we educate.”
With the addition of Herff Farm to the land already
conserved as part of the Nature Center and the Cibolo Preserve,
almost 800 acres in one of the state’s fastest growing areas has
been protected from future development.
“Having raw wild land is not just pretty, but it is critically
important to our survival,” Evans said. “Most people don’t get
the connection between the water and the land. Once you
understand the link, it seems obvious but it’s obscure until
you’re taught. We now have another place to teach.”
The combination of water and knowledge is a gift that will
keep giving for generations.
“Forever protecting this property, its history and its
resources was the most generous gift we could give to the
community and the region,” Evans said.
CASE STUDY 3:
HERFF FARMS
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