The King Ranch has been selected as the corporate winner of the Texas Lone Star Land Steward program winner. Aldo Leopold in 1947 said, “King Ranch does one of the best jobs of wildlife restoration on the continent, and has unparalleled opportunities for both management and research.” Val Lehmann, King Ranch’s first staff wildlife biologist, added “Wild game has perhaps received more attention on the King Ranch than on any other private ownership in North America.”
Wildlife habitat management practices on King Ranch date back to the early 1900’s when brush shelters were first constructed for bobwhite quail.
Wildlife habitat improvements pioneered by King Ranch include: (1) the installation of windmills at two-mile intervals across all four ranch divisions; (2) the creation of earthen tanks at windmill sites, many of which were fenced to exclude cattle, to provide overflow water to wildlife; (3) half-cutting shrubs to provide shelter for quail; (4) construction of “living fences” of prickly pear cactus in open areas to increase wildlife security cover; and (5) strip disking to cause soil disturbance thereby promoting early successional plant species important for a variety of wildlife.