Leo Ranch Conservation Easement

Southwestern Cooke County, Texas

Total Acres: 968.78 gross acres on ranch

963.17net acres within conservation easement

Description of Property:

The conservation easement area on the Leo Ranch property is an irregular 963.17-acre parcel approximately 1.5 miles wide (W-E) and approximately 1.6 miles tall (N-S) in southwestern Cooke County, Texas, just north of the Denton and Wise County lines. The northern and northeastern boundary of the Property is along the center line of southeast-trending Clear Creek. The western boundary is along C.R. 398 between Clear Creek and the southwest corner of Property. The southern boundary is primarily along gravel road labeled C.R. 398 and the gated eastern extension along C.R. 378. The eastern boundary is fenced, and has one jog around an outparcel at the southeast corner of Property.

The Conservation Easement area does not includethe two Josey family homesites on the ranch. The area under easement also excludes the small Leo Ranch office building and supporting buildings and several small parcels of land which may be used for the construction of an educational conference center in the future. The Conservation Easement area does include three building envelopes within the boundaries; a 2.62-acre parcel with guest house at the north end of the Property, a 1.10-acre parcel south of the Leo Ranch Office outparcel, and a 0.82-acre building envelope with a large metal storage barn on the west boundary of the Property.

Ecological Description:

The Leo Ranch property has characteristics of three primary ecotomes, resulting in a large diversity of plant communities within the easement boundaries. It is ecologically situated at the boundary of the Grand Prairie (Ecoregion 29d) and the sloping woodlands of the Western Cross Timbers (Ecoregion 29c). The nearly level meadow area on the northern portion of the Property is characteristic of bottomland tallgrass floodplain and riparian ecosystems in North Texas.

The Property is located within the Cooke County Grasslands Conservation Area (Map Area #WT13) as delineated by the Texas Nature Conservancy as an area with conservation concerns. According to their descriptions, the conservation area is thought to support some of the largest remaining examples of little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) -big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) -yellow indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) -prairie bishop (Biflora americana) prairie types. In addition to the prairie occurrences, post oak-blackjack oak-little bluestem woodlands occur on the sandstone country to the west, and chinquapin oak-bur oak slope forests occur on the step limestone topography in the central and eastern portions of the conservation area. Although a substantial portion of the conservation area is in a state of grazing disclimax, it may be feasible to restore many of these lands through judicious grazing and the reintroduction of fire.

Topography and Floodplain:

Topography on the Property is varied. The southern half of the Property lies on a limestone ridge or upland with very gentle convex slopes. Steeper slopes are present on that ridge's north face, which is cut by three ravines or shallow canyons. These canyons empty out onto the broad floodplain of Clear Creek, a small but perennial tributary of Elm Fork of the Trinity River. The floodplain is nearly a mile wide in some places and occupies almost half the ranch. Clear Creek itself is somewhat entrenched in its passage through the ranch, with its sandy-gravelly bed lying five to ten feet below the level of adjacent terraces.

  • Elevation of the Property ranges between a high point of approximately 950 feet msl on the hilltop in the southwestern corner of the Property, to approximately 740 feet above mean sea level (msl) within the stream channel of Clear Creek.
  • The upper pastures on the Property gradually slope towards the three main drainageways, down to an elevation of 880 feet msl. The steep grades on the woodland slopes range from 880 feet msl down to the high terraces at 800 feet msl.
  • The gently sloping terraces below the woodlands range in elevation from about 800 feet msl to 770 feet msl. The nearly level bottomland meadows gently slope to the east and southeast, with a broad, linear depressed area on the central and eastern end of the Property between the riparian levee area of Clear Creek and the woodland slopes.
  • Three natural tributaries drain northeastward through the woodland slopes and then drain southeastward down the bottomland meadows into Clear Creek. The lower meadow area on the Property is mapped by FEMA as being within the 100-Year floodplain zone of Clear Creek. Clear Creek is one of the feeder streams at the northern end of LakeLewisville

Purposes of the Conservation Easement:

  • Protect the Property’s ecological and open-space values;
  • Protect the Property's agricultural productive capacity and assure its continuing availability for agricultural use;
  • Protect the Property’s relatively high quality habitat for native plants and animals; and
  • Maintain and enhance the natural features of the Property.

Critical Elements of the Conservation Easement:

  • Property will be perpetually preserved in its predominately agricultural and open space condition including the Property’s predominantly grassland and sloped woodland habitats;
  • Industrial and commercial activities are prohibited on the Property (except those commercial activities associated with accepted agricultural activities); and
  • Continuation of compatible land uses (especially agricultural operations) upon the Property as they have been historically conducted in harmony with the Property’s ecological and open-space values.

Historic Ownership and Land Uses:

According to a Title Report prepared for the Property in 2007, Mr. Clint W. Josey began acquiring several contiguous parcels of land situated in Cooke County, Texas in 1974. Mr. Josey and his wife Betty Smith Josey conveyed the Property to the Estate of Roger M. Dixon on June 1, 2005 by Special Warranty Deed,as recorded in Volume 1373, page 714 of Cooke County, Texas records. Subsequently, the Estate of Roger M. Dixon conveyed the Property to the Dixon Water Foundation by Special Warranty Deed on March 1, 2006 as recorded in Volume 1418, page 578 of Cooke County, Texas records. Historically, the Property has been in agricultural grazing use. The pastures and meadows have not been tilled, but the L-shaped area of fields near the southwestern portion of the Property show evidence of terracing.

Current Land Uses:

Agricultural, principally as pasture and rangeland for cattle and sheep. Ranching operations at Leo Ranch are organically certified.

General Description of Habitat:

There are five general types of habitat on the Property: (1) grasslands (upper prairie and lower meadows); (2) savannahs (hardwood tree and shrub mottes and isolated trees in grasslands; (3) woodlands on steep limestone to sandstone slopes (4) aquatic ponds and wetland marshes (i.e., ten stock ponds and shallow wetland swales) (5) Streams (natural wooded drainageways, and Clear Creek riparian corridor). All of the habitats are somewhat impacted by human activity and livestock grazing. The grasslands, woodlands, savannahs and aquatic habitats are relatively natural except for the ten man-made ponded impoundments.

NOTE: Only minoroccurrences of larger wildlife were observed during the Texas Nature Conservancy site visits in October 2005 and the visits by Connemara Conservancy in 2009. Since the property has only been used for ranching operations, cattle and sheep were commonly seen in the fields.

Scenic Values:

While not a Purpose of this Conservation Easement or specifically designated as a “scenic vista” by CookeCounty, the views of wooded ramparts across Leo Ranch from both the upper pastures and lower meadows, and the landscape views of the Clear Creek corridor from Leo Ranch illustrate unique or relatively natural landscape features characteristic of north central Texas.

Threats:

SouthwesternCookeCounty is experiencing some increased pressure of urban growth and expansion common to the bedroom communities of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Increased growth is, at least in part, within the rural portions of the county. While many ranch holdings are currently in the thousands of acres, the trend is toward ranchette development. Subdivision of larger tracts and development comprise the primary threats to open space lands in this area.

Properties in the area of Leo Ranch have energy-related development due to the underlying Barnett Shale natural gas trend. Many of the gas drilling companies are placing one well per 20 acres; the limit placed by the State of Texas for gas field development. Besides disturbances for the construction of gas well pads, drill pits and access roadways, the infrastructure of connector lines and transmission lines require linear disturbance corridors. Areas north of the town of Muenster have shown strong potential for wind power generation, as evidenced by numerous wind turbines in the Wolf Ridge Wind Farm on the higher ridges. Wind farms have not yet been observed in the vicinity of Leo Ranch. These wind farms require both pad site disturbances and an infrastructure of power stations and transmission lines.

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