367 acres of 'crucial' land contributed for conservancy in Hill Country

AUSTIN (KXAN)-- A Central Texas not-for-profit announced Thursday it got a 367-acre land donation in Hill Nation to be saved and secured from development.

Scott Shannon of Scott Shannon Ranch donated a conservation easement, roughly the size of Zilker Park, along U.S. Highway 290 between Johnson City and Fredericksburg, which will be completely safeguarded, the Hill Country Conservancy stated.

" This is an important milestone for the Hill Country region, where unincorporated growth is quickly intruding upon open spaces and delicate natural areas," Carolyn Stephens, Marketing & & Outreach Manager for HCC, stated.

Scott Shannon Ranch contains 1.4 miles of Towhead Creek, which drains into Flat Creek nearly a mile above its confluence with the Pedernales River. The City of Austin gets around 23% of its water from the Pedernales River, so the location remains in essential need of conservation, according to the HCC.

The Conservancy also stated the Scott Shannon Ranch includes prime farmland soil, critical for long‐term farming viability for Texas and increasingly unusual within the Edwards Plateau.

The region hosts a number of Species of Greatest Conservation Need. It is within the southern migration path for the rapidly-declining Monarch butterfly-- supplying Monarchs and other pollinators with plentiful milkweed and other nectar plants.

" My hope is that the 2nd phase of our work will start eventually quickly and I'll be offering this residential or commercial property to Hill Country Conservancy when I hand down," said Shannon in the release. "That's my genuine dream for the residential or commercial property to develop a center on the property and use Scott Shannon Ranch as a head office to host Hill Country Conservancy star celebrations and curricula."