NRI publishes Status Update and Trends of Texas Working Lands 1997-2022
The new Texas Land Trends program report Status Update and Trends of Texas Working Lands 1997–2022 celebrates over two decades of applied research and extension outreach at the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute (NRI). Since its inception, the program is an important resource in understanding the complex landscapes of Texas’ working lands—farms, ranches, and forests increasingly threatened by rapid population growth.
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Farm and ranch lands program safeguards millions in water conservation, flood prevention and ag productivity
NRI released the 2024 evaluation report today for the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program (TFRLCP) publishing key findings to support the program’s efforts to help safeguard the public benefits derived from working lands.
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NRI Scientists Mentor Youth in the Norman Borlaug Youth in Agriculture Program
Because we are uniquely positioned to speak on land trend issues, we seek to share our expertise about critical natural resource issues with all Texans. Most recently, we had the chance to mentor some of our future leaders and on how they can work together to improve Texas lands from their own hometowns.
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Featured Map: Out of this world imagery for natural resources management
What do natural resources professionals have in common with rocket scientists? More than you might think. Spacecraft-based cameras that orbit the globe have been providing images that guide natural resource management for decades.
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Investing in Conservation: Quantifying ecological return on investment
Conserving Texas: Quantifying Ecological Return on Investment was developed to better understand the current benefits and needs for financial investment in our state's natural resources to best support our growing state population, the stewards of the land, our thriving economy, and healthy landscapes.
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San Antonio Rodeo Seminar Recap
Our director, Dr. Roel Lopez, recently had the pleasure of speaking at the Wildlife and Natural Resources Seminar at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.
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Featured Map: What satellites tell us about drought in Texas
Scientists employ various methods, models and data to track weather patterns, including drought – a condition closely monitored by Texans, especially those involved in agriculture and natural resources.
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Featured Map: Cattle trails to Texas highways
Depicting their latest discovery, the Texas Land Trends team developed a new map series featuring the original Texas cattle trails to show how the historical cattle drive routes and supply posts have evolved into major highways and urban centers today.
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TxMAP: A new way to map with conservation data
Creating your individualized, conservation-minded map of Texas just became the bee's knees.
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Featured Map: Land ownership types across the U.S.
Working lands, whether private or publicly owned, provide substantial economic, ecological, and recreational resources across the U.S. Here in Texas, we often boast of being a “private land state”, meaning the majority of the land (~95%) is held in private ownership. Many may wonder how this came to be and if other states fall under similar ownership patterns. For this new Featured Map, we briefly explore the history of land settlement across the nation and demonstrate the unique ownership landscape that exists today.
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Reboot: The Texas Land Trends Data Explorer
Under the Texas Land Trends project, informative reports have been developed over the years to empower public and private decision-makers with the information needed to plan for the conservation of vital working lands. Public usability and access to this report data has been a cornerstone of this long-standing effort, promoting the creation of the Data Explorer tool, which was first launched in 2015.
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Featured Map: Demonstrating the cascade of stewardship
Water is a cornerstone in supporting Texas’ rich array of landscapes, burgeoning populations and prosperous economy. Managing and regulating this valuable resource to ensure long-term, sustainable use is a top priority for state and local planners—however, it quickly becomes a delicate balance with consideration to ecological processes, natural disasters and general land/water ownership rights.
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A new perspective on Texas phenology
In our latest featured map, we took satellite imagery collected throughout 2019 and stitched them together in an animation to illustrate the phenological changes of vegetation across Texas.
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A growing Texas means loss of working lands
From 1997-2017, Texas lost about 2.2 million acres of working lands.
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A Look at Texas Agriculture and the Texas A&M AgriLife Support Network
Texans will agree that you could never experience the full breadth of the state in one lifetime. It’s easy to identify the unique characteristics sprinkled throughout, ranging from the population composition and cultures, the native flora and fauna, and the spectacular river systems like the Red River in the north and the Rio Grande in the south. In true Texas form, you will also find a range of agricultural production strategies varying by regional differences in climate and landscape. At the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, we tell the story of our state’s privately-owned farms, ranches, and forests, otherwise known as working lands, which provide numerous ecological, economic and intrinsic benefits to our communities and beyond.
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Featured Map: Fragmentation Risk Index
How we, as collective stakeholders in the state, balance our needs and the challenges from land-use changes will influence future outcomes for Texas’ open spaces. Where do we start?
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New West Texas Landowner Report serves to conserve the future of west Texas landscapes
Developed in partnership with Texas Agricultural Land Trust and the Borderlands Research Institute with funding by the Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation, the West Texas Landowner Report serves to compile information that can serve to better inform key partners and organizations working to conserve and shape the future of West Texas.
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Some landowners diversify as Texas working land declines
The Big Bend Sentinel — Over a twenty-year period, Texas lost 2.2 million acres of working lands, with 1.2 million of those being converted to non-agricultural use in the last five years alone, according to a new study of Texas land trends from 1997 to 2017 by Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute.
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NRI publishes Status Update and Trends of Texas Working Lands 1997-2017
We are proud to present the long-awaited Texas Land Trends: Status Update and Trends of Texas Working Lands 1997 - 2017 published in December 2019. Texas Land Trends reports have informed private and public landowners and decision-makers for over two decades. With this report, we are able to examine new patterns and identify trends following the release of the Census of Agriculture datasets by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS). These datasets provide key information for complex Texas natural resource challenges through the power of a “good map.” The Texas Land Trends: Status Update and Trends report is the fifth iteration and specifically describes the status and recent changes in land values, ownership size and land use of privately-owned Texas working lands.
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