Texas Environmental Grantmakers Group
Spring Meeting - May 9, 2014
“Building Capacity to Advance Land and
Water Conservation in Texas”
Shield Ranch, Austin, TX
Present: Patricia Ayres, Shield-Ayres Foundation; Robert Ayres, Shield-Ayres
Foundation; Robert Ayres, Shield-Ayres Foundation; Vera Ayres Bowen, Shield-Ayres
Foundation; Judy Boyce, Hershey Foundation; Laura Byrne, Dehan Family Foundation;
Claire Caudill, Peterson Charitable Trust; Adrienne Clay, Philanthropy Southwest;
Colleen Claybourn, Trull Foundation; Ernest Cook, Knobloch Family Foundation;
Lucille DiDomenico, Philanthropy Southwest; Paula DiFonzo, New Braunfels Utilities;
Sara Dodd, Dehan Family Foundation; Elizabeth Domenech, Shield-Ayres Foundation;
Anne Donovan, Peterson Charitable Trust; Ann Edwards, Hollomon Price Foundation;
Jim Harrell, Laredo Area Community Foundation; Suzanne Kho, EarthShare of Texas,
Brit King; New Braunfels Area Community Foundation; Elizabeth Love, Houston
Endowment; Mike McCoy, Meadows Foundation; Shannon Meyer, Land Trust Alliance;
Christy Muse, Hill Country Alliance; Lori Olson, Texas Land Trust Council; Gail Purvis,
Trull Foundation; Ellen Ray, Still Water Foundation; Pamela Reese, Reese Foundation;
Caroline Sabin, Powell Foundation; Andrew Sansom, Hershey Foundation; Terri
Siegenthaler, Shield Ranch; Scott Trull, Trull Foundation; Bob Warneke, Damuth
Foundation
Speaker Presentations:
Bob Ayres, secretary of the Shield-Ayres Foundation welcomed the group to the
Shield Ranch. He introduced the family members present and thanked Caroline Sabin and
Elizabeth Love for keeping the group organized. He provided a brief history of the ranch:
The ranch is on 6800 acres in the Barton Creek watershed. He introduced the ranch’s
conservation manager, Terri Siegenthaler. The Shield Ranch has been very involved with
conservation management and has worked with the Texas Nature Conservancy and the
city of Austin to create conservation easements on the Ranch. He introduced the
presenters: Christy Muse, the founder of Hill Country Alliance (HCA), who has been a
coalition builder of people who care about the Hill Country. Lori Olson joined the Texas
Land Trust Council (TLTC) in 2011 as executive director and is an educator, advocate,
coach and mentor, encouraging other land trusts. Shannon Meyer is the western
conservation manager for the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) located in Carbondale,
Colorado which covers a seven-state region which includes: Arizona, California,
Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah.
Christy Muse, executive director for the Hill Country Alliance, spoke about
several critical issues facing HCA. The hill country is irreplaceable. People value it for
different reasons, some because they have a history there and see it as their heritage,
others because they see it as a sacred and spiritual place, others as a commodity. It’s a
land of grottos, wildflowers, Cypress trees, wild open spaces with recreational
opportunities, amazing towns and places to slow down.
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HCA was formed in response to the escalating challenges brought to the Texas
Hill Country by rapid development occurring in a sensitive eco-system. HCA covers a
17-county region representing 11 million acres. Based on a Texas Water Development
Board report, the Hill Country is projected to add another 2 million people over the next
four decades tripling its population by 2050. Streams would be destroyed by urban runoff
acres would be lost to development, vistas would be lost. Hurdles: vast majority of land is
outside of a city or town and counties do not have tools necessary to create a
development plan to protect the land.
HCA’s mission is to bring together an ever-expanding alliance of groups
throughout a multi-county region of Central Texas with the long-term objective of
preserving open spaces, water supply, water quality and the unique character of the Texas
Hill Country. Issues HCA is focused on include water resource planning, ranchland
conservation, conservation development, rainwater harvesting, Hill Country roadways,
scenic beauty, groundwater, conservation easements, night skies, county authority,
sustainable development, wildflowers, native landscape and wildlife and springs, creeks,
lakes and rivers. See full presentation here.
Lori Olson, executive director, Texas Land Trust Council (TLTC) presented
“Land Trusts & Conservation.”
Texas is changing fast, losing open space at a rate twice that of the national
average: roughly 150,000 acres per year to development and land conversion. Between
1997 and 2007, 1.5 million acres of open space have been lost. Private land conservation
is particularly important in Texas because 90% of the land in Texas is privately owned.
Conservation easements on private lands provide important public benefits at very little
cost, are landowner friendly and offer financial or tax incentives.
Land trusts are local, state or regional nonprofits which protect land for its
natural, recreational, scenic, historic or productive value. Land trusts work with
landowners and communities to preserve land via accepting donations or purchasing
lands or creating voluntary conservation agreements. They steward the conserved lands in
perpetuity.
The mission of TLTC is to encourage excellence in the Texas land trust
community through collaboration, education and outreach. Its goal is to advance and
support the Texas land trust community, so they are prepared to deliver on the promise of
conservation in perpetuity. The TLTC accomplishes its mission and goal through learning
and training opportunities, technical assistance, advocacy and outreach and coalition
building. See full presentation here.
Shannon Meyer has worked for the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) for three years,
formerly with a regional land trust. The LTA is a national coalition. There are currently
over 1,700 land trusts in the U.S preserving more than 47 million acres across the
country. In the United States, 5,000 acres a day are being converted to development, the
population will increase by 100 million in 40 years, with developed land tripling by 2050.
The west has 90% of the 10 fastest growing states and 9 of the 20 fastest growing cities.
The LTA’s strategic priorities are to increase the pace of land conservation,
improve the quality by encouraging excellence in standards and practices of the regional
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land trusts and ensuring the permanence through legal and economic support of existing
land trusts. View full presentation here.
Brit King, president and CEO of New Braunfels Area Community Foundation
introduced Paula DiFonzo, CEO of New Braunfels Utilities (NBU), who informed the
group about the Klingemann Project over lunch.
The Klingemann property consists of approximately 13 acres in the heart of New
Braunfels. It contains the headwaters of the Comal Springs, the original water source for
the community, and a unique riparian habitat. The site was used by New Braunfels
Utilities (NBU) as a warehouse, fleet and facilities yard, office and inventory storage
from 1940 until 2004. Due to regular flooding the NBU decided to rethink the property
use. With a longstanding commitment to the environment and to the community, NBU
decided to restore and develop the site into a multi-use facility. The project involves
ecological restoration which would protect the spring and its inhabitants and restore the
site’s natural environment. The project will incorporate LEED and Low Impact Design
principles and will serve as a community resource incorporating numerous educational
features. View full details here.
TxEGG Member Updates:
Laura Byrne conveyed that the Dehan Family Foundation’s primary focus is
humanitarian interests. However, both she and her sister Sara Dodd attended the meeting
because of their family-owned ranch, hoping for pointers on how they might encourage
better management of their lands.
Jim Harrell with the Laredo Area Community Foundation shared The
Cattleman magazine which is published in Fort Worth as a possible resource for
contacting land owners in Texas who might be interested in conservation issues. He
suggested that Brit and Paula contact community foundations regarding the Klingemann
project.
Ann Edwards informed the group that the Hollomon Price Foundation funds
globally regarding issues affecting animal and native habitat.
Bob Warneke is president of the Damuth Foundation which exclusively grants
toward conservation protection and management of habitat. The Damuth Foundation has
provided support to the American Bird Conservancy, the Texas Land Conservancy, the
Nature Conservancy in Oregon and most recently assisted the Nature Conservancy with a
land easement around Sawtooth Mountain in the Davis Range in west Texas.
Mike McCoy reported that recent support from the Meadows Foundation
included a grant to the Conservation Fund toward acquiring and preserving a 6,700 acre
tract of land within the newly designated Neches River National Wildlife Refuge. The
Foundation also made grants to the Galveston Historical Foundation to acquire and
renovate an historic building to serve as a center for environmental sustainability in
historic preservation, to the Habitat Thrift Store, and the National Audubon.
Pam Reese stated that the Reese Foundation’s funding focus is three fold:
education, visual arts and the environment. The Foundation has made recent
environmental grants to the HCA, Texas Land Conservancy, National Wildlife
Federation, Nature Conservancy and Westcave Preserve.
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Bob Ayres shared that the Shield-Ayres Foundation funds in the areas of land
and water conservation as well as environmental education. Elizabeth Domenech
announced that the Shield-Ayres Foundation has an 11-member board (including junior
trustees), 9 of whom are now in Austin, with 3 generations of the family represented, the
youngest being 18. Therefore the Foundation has capitalized on this opportunity to spend
the past 8 months involved in developing a strategic plan. The plan seeks to refine the
Foundation’s mission and vision to capture the founding legacy, revisiting the
grantmaking strategy and simplifying operations. The board is working with The
Philanthropic Initiative from Boston.
Ernest Cook with the Knobloch Family Foundation offered that the Foundation
gives nationally, as well as in Texas, Wyoming and Georgia. An area of focus for the
Foundation is the conservation of natural ecosystems. The Foundation recently gave
$25,000 to the Artist Boat project in Galveston, the mission of which is promoting
awareness and preservation of coastal margins and the marine environment through the
disciplines of the sciences and the arts. They’ve assisted with the funding for the Houston
Bayou Greenway Initiative. In January 2014, with a $500,000 grant, the Foundation
helped launch the Gulf Coast Land Conservation Project Assistance Fund in partnership
with the Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation (PGCLC) and Galveston Bay
Foundation. The Foundation is assisting with the development of a Deep Water Horizon
settlement database to promote accountability. Ernest stated that he is looking to the
group to assist with the development of the database.
Colleen Claybourn and Gail Purvis reported that the Trull Foundation
had granted approximately $250,000 in environmental grants in 2013, which
encompassed 33 grants, mostly in Texas. Colleen recently participated in the
Smithsonian’s Trull Foundation funded bird-banding project on Mad Island. The project
is a collaborative effort with the Smithsonian, the Nature Conservancy and the Gulf Coast
Bird Observatory. The Foundation also made grants to Texas Rice Industry Coalition for
the Environment (R.I.C.E.), the Lone Star Coastal Recreation Center, Pines and Prairies
Land Trust, the Texas Land Conservancy, a conservation fund for Cade Ranch, Ducks
Unlimited, and the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge.
Caroline Sabin shared that the Powell Foundation primarily funds in the area of
public education, however in 2013 the Foundation made between 15 to 20 grants for
environmental education and conservation projects: the Buffalo Bayou Partnership which
will restore the bayou to its natural meander, remove invasive species, and add hike &
bike trails; student education through Bamberger Preserve as well as grants to Houston
Audubon, Nature Discovery Center, and The Woods Project – an Outward Bound-like
leadership program for inner-city youth.
Elizabeth Love informed the group that Houston Endowment has spent the last
six months reviewing is environmental grantmaking strategy and determined that it will
focus in four areas: – air quality; sustaining lands – including parks and natural
landscapes; water quality, supply and flood mitigation and sustainable urban
development. Recent grants have include one to LTA to evaluate its program; to SPARK
– which converts playgrounds to public parks; Artist Boat; Blueprint Houston for general
planning; RICE University’s SSPEED Center which focuses on flood mitigation and to
research on predictors of when acute asthma will occur.
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Claire Caudill reported that the Peterson Charitable Trust had made
contributions to both the Houston and Travis Audubons, to conservation organizations in
Colorado, student conservation education in Houston, and for youth in underserved
communities.
Andy Sansom shared that the Hershey Foundation made a large early gift to
save the Deer Park Prairie. Four million dollars was raised in six weeks to save a pristine
50-acre platinum-quality example of coastal prairie. The land will be purchased by Bayou
Land Conservancy then donated to Native Prairies of Texas. A conservation easement
will prevent the land from being developed. The Trust has also made gifts to the Houston
and Texas Audubon. The Hershey Foundation also recently created an award for women
and the environment. The Foundation, now in its third generation, is also involved in
succession planning.
TxEGG Leadership and Structure
TxEGG has now existed for a few decades. When the two founding members
departed, Elizabeth Love and Caroline Sabin assumed a leadership role. Philanthropy
Southwest is now managing event announcements and registrations as well as preparing
and distributing meeting minutes. Suzanne Kho at EarthShare serves as TxEGG’s
treasurer and manages its revenue and expenses.
Elizabeth needs to reduce her time with TxEGG due to new commitments in her
local area. Caroline called for volunteers who might take on the group’s leadership.
Lucille DiDomenico suggested forming a leadership committee, consisting of existing
leadership mentoring the new. Under this proposed scenario, Caroline agreed to serve for
another year. New volunteers for the committee were Claire Caudill, Elizabeth
Domenech, Bob Ayres and Mike McCoy.
The group thanked Philanthropy Southwest for its past year’s meeting
coordination and enthusiastically supported the continuation of the arrangement for
another year.
2014 Philanthropy Southwest Annual Conference Session
One of the agreements between Philanthropy Southwest and TxEGG is for
TxEGG members to develop one session each year for the annual conference. To that
end, Mike McCoy is serving on Philanthropy Southwest’s Annual Conference Program
Committee. He worked with Andy Sansom to determine the session’s topic which will be
water – the #1 issue in Texas and the southwest, and for the health of the region. The
session will be divided into three sections: 1) climate forecast, 2) water policy overview
by region and 3) conservation. Presenters will include John Leslie Gammon, Texas’
climatologist; Mary Kelley, a water policy analyst, and Doug Bennett who overseas the
Southern Nevada Municipal water district. It has been emphasized that each presenter
will specifically address the question “What can philanthropy do?” The session will take
place on November 6 at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Chandler,
Arizona.
2015 Philanthropy Southwest Annual Conference Session Planning
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The 2015 Philanthropy Southwest Annual Conference will be held October 22 –
24 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Due to the location, a proposed session topic was art and
the environment. Andy offered to take the lead in developing the session.
Fall Meeting
In 2012, the group decided to meet twice instead of three times yearly, with one
meeting taking place in central Texas, due to ease of access for most members. The next
meeting will be scheduled in the fall, possibly in early November at a time which does
not conflict with Philanthropy Southwest’s 2014 annual conference. Past meetings have
taken place in Houston, Palacios, Galveston as well as others. Suzanne Kho suggested the
topic of health of the gulf. Gail, Colleen and Ernest agreed to help put together the
presentation, possibly focusing on the Deepwater Horizon Recovery Issue as well as
funding in that area. Bob Warneke will speak with Ross Moody to see if the Moody
Foundation would host. Alternative host options: Ernest would ask the Kempner Fund, or
Lucille would approach Vivian Pinard at the Moody Memorial FUMC Permanent
Endowment Fund.
Financial Report
Suzanne Kho presented the financial report. Currently, TxEGG has $6,117.19 in
the bank. Caroline mentioned that with the speaker and meetings expenses to be paid for
this May funds will be greatly reduced and that it is time for a renewal of financial
support. Claire asked if membership was required, the response to which was it is not, but
that support is encouraged at whatever level the foundations feel comfortable giving.
The meeting adjourned at 1:56 pm.
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