by Kay Ledbetter “Saving Family Lands: Challenges and Opportunities for Working Lands in Texas” is the title of the April 4 natural resources webinar hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service ecosystem science and management unit. The webinar is part of the Texas Range Webinar Series scheduled the first Thursday of each month from noon to 1 p.m., said Pete Flores, AgriLife Extension webinar coordinator in Corpus Christi. Ken Cearley, stewardship director for Texas Agricultural Land Trust in Amarillo, will lead the webinar. “Texas is losing rural land at a faster rate than any other state,” Cearley said. “With over 1 million acres of working lands having been lost between 1997 and 2012, many landowners are seeking a means to protect their land from a similar fate. “This presentation will begin with an overview of current land trends in Texas using data compiled by Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute’s Texas Land Trends Study,” he said. “The study suggests using agricultural conservation easements for facilitating permanent protection of working lands and their associated legacies.” Cearley said options associated with conservation easements and the processes involved with their development and implementation will be discussed in detail during the webinar. The webinar is free, and no Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered during this webinar, Flores said. This webinar and others in the series can be accessed at https://naturalresourcewebinars.tamu.edu/. For more information on the webinars, contact Flores at pflores@ag.tamu.edu.
