In 1965, two Texas ranch families helped preserve 3,500 prairie acres for a vanishing bird; the effort grew into a refuge protecting more than 11,000 acres

In 1965, two ranching families in Colorado County, Texas, agreed to sell 3,500 acres of their own land for roughly half of what it was worth, then donated the remaining value outright, all so a vanishing grassland could help the bird survive. That act of generosity helped create the foundation of today’s Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge , which now protects more than 11,000 acres of habitat. The ground-dwelling grouse was once so common across the Gulf Coast that its booming spring courtship calls could reportedly be heard for miles.

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