In 1969, a Texas businessman made an unusual request. He asked a soil conservation agent to help him find the worst ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Not the most beautiful. The worst. Texas Highways magazine reports that he got what he asked for: 3,000 dry, cedar-choked acres, with no grass, no ponds, and no working water wells. Today, that same land is a 5,500-acre nature preserve. It has flowing creeks, spring-fed ponds and lakes, and more than 220 bird species, according to Texas Highways.
A U.S. Geological Survey study of the nearby Guadalupe River watershed shows that clearing thick, invasive cedar can increase the amount of water that reaches nearby streams. Native grass helps too. It allows more rain to penetrate the ground and reach underground aquifers. That finding helps explain how one man restored damaged land.
A fried-chicken fortune looks for a purpose
According to Texas Highways, the man was J. David Bamberger. He started out as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. Then he co-founded Church's Fried Chicken. It’s the first Texas-based fast-food chain to go national, according to the magazine. When the company went public, he became rich almost overnight. But by age 40, money no longer meant much to him. He wanted to do something that would last after he was gone.
