2023Lubbock CountyTransforming Marginal Cropland: Habitat Restoration at Ramsey Place
Outside Shallowater in Lubbock County, a local farmer faced a common agricultural challenge: an underperforming 320-acre row-crop field. Working alongside Joshua Michna, Precision Agriculture and Conservation Specialist, the landowner enrolled the acreage into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to transition the marginal land into permanent grass.
Over recent years, this 320-acre footprint has transformed into a thriving habitat hub, particularly around a lake-bottom situated on one side of the property. The restoration has delivered impressive wildlife results:
Mule Deer: Utilizing the cover and food resources established on the site.
Waterfowl: Frequent usage whenever water fills the adjacent lake-bottom.
Northern Bobwhite Quail: Steadily supporting at least one active covey for several consecutive years.
Crucially, removing the field from row-crop production did not mean losing financial productivity. The landowner has strategically grazed the acreage as part of ongoing management while enrolling in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (TPWD VPA HIP) to generate supplemental revenue.
The Ramsey Place project stands as a clear win-win model: proving that agricultural profitability and wildlife conservation can go hand-in-hand. The landowner has already taken key lessons from this successful experience and applied them to future land management efforts across their operations.
Ramsey Place is available to hunters with license and permit from APH. More Information