ARANSAS, Tx — The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is home to many, including the endangered whooping cranes.
"It was a few years after the refuge was first established, they discovered whooping cranes numbers were very low down to 15 birds in 1940,” Refuge Manager Joe Saenz said.
With the refuge protecting the flocks of cranes wintering in the area, they now number in the hundreds.
"This refuge being here is an example of why these refuges are established,” Saenz said.
An example of why they need more land.
Up until now, they couldn't expand wildlife conservation efforts but U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made headway, securing a land protection plan.
"It establishes a land acquisition boundary that does allow us to purchase land. If there are lands available and we have willing sellers and if there's funding available,” Saenz said.
The boundary covers most of the Coastal Bend. A willing property seller within this boundary would be paid at fair market value.
"There's been a couple of properties that we're currently looking at but we're going to evaluate it because not everything within this boundary is usable type of habitat for wildlife,” Saenz said.
There ways other ways the refuge can meet its need for more land.
"A conservation easement does is allows landowner to keep their land, but they agree to keep these area from being development,” Saenz said.
Landowners who want to sell their property to help with conservation efforts can call the refuge at (361) 349-1181.
