The Connemara Conservancy will provide protection for 550 acres of the Rockin’ K Ranch in Corsicana thanks to a recently signed conservation easement.

The easement will protect a portion of a large family cattle ranch in perpetuity. The land within the easement will also serve as a mitigation bank, protecting the flood plain of the Chambers Creek, which has been determined to be impaired by the state environmental protection agency.

"This area has potential to serve as an environmental training venue for wetlands education, waterfowl habitat and water quality work on polluted streams,” said Ray J. Kane, whose family owns the Rockin’ K Ranch.

“We will be able to enhance water quality entering the water way by using restored tributaries and wetlands,” added Connemara Conservation Director R.J. Taylor.

The signing of the easement increases the amount of land protected by the Connemara Conservancy to more than 6,000 acres. The North Texas land trust has more than doubled the amount of land under its protection in the past five years.

“The explosive growth of development has dramatically increased the interest in land conservation,” Taylor said. “Almost daily we are contacted by landowners, local governments and even forward-thinking developers about ways to protect important remaining parts of our landscape.”

For more than three decades, the Connemara Conservancy has been at the forefront of land conservation and environmental education in North Texas.

Connemara Conservancy works closely with farmers, ranchers and other landowners as well as city officials and developers to improve the quality of life in North Texas.  This is done by helping protect and preserve our most important assets – land and water. Connemara currently protects more than 6,000 acres as both fee land holdings and under conservation easements with conservation-minded landowners. In addition, thousands of students, families and organizations participate in the Conservancy’s environmental education programs each year.