Thursday, October 1, 2026
Despite the development boom of North Texas, the Native Prairies Association of Texas made yet another major leap into protecting Texas’ precarious prairies in Somervell County through Drake Ranch’s recent acquisition of a conservation easement. The association now looks hopefully toward Hood County.
When explorers first arrived in what would one day come to be called Texas, they referred to it as a “sea of grass.” Twenty million acres of prairie once covered the great state; however, now only 1% of this land remains, making it one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems.
This decline has been induced by the development and expansion of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, which is located in the middle of the now-limited Blackland Prairie territory. DFW currently holds the title of the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States, slowly pushing out the prairie with each passing year.
Enter the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT). NPAT was founded in 1985.
In the 40 years since, NPAT has worked tirelessly to preserve Texas’ prairieland through education, restoration and conservation.
Through these initiatives, they have been able to preserve more than 6,000 acres of native prairie land, most of which is in perpetuity through conservation easements.
“Prairies are pretty flat, with a lot fewer shrubs and trees, so it's very easy to develop on,” said Rachel Seets, North Texas conservation manager for NPAT. “We just don't have nearly as much of this land as we used to, and so we are just totally dedicated to protecting and taking care of what’s left, and we do that through something called a conservation easement, a big tool we use toward land preservation.”
Conservation easements are legal agreements between landowners and land trusts which allow the landowner to retain complete ownership of their property, while legally protecting the property from future development, subdivision and other ecologically harmful practices.
While in a conservation easement, landowners are allowed to carry out agricultural business as usual — so long as they stay vigilant to keep development of the land under 1% of its total acreage.
NPAT’s most recent conservation easement was obtained by landowners Margaret and Bob Drake, proud owners of the Drake Ranch, an 83-acre property just 1.5 miles north of downtown Glen Rose.
The acquisition of this conservation easement represents the culmination of 40 years of prairie preservation efforts by the Drakes, who purchased the then-overworked and overgrazed land in 1980, and have worked tirelessly toward its restoration since.
The ranch consists of restored Blackland Prairie, oak-juniper woodland and riparian forest; all of which serve to home some of Texas’ diverse local fauna, including red-bellied woodpeckers, ruby-throated hummingbirds and white-eyed vireos.
A seasonal creek flows through the ranch and into the Paluxy River, a tributary of the Brazos River. The Brazos then feeds the Trinity Aquifer, a major source of drinking water for millions of Texans. This land’s conservation helps to ensure the preservation of Texas’ water sources.
Drake Ranch’s conservation will now be held in perpetuity, ensuring this pocket of north Texas prairie will exist for as long as Texas’ organized government does.
Drake Ranch and other projects are a part of NPAT’s North Texas Prairie Initiative (NTPI), a growing regional effort to protect and restore prairie landscapes across the 33-county area surrounding Dallas–Fort Worth. As development pressure in North Texas accelerates, NPAT is working urgently to conserve what remains of these irreplaceable open spaces before they are lost.
NPAT hopes the example of Drake Ranch encourages other landowners to consider preserving their prairie land through conservation easements as well.
“Our hope is to get as many (conservation easements) as possible, especially with how rapidly the development is coming in Hood County and surrounding areas. The DFW metroplex is just blowing up; it's one of the fastest-growing places in the country. And we're by no means against development — like at all. We just want to protect some of the valuable land before it just is all taken up and subdivided,” Seets said.
For more information on NPAT, conservation easements, volunteering or donating with NPAT, please visit the organization’s website at texasprairie.org.
