Editor’s note: First of three parts.
Kendall County is reported to be the fifth fastest-growing county in the nation and the third wealthiest by home value in Texas. We find ourselves in a booming land market in which 40 percent of the farms and ranches will change hands in the next 15 years.
For those families thinking about protecting the future of the land they have grown to love, there are options.
We seek to find ways to balance growth and conservation through collaboration and the collective efforts of our community. Without many people working together and doing the hard work, we will not keep pace with the loss of open space, the threats to water resources and other challenges facing our region. While much work is yet to be done, there is also much to celebrate as the Cibolo has become well positioned to meet the demands of conservation in new ways in a new era.
Some generations of us remember being locked outside all summer and not allowed to enter until the streetlights came on. Also, a generation among us still remembers riding horseback along the Cibolo Creek when there was no fence in sight.
These generations want more lands protected so kids can see more trees and fewer screens and families can get their toes in the creek and hands in the dirt. It is with these people we see the generous gifts of land being donated to the Cibolo Center for Conservation to continue a legacy of love of land and nature.
In this three-part series of articles over the next weeks, we are proud to acknowledge the individuals and families who have gifted valuable conserved lands to the Cibolo in recent months and years with deepest appreciation and respect.
As the Cibolo adopts these lands into our collective future, we want to celebrate the generosity and dedication of these people and demonstrate to others how donations of land can genuinely make a difference now and for generations to come. These conserved lands will deepen the Cibolo’s mission and more than triple its footprint in time. These are the people that are helping conservation and a community connect at a time when the Hill Country needs significant action to make a big change.
We are pleased to introduce Tom Frost III and Meaghan Solay.
Tom Frost III might sound like a familiar name. As known to his friends, Tommy bears the name of his father, Tom Frost Jr., a well-known and celebrated civic and business leader of Frost Bank and philanthropist to many nonprofits like the Cibolo.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Tommy looks to make a big difference and carry on a legacy in his own way. As a retired banker, landowner, musician, and songwriter, you see Tommy at home on his ranch, traversing its hills and valleys in his old truck and telling the poetic stories of the water and wildlife that call it home.
Last May, the Cibolo Center for Conservation board of directors made a groundbreaking and unanimous decision to accept a gift of a life estate from Tom Frost III and his wife, Meaghan, Solay for 222-plus acres of their beautiful Hill Country Ranch, including their homestead, casita, and adjacent art and music studio. This is one of the few gifts of the land not in the Cibolo Conservation Corridor, but hopefully won’t be the last.
Tommy started to come to the ranch in Kendall County when he was 10 years old when his grandmother, Ilse Herff Frost, inherited the land from her father, Dr. John Bennett Herff. One of his favorite childhood memories was jumping into the waterhole every month of the year.
With this inspiration, Tommy made such a transformational gift to further Cibolo’s mission to have youth from the San Antonio region be able to learn from and have immersive nature experiences at the Ranch, just as he did.
“With the realization of the predicted growth in Kendall County, it is essential that we can protect what nature can right now,” Tommy said. “I don’t want it ever to become a subdivision. I want the continuity of my Herff land to go on forever.”
Tommy can ensure the permanent conservation of his family’s land and legacy through a conservation easement with the Cibolo Conservancy Land Trust, where he is also a board member.
This gift to the Cibolo inspires other landowners who want to conserve their land and have it protected, managed with love and care and made accessible in unique and special ways that allow joy and learning from the land.
Tommy and Meaghan’s gift is extraordinarily generous and inspirational so future generations will be able to see and know nature as we do today. We are grateful to partner with Tommy and other conservation donors so that the next generation of nature lovers and changemakers will have land left to love and carry forward a wonderful legacy.
This three-part series highlights Cibolo’s recent land gifts from our generous donors. Stay tuned for part two in next week’s edition.
To read the full article, go to www.cibolo.org and visit the “News & Happenings” section. With interest in learning more about supporting or conserving land in the Hill Country please contact me at [email protected] or 830-388-7676.
Comment
Comments