County celebrates ‘Brent Evans Day’ for Cibolo Nature Center founder

AT THE TRAIL

BRI CORPUS

Kendall County Commissioners issued and signed a proclamation Dec. 27 declaring the day as “Brent Evans Day.”

Evans retired Nov. 5, 2023, as executive director of the Cibolo Conservancy Land Trust, capping a 50-year career of service to our community.

As a professional mental health counselor, Evans’ experience with youth guidance includes inner-city San Antonio, private practice in Boerne, and 20 years as a consultant for Boerne ISD’s alternative school, leading to the development of the juvenile probation department for Kendall County in 1983.

Evans and his wife, Carolyn Chipman Evans, founded the Cibolo Nature Center in 1988, transforming a disused tract of city land into an internationally acclaimed center of conservation.

Evans expanded his work through developing a horticultural therapy program for nursing homes and an environmental service program for adolescents.

He became executive director of the Cibolo Conservancy Land Trust in 2000, helping landowners with conservation easements to preserve 14,000 acres of Hill Country land in seven counties.

He received the Texas Environmental Excellence Award for organizing Kendall County’s first bond to establish three county parks and the county parks department. He authored “Images of America-Boerne” and a soon to be released book, “Replenishing Our Hills, Conservation in the Texas Hill Country.”

Despite his retirement, Evans continues to devote time and attention to educating young people and is the creator of “Green-Man,” a character he portrayed for school field trips at the Cibolo Nature Center.

County commissioners signed the Dec. 27 proclamation, declaring Brent Evans Day “in gratitude for exemplary service to community and protection of the Texas Hill Country.”

Evans originally started visiting the Hill Country when he was Cpt. Evans in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps at Fort Sam Houston. Later he started bringing inner city youth to the country to “do environmental service projects and then goof off,” he quipped.

He met his future wife, Carolyn Chipman, in 1976; they instantly shared a passion for each other and the natural world. They raised two children, Jonah and Laurel, on the Herff family ranch, and frequented the Cibolo Creek in City Park and the Guadalupe River.

Carolyn Evans continues to lead the Cibolo Center for Conservation, while Brent just does whatever the heck he wants to.