The goals for Spade Ranch are to enhance biological diversity and ecological health while ensuring agricultural productivity and profitability. NBW, in collaboration with scientists from Texas A&M, conducted a comprehensive ecological assessment on the 7,000-acre property that will inform future design projects as well as land management and intervention strategies in support of biological diversity and agricultural production.
Surveys were coordinated and conducted over multiple seasons to document temporal changes in biological community structure, such as seasonal bird migrations and fluctuations in flora and fauna emergence. The surveys focused on vascular plants, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, and fish, with a special concentration on invasive flora and fauna. Surveys were augmented with water and soil sampling to better understand the context of environmental conditions under which biological patterns were observed. During this survey several conservation significant species were also observed and several habitat restoration and management opportunities were identified for the benefit of many regionally significant plants and animals. Strategies were identified and organized around maintaining relatively high-functioning ecological areas; restoring ecologies to significantly increase the biological diversity of the landscape; and exploring opportunities to increase beneficial interactions between the ecological and agriculturally productive systems. The Ecological Assessment outlines potential projects that build on the findings within land management and agricultural practices at Spade Ranch.
