In an effort to keep the land around Camp Bullis undeveloped and to protect the 27,000-acre military training area from Texas’ rapid urban growth, the U.S. government has allotted $1.9 million in funds toward a new specialized conservation easement and is now seeking landowners who qualify to participate in it.
Late last month, the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance announced that the Camp Bullis Regional Conservation Partnership Program is seeking voluntary landowners “who are interested in permanently protecting their natural resources and agricultural lands from development” with a new tailored conservation easement. A conservation easement is a legal agreement that permanently limits certain uses of land to protect it.
The property must be within Camp Bullis’ “sentinel landscape” to qualify. Land surrounding Camp Bullis was designated as sentinel landscape in 2022 and includes Bexar, Medina, Bandera, Kendall and Comal counties.
Sentinel landscapes are designated areas that focus on protecting and conserving natural resources while also ensuring that military training and operations can proceed without disruption.
The Camp Bullis Regional Conservation Partnership Program consists of nearly 40 organizations, including the Hill Country Alliance, Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, and the U.S. Department of Defense, said Annalisa Peace, executive director of GEAA. The funding for these easements comes from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Landowners who are interested in participating in the program can apply by filling out an online form here. Applications close on Nov. 11. Priority will be based on proximity to Camp Bullis, developmental threat, connectivity to other conserved lands, and ecologically important elements like waterways, according to the application.
The provided funding will go towards paying for the costs associated with establishing a conservation easement, which can include legal fees, appraisal costs, baseline documentation and ongoing monitoring.
Landowners who enter into a conservation easement under this program will be eligible to receive tax incentives, noted Brittany Wegner, a program manager and instructor at the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute.
“Now the [Regional Conservation Partnership Program] is essentially a funding mechanism to provide that opportunity and to pay for it for these landowners who are around the military installations,” Wegner told the San Antonio Report. “This is the first sentinel landscape in the state of Texas, so this is really exciting.”
Peace added she’s very excited about this new funding since the only other place local landowners can currently receive funding to get a conservation easement comes from the city’s extremely limited Edwards Aquifer Protection Program.
“We’re really happy about this grant,” Peace told the San Antonio Report. “This money from the feds is really welcome.”
