Throckmorton, Texas (February 5, 2026) — Nantz Land & Cattle, owned and operated by Robert and Stacy Nantz within the Rolling Plains area of the Texas Panhandle, is the latest ranch to earn the Nationwide Audubon Society’s Chicken-Pleasant Land Certification. Obtained by way of Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program, the certification acknowledges lands managed for birds and biodiversity.
Audubon Conservation Ranching is a conservation, certification, and science program rolled into one which lends hope to struggling grassland chicken populations. Since 1970, grassland birds have skilled the steepest inhabitants drop – 43% in response to the latest State of the Birds Report – in any terrestrial biome. The first culprits behind these losses in Texas and nationwide embrace habitat loss and degradation, tree and shrub encroachment, and pesticide purposes—all challenges addressed by this system’s collaborative method to help land administration that enhances biodiversity and productiveness.
For greater than 15 years, the Nantz household confronted the challenges of typical ranching. In 2023, they turned to regenerative practices, remodeling not solely their cattle and land, but in addition their outlook. As we speak, Robert and Stacy steward 18,820 acres in Throckmorton County. The land is definitely owned by Travis County (Austin space in central Texas), a part of Texas’s “college lands,” a state lands mannequin designed to handle land and bolster training funding. Whereas administration from the Nantzes advantages the native ecosystem, income from the ranch advantages the Travis County Everlasting Faculty Fund. “Travis County is an distinctive landowner that has been supportive and deeply dedicated to good land stewardship,” says Stacy. “They share our environmental values and have been extremely supportive of our regenerative administration method, sharing in our pleasure in our Audubon certification.” Collectively, the ranch stands as a mannequin for a way working lands can work for each individuals and wildlife, notably birds.”
“Regenerative ranching has modified every thing for us – our cattle, our soil, our backside line, and most significantly, our mindset,” says Stacy. “Incomes the Audubon certification is the following step in our journey, affirming that what’s good for birds and biodiversity can also be good for ranchers.”
To earn the certification, the Nantzes meet rigorous requirements for habitat administration, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare, all of that are verified by a third-party audit. As soon as licensed, ranchers and related manufacturers use the Audubon Licensed Chicken-Pleasant seal on beef and bison product packaging, signaling to customers a brand new solution to help on-the-ground conservation efforts.
On the coronary heart of their method is utilizing cattle as a habitat administration software. By consolidating their herd and shifting cattle incessantly, Nantz Land & Cattle provides pastures lengthy durations of relaxation – generally 300 days or extra – earlier than they’re grazed once more. This technique creates a mosaic of grassland construction throughout the ranch: patches of quick grass, taller cowl, and various forbs. That range offers nesting and foraging alternatives for precedence grassland birds such because the Grasshopper Sparrow, Cassin’s Sparrow, Lark Bunting, Japanese Meadowlark, Northern Bobwhite, and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
Along with adaptive grazing, the ranch is tackling invasive mesquite and prickly pear, implementing prescribed hearth, and following a drought administration plan – all guided by a grasp Audubon Habitat Administration Plan. Collectively, these practices are restoring the Rolling Plains grassland and bettering each ecological and financial resilience.
“This certification acknowledges the Nantz household’s dedication to stewardship,” mentioned Anita Gilson, Senior Non-public Lands Coordinator with Audubon Texas. “By utilizing cattle to imitate pure disturbance and create a patchwork of habitat, they’re displaying how ranching is usually a highly effective software for conservation.”
Nantz Land & Cattle joins a rising motion of ranches throughout the nation working to revive America’s grasslands by way of bird-friendly practices. Twenty ranches in Texas are Audubon Licensed Chicken-Pleasant, and practically 150 ranches throughout the Southern Plains, Nice Plains, Higher Midwest, and the western U.S. are working beneath the certification, a collective bringing greater than 4 million acres beneath bird-friendly administration.
Funding for the Audubon Conservation Ranching program in Texas is supplied by the Dixon Water Basis, the Nationwide Fish and Water Basis, and the USDA Pure Assets Conservation Service.
For extra details about the Audubon Conservation Ranching program in Texas, please get in contact with Anita Gilson. For extra details about Audubon Conservation Ranching nationally, please contact ConservationRanching@Audubon.org.
About Audubon Conservation Ranching
Audubon Conservation Ranching companions with ranchers to maintain wholesome grasslands, ample birdlife, and resilient rural communities. By our bird-friendly land certification and science-based method, we empower land stewards to boost habitat, enhance soil well being and water high quality, and strengthen the connection between conservation and ranching. By buying merchandise from Audubon Licensed Chicken-Pleasant Land, customers grow to be conservationists, serving to shield America’s grasslands and the birds, wildlife, and those who rely on them. For extra info, go to www.audubon.org/ranching.
