The
2014 Powderhorn Ranch purchase was a joint effort by the TPWD, the Texas Parks
& Wildlife Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The
Conservation Fund, and the Nature Conservancy of Texas. The Nature Conservancy
will hold a permanent conservation easement on the property, and has a contract
through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation to provide habitat management
for the first the first two years. The land will be transferred to the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department in 2018.
Denman Family Ranch House & Pier Earl Nottingham, TPWD Copyright
The 17,351 acre ranch has the largest remaining undisturbed tracts of native coastal prairie habitat left
in Texas. The ranch has 3.7 miles of frontage on FM 1287, 4.4
miles frontage on SH 185, 4.0 miles frontage on Live Oak Bayou, 5.5 miles
frontage on Matagorda Bay, and 5.9 miles frontage on the shoreline of
Powderhorn Lake, a tidally influenced, secondary bay off Matagorda Bay. Habitat
consists of tidal flats, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, oak mottes, and
tallgrass prairie. TPWD will use a portion of the ranch near the old air strip
to create a state park which will offer canoeing and kayaking, kayak fishing,
wade fishing, hiking, camping, hunting and other activities. The remainder of
the ranch land will be a Wildlife Management Area. A possible opening date
would be in 2021. Until that time the park may be open for limited uses, such
as fishing, hunting, paddling, and use by birding and scout groups.
Fringe Marshes Earl Nottingham, TPWD Copyright
“If ever
there was a sportsman’s paradise, it’s the Powderhorn Ranch,” says Carter
Smith, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department executive director. “The place is
literally teeming with fish and wildlife.” The wetlands are critical year-round for
waterfowl, shorebirds, and wading birds. Spring birding can be incredible. The woodlands
and scrub, and freshwater wetlands provide important “fall-out” areas for migrating
songbirds, including painted buntings, tanagers, warblers, and grosbeaks. Powderhorn
Lake is #032 on the Calhoun Birding Loop of the Great Texas Coastal Birding
Trail, Central Gulf Coast Region. Wildlife also includes feral hogs, Sambar
deer, axis deer, a variety of fish species (including spotted sea trout and
redfish), blue crab (in tide pools), oysters, and alligators.
Tide Pools Earl Nottingham, TPWD Copyright
The ranch is located just
northwest of Port O’Connor, and approximately three miles south of a unit of
the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, three miles north of the north end of
Matagorda Island, 13 miles northeast of the Welder Flats Coastal Preserve, 20
miles east of the Guadalupe Delta WMA, and 28 miles southwest of the Mad Island
WMA.
Powderhorn Ranch Acquisition Map Earl Nottingham, TPWD Copyright
