Note: Many cavers will recognize the Annandale Ranch as a past caver destination in Uvalde County. Aquifer will be a little safer Web Posted: 07/10/2007 11:35 PM CDT Jerry Needham Express-News It took months for the surveyor to find all the old rock piles marking survey points on the huge Annandale family ranch, but paperwork finally was approved Tuesday that forever will protect the ranch from the urban development that's overrunning much of the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer. Trustees of the San Antonio Water System agreed in their monthly meeting to pay $4 million for a conservation easement on 7,553 acres of the ranch north of Uvalde that has been owned by the same family for almost 120 years. The purchase makes 11,518 acres of the approximately 12,500-acre ranch protected under conservation easements — agreements that strictly limit future development. SAWS, the Edwards Aquifer Authority and the Nature Conservancy teamed up in 1999 to protect almost 4,000 acres of the ranch. "There's a tremendous amount of recharge occurring in this area, and that's recharge that's coming toward San Antonio," said Bruce Haby, SAWS corporate real estate manager. "The ranch has 41/2 miles of frontage on the Frio River, but in an average year, water never makes it through the ranch" because it drops through the fractured limestone river bottom into the aquifer, he said. The appraised value of the latest easement was $6.4 million. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will pick up $1.74 million of the $4 million cost under a rare grant. "This is one of the biggest tracts acquired for a conservation easement for the Edwards Aquifer," SAWS trustee Douglas Leonhard said. "It's a huge accomplishment." Haby said it wasn't easy. "It's just unbelievable how long it took," he said. "The property hadn't been surveyed in over 100 years, and they used to survey these off using leather chains. They didn't use metal pins as markers but piled up rocks." The agreement limits the number of houses that can be added to the few existing ranch homes and camps and how the property can be divided. Haby said the Annandale heirs — the Cofers and McQuowns — want it that way. "The heirs are very conservation-minded," he said. "They want it to be a family ranch. They want to be able to go back there forever." Haby said that since 1997, SAWS has spent $9.9 million to help protect about 28,000 acres that drain into the Edwards Aquifer. But he said this is expected to be SAWS' last aquifer protection land deal, because the city now has jurisdiction and voter approval to use sales tax money for such acquisitions. Although the area is not in immediate danger of being developed, it would be only a matter of time if protections aren't locked in, Haby said. "There's a golf course community development just north of Concan on the Frio," Haby said. "That whole area has exploded in growth. People want to be next to the river."
************************************** Get a sneak peak of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
