Texas Land Conservancy is excited to announce a significant conservation achievement in Val Verde County. Landowners Mark and Renea Mohr have made a lasting gift to the future of Texas landscapes by donating a conservation easement on their 4,423-acre Agave Canyons Ranch. This forward-thinking act ensures the permanent protection of a vital piece of Texas heritage.

Located in the Devils River watershed, Agave Canyons Ranch’s rugged and expansive terrain plays a critical role in safeguarding essential aquatic resources and wildlife habitat. This conservation success not only strengthens a network of protected conservation lands, but also preserves the cultural and ecological significance that makes the Devils River region one of Texas’ most treasured natural wonders.

Cultural Resources

The Devils River watershed is a cultural hotbed. Scenic and rugged landscapes ideal for timeless movies and books, dark skies bursting with stars, a heritage of hard scrabble ranching, and prehistoric treasures that connect us to the distant past are all priceless cultural assets.

The stunning vistas, turquoise river oases, sheer cliffs, deep canyons, and wide-open skies are all unforgettable sights throughout the Devils River watershed. Anyone who has been privileged to see and experience these sights, such as those from the Devils River State Natural Area, needs no convincing that the views and landscape are worthy of protection.

The first International Dark Sky Sanctuary designated in Texas was the Devils River State Natural Area and due to the spread of light pollution, the darkest skies in the country are only found in very remote locations. As Texas continues to grow, it is vital to preserve our connection to dark skies and a major reason for keeping our rural and remote areas undeveloped.

Travelling to the Devils River region, in many ways, is like going back in time. The culture of hardscrabble ranching—making do without many modern amenities—is still alive and well. From ranching livestock to big game hunting, the culture persists and is closely tied to the rugged and scenic landscape. Agave Canyons Ranch carries the rough country ethos and is meticulously managed for livestock and game animals.

Prehistoric pictographs, aka cave paintings, found throughout the Devils River region are part of what is collectively known as Lower Pecos Rock Art. There are several styles of pictographs associated with different time periods, including Pecos River, Red Linear, Red Monochrome, and Historic styles. In addition to the world-renowned rock art, there are also countless middens, burials, and other sites or artifacts that remain undocumented throughout the region but are equally benefitted by the growing network of conservation lands.

Pristine Water Quality

The Devils River is widely regarded as one of the most pristine rivers in Texas. In fact, water quality testing by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality over a 10-year period found that it is one of twenty-two streams in the state with naturally low phosphorus levels—below 10 micrograms. Low phosphorus levels indicate that a stream has not been polluted by development or land use and is essential to preserve.

The Devils River flows year-round thanks to the Edwards-Trinity (Plateau) Aquifer and the bounty of springs that support its many rare and endemic aquatic life.

Agave Canyons Ranch plays a crucial role in protecting the watershed, helping to recharge the aquifer through its sinkholes and natural absorption of rainwater. The ranch also captures floodwater, reduces erosion, and controls sediment, making it an essential part of maintaining the health of the river and the land around it.

Habitats and Flora

The convergence and influence of three major ecoregions, the Edwards Plateau, Southern Texas Plains, and Chihuahuan Desert form a unique melting pot of flora and fauna. Walking through the landscape is an experience in a little bit of everything. Thorny scrub from the south, dry adapted species from the arid west, and karst woodlands from the east.

The habitats and flora that occur throughout the property are comprised of semi-arid shrublands and woodlands that vary based on slope and soil. Floodplain areas, ravines, and canyon bottoms tend toward woodlands and canyon slopes and uplands are consistently shrubland. Unique features such as cliffs and outcrops support additional pockets of plant diversity.

Overstory components observed on the Property include redberry and Ashe junipers, Vasey Oak (aka Sandpaper Oak), and honey mesquite trees. Smaller components of the canopy can include Texas persimmon, Texas mountain laurel, Texas kidneywood, and netleaf forestiera.

Shrubs and succulents often include a range of Cenizo, guajillo, Texas sotol, acacias, leatherstem, Lechuguilla, shrubby blue sage, agarita, evergreen sumac, coyotillo, and pricklypear, pincushion, and hedgehog cactuses.

Grasses and forbs present include Lindheimer’s rockdaisy, rock penstemon, Lindheimer’s senna, four o’clocks, crotons, Indian paintbrush, wild blue larkspur, desert tobacco, Gordon’s bladderpod, Arizona cottontop, pink pappusgrass, and slim tridens.

Rare, Threatened, Endangered, and Unique Fauna

Rare, threatened, and endangered fishes and mollusks that utilize the Devils River or depend on the Edwards-Trinity (Plateau) Aquifer such as Devils River Minnow, Rio Grande Darter, Proserpine Shiner, Conchos Pupfish, Texas Shiner, Mexican Blindcat, and Texas Hornshell are supported by Agave Canyons Ranch and the protection of its watershed, aquifer, and ecosystem services.

The state threatened Texas Horned Lizard and federally proposed listed Tricolored Bat are known from Agave Canyons Ranch and from within its vicinity, respectively. Northern Bobwhite, Black-capped Vireo, and Pyrrhuloxia are three Texas Species of Greatest Conservation Need that occur on the ranch.

All birds observed on site during site documentation and evaluation included Northern Bobwhite, Scaled Quail, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Common Ground Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Nighthawk, Spotted Sandpiper, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, Vermilion Flycatcher, Black-capped Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, Bell's Vireo, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, Canyon Wren, Bewick's Wren, Northern Mockingbird, House Sparrow, Black-throated Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Canyon Towhee, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Green-tailed Towhee, Brown-headed Cowbird, Wilson's Warbler, Northern Cardinal, and Pyrrhuloxia.

Merriam’s Canyon Lizard, a range-restricted subspecies, and Crevice Spiny Lizard are two reptiles observed on canyon walls while at least 25 species are documented near the property.

Landscape Scale Conservation

Agave Canyons Ranch is Texas Land Conservancy’s second conservation easement in the Devils River watershed and in good company with the tremendous commitments and investments made by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Nature Conservancy of Texas, and the Devils River Conservancy.

The combined public and private conservation lands and the advocacy surrounding the protection of the Devils River resources is a significant collaborative success for Texas. We want to thank Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and the Horizon Foundation who recognized the importance of this project and agreed to cover transactional costs associated with the donation that will help ensure a strong and resilient partnership between TLC and the Mohr family.

We also want to say a big thank you to one of our most trusted conservation attorneys, Tancig Law, for representing the landowners and negotiating the conservation easement with TLC.

Help protect more properties like this across the state!

Texas Land Conservancy could not do this important conservation work without our members, partners, and supporters. With your support, we can work with more landowners and protect more land across the state from the negative effects of land fragmentation and poorly-planned development.

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