AT: The Nature Conservancy Texas: Texas City, Nash and Mowotony Prairie Preserves

The Texas City Prairie Preserve is a 2,303 acre preserve located on the shores of Moses Lane and Galveston Bay in Texas City. The preserve was created in 1995 by the Nature Conservancy thanks to a $2.2 million grant from ExxonMobil. The primary goal was to preserve the Attwater’s prairie chicken, though the preserve protects coastal prairie and wetland habitats and a wild variety of wildlife.
The Nash Prairie is a 400-acre tract of pristine prairieland, largely unaltered by man or machine. More than 300 plant species have been documented there, including several rare species and one grass thought to be extinct from Texas since the 1800’s. It was once part of the KNG Ranch. IN 2003 ranch stewards rediscovered the significance of Nash. The gently rolling landscape provides habitat for 120 bird species and a diversity of plant life.
Mowotony Prairie in Brazoria County, also preserved by the Nature Conservancy, is a 42 acre coastal grassland remnant. Recent studies resulted in a checklist of 199 species of vascular plants.

Aaron Tjelmeland is the Restorations Project Director for The Nature Conservancy. Aaron grew up in eastern Iowa, where he studied Ecology and Botany at Iowa State University. He came to Texas in 2004 for graduate work where he studied grassland restoration and wildlife management at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He later worked for the university in avian ecology research and invasive plant research programs. He came to the Conservancy in 2011 and currently oversees a variety of regional projects which include preserves of coastal tallgrass prairie, bottomland forest, and estuarine marshes, as well as a regional prairie restoration program.

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