GOOD GULF STEWARDS

When Diane and Al Johnson, of Rockport TX, purchased 825 acres of undeveloped land on Lamar peninsula, abutting the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and fronting on St. Charles Bay, they became the ultimate "Good Gulf stewards." The 245 acres closest to the Bay had already been adopted by a whooping crane couple, and the Johnsons insured them a permanent home by selling that section to the Nature Conservancy, to donate to the Refuge. Guests of the Johnsons have access to the land, however, for wildlife watching or kayak access to the Bay.

The remainder of the Johnson Ranch, coastal prairie and woods, had previously been used solely for hunting and grazing. The Johnsons expelled the cattle - and the hunters, except for feral hog control - but kept the deer feeders for the wildlife. Then they built Crane House, a two-bedroom, two-bath guest cottage with a fully stocked kitchen and a delightful screened porch stocked with rocking chairs, a hammock, and a spotting scope. Check their website at www.cranehouseretreat.com. The only permanent residents of the Ranch now are two elderly horses and abundant wildlife. But, for a surprisingly reasonable fee, up to four guests can rent the cottage and temporarily enjoy the tranquility and the cranes. This year, the crane couple was one of 7 in the migratory population that had surviving twins, placing 4 whooping cranes in front of the screened porch!

My sister and I enjoyed two nights at this delightful spot on the Texas coast -- here is the "diary" of our stay:

Monday, February 5, 2007

Fran Lowman and Page Williams arrived at 2:15pm to find whooping crane couple with twin juveniles, plus 7 sandhill cranes, by the deer feeder in front of screened porch, which spins out corn twice a day. All afternoon the deer, 6 does and 1 spike, plus sandhills visited sporadically. Squirrels and songbirds foraged by porch, including at least a dozen bright red male cardinals. At 5:30pm, the din of approximately 300 black-bellied whistling ducks arriving sent them all away. The ducks stayed and whistled loudly until 6:30pm, after which we heard coyotes and frogs greeting the darkness. Spotted armadillo on our way to town for dinner.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Morning brought deer, sandhills and whoopers back by 7:30am. Sandhills left early, but whoopers stayed until 11:30am, when they departed to crab along the shores of St. Charles Bay. A truck tour of property yielded ducks (pintail, teal, shoveler, wigeon, coot) and other birds of interest (shrike, harrier, harris hawk, great egret, great blue heron). Spotted whoopers at 2pm and 4pm when walking south boundary fence, as well as two caracaras stationed on the fence. Deer visited sporadically, sandhills returned at 4:30pm, and whoopers returned at 5:30pm. Also 5:30pm, a large black boar rushed in from the north, rooted under the feeder, scared sandhills and deer away, then trotted east toward Bay. 100+ whistling ducks returned then - whoopers at first charged them, but departed at 5:45pm. As we left for dinner in town, we spotted 4 coyotes silently heading east by south pond at 6:30pm, and we spotted skunk and racoon as we returned.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Deer appeared at dawn, waiting for corn, so we put out a few handfuls at 6:50am. Big mistake! Immediately whistling ducks returned en masse and scared deer away - finally scared ducks away by walking in circles, flapping arms and hooting! The whoopers and sandhills were back by 8:00am. 9am we saw a 10-point buck by the feeder, and observed a juvenile whooper playing with an old tennis ball. By 10:45, all were gone but one lone sandhill, so we packed up and departed by 11:30. We were impressed with the hierarchy here - the whoopers can scare the sandhills and deer. The whistling ducks can scare deer, cardinals, sandhills and whoopers. We can scare the whistling ducks, deer, cardinals, sandhills and whoopers. The boar can scare all but the whoopers, including us!


Page Williams is one of the GRN's two board members from Texas. In addition to that position of privilege, Page is also an active member and volunteer leader with the Sierra Club, The Flower Garden Banks Marine Sanctuary, the Houston Underwater Club and The Ocean Conservancy.

Gulf Restoration Network joins Page in saluting the Johnsons for their good stewardship, and in wishing all landowners around the Gulf were so responsible about the land and wildlife, and so generous about allowing others to share the experience.