Conservation History Association of Texas
Texas Legacy Project
Oral History Interview
Nature Conservancy in Texas

Interviewee: Anne Schweppe
Date: May 10, 2022
Site: Austin, Texas
Reels: 3448-3452
Executive Producer: Lydia Saldana
Producer: Jeff Weigel
Field Producer / Chief Interviewer: Lee Smith
Videographer: Curtis Craven
Writer / Editor: Ron Kabele
Transcriber: David Todd / Trint
Item: Schweppe_Anne_NCItem24_AustinTX_20220510_Reel3448-3452_Audio.mp3

[Bracketed numbers refer to the interview recording’s time code.]

Lee Smith [00:00:16] Where did you grow up?

Anne Schweppe [00:00:18] I was born in Galveston and grew up in Houston. And my parents were amazing naturalists. And always, we always had field guides in our house. And my dad was an avid bird watcher. My mother loved to key things out. And so we’d find snails or plants or animals and always go through our guide books and look at pictures and find out.

Anne Schweppe [00:00:49] And Dad, that was my Mom. And Dad took my sisters and I out to, we were, in effect, raised as boys. And so we would we would hunt and fish and do all kinds of, you know, traditionally manly things. Now women do it almost better. But anyway, we had a super great natural upbringing where we were outside a lot. Horses, cattle, animals, barefoot. It was just a fabulous, fabulous upbringing.

Anne Schweppe [00:01:30] And tell me, kind of like your first real earliest memory of making a connection with the outdoors.

Anne Schweppe [00:01:44] Almost every connection to the outdoors was an everything occurrence for me, because growing up in Houston, we would be barefoot and out playing in the mud and roaming the neighborhood and being, of course, with dogs and looking at birds and playing kickball and just hanging out together. There was no digital anything. Everything was analog. And we didn’t have any of that either. But it was just a it was just being outside in Houston.

Anne Schweppe [00:02:19] And my father also ranched outside of Boerne. And so I learned a lot about hunting, ranching, being in nature, riding horses. I’ve had a lifelong obsession with horses, which make watching animals easier because you can kind of sneak up on things on your quiet mare and plus you’re nine feet in the air so you can look at all the different animals and birds.

Anne Schweppe [00:02:46] So it was really just a cumulative experience and being being in Port Aransas too. I never had a summer job, thankfully. My job was finding gastropods and looking them up in books and categorizing them, you know, making little projects where we looked at all the ways snails turned and what their habits were. So it was, it was just an amazing childhood, really.

Lee Smith [00:03:20] Well, and you haven’t left that. I think when I called you, or first contacted you, you were down in Aransas.

Anne Schweppe [00:03:27] Yeah, I was. I go out in a boat and fish by myself and always get back with Carter, Carter Smith and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department about, “Okay, I’ll report. There’s so many crabs here in the sea grasses, you know, at this point. And then I got a big red that dragged me around for 20 minutes and then I ate it.”

Anne Schweppe [00:03:49] And I have worship-the-fish parties where we worship the fish. I take one, say a little prayer, and then go go back in and prepare it and have my friends over. And we say prayers and it’s really a special way to fish, to me. The only way.

Lee Smith [00:04:09] That’s wonderful.

Lee Smith [00:04:12] So I think I know the answer to this. You’ve already said it. But anyway, was there a family member or mentor in your early life that has kind of propelled you?

Anne Schweppe [00:04:24] Absolutely. My mother and my father in different ways and also my sisters that were my cohorts in adventures. And my parents would just turn us loose and you could disappear, in my family, on a horse for hours, bareback, and watch nature, do crazy stuff. And no one would say a word.

Anne Schweppe [00:04:47] So I had a little bit of of some megalomania that, with regards to nature that I’m not afraid of, like, I love snakes, and I love, my goal is to see a mountain lion. So I’m not afraid of that stuff. I’m afraid of clowns, but I’m not afraid of real lions.

Lee Smith [00:05:17] Were there any things in popular culture that have informed you, like, you know, a movie or a book you’ve read or anything like that?

Anne Schweppe [00:05:27] Absolutely. There were. My mom used to take us to these really weird Disney movies about nature in the library in Houston at night. And we’d sit in just sort of straight-back chairs. And, you know, they were sentimentalized for sure, but they were usually pretty scientific about nature.

Anne Schweppe [00:05:51] And I just remember being enthralled and I couldn’t wait to go see those Disney films about nature. And one in particular about a mountain lion stands out that I was just completely intrigued about this mountain lion. And part of my experience in the Davis Mountains and other places is to see a lion, which has not yet come to pass. But I will. There will be a day when I see a lion.

Lee Smith [00:06:17] Well, and the seed, apparently, you know, has sprouted in is still from that early experience.

Anne Schweppe [00:06:25] Absolutely. And but I think just my DNA and combining the way I was born with my parents’ influence, there is just no way I could pursue any other vocation or avocation. So it has to be outside, in nature.

Lee Smith [00:06:48] So how do you, I mean, you’ve been out in nature. You’ve been pursuing nature all your life, but what is the first time you were involved in conservation work?

Anne Schweppe [00:07:03] So what started me in conservation was, I naturally was attracted to it and worked for some non-profits in Austin as a young adult with small twins.

Anne Schweppe [00:07:17] But it was when my father came to me probably in 1996 and presented my sister and me with a project, and he said, “You know, there’s this just the hugest large-scale project that the Nature Conservancy is working on in the Davis Mountains that includes sky islands and endemic species and watershed protection.”

Anne Schweppe [00:07:42] And I remember it just so vividly. Even what I was wearing and eating at the lunch. But he presented it to me and I’d never been to the Davis Mountains. I’d never seen it. But the concepts were so intriguing that I just knew immediately that it was something we wanted to, that at least I wanted to do.

Anne Schweppe [00:08:05] And so we committed sort of right there. And then we committed a couple of days later in San Antonio to James King. We wrote the number on a napkin and gave it to him.

Anne Schweppe [00:08:18] And he came back just with his eyes wide and said, “Okay, what do you want?” And I said, “I don’t want anything. I don’t want to own this. I want other people to have it.”

Anne Schweppe [00:08:29] And that’s what ended up happening. And so when Jane and I sort of, in fact, jumped over the cliff, then it got a lot of other people thinking that it was an important project to be involved in.

Lee Smith [00:08:45] So so what other people jumped off the cliff with?

Anne Schweppe [00:08:50] Cina Alexander. Oh, gosh. Jeff Fort. There were a lot of people that either contributed directly to the core preserve, which I think is now 35 or 38,000 acres or something like that.

Anne Schweppe [00:09:09] But then there was this nest of conservation easements all around the core preserve, which in effect makes the whole area under conservation – just a massive, a really impactful, meaningful project.

Lee Smith [00:09:28] And how did your mom figure into that?

Anne Schweppe [00:09:31] So my mom had passed away when, gosh, I was 25 or 26. And so she had never been to the Davis Mountains. She had hunted in on the Bright Ranch in Marfa, but she’d never been there.

Anne Schweppe [00:09:51] And to me, when I first went out there after making the gift, seeing it, I don’t know, I just thought of my mom and just it was overwhelming. I still get tears in my eyes when I drive up and see Mount Livermore. I cry every single time that I see, I’m coming up the hill by the observatory and I see the Mount Baldy and Laura’s Rock, which we named after my mom and I start crying.

Anne Schweppe [00:10:25] So and then I get over it and I walk up the hill and hike to the top.

Anne Schweppe [00:10:29] But Mom had never been there. But it was just such a fitting tribute to her, given her passion and adventurous spirit, where my father was very sort of liked to box things up and name things, Mom did too. But she was more … she would have climbed the mountain by herself if she were alive.

Anne Schweppe [00:10:53] So what motivated me to commit to the Davis Mountains was watching my father with his commitment to the Nature Conservancy. And so when he brought this project to Jane and me. And admittedly, he was so beloved that I wanted, there was a part of me that wanted to be part of the Nature Conservancy, but we had come into a little money and it seemed really fitting at that time to honor both my father and my mother and my whole family who is philanthropic, to do something huge. And that was just really compelling to me, just to really jump off the cliff and do something huge.

Anne Schweppe [00:11:43] And there was the science. There was a lot of science that we found out after that. And so I knew intuitively. I’d had a biology degree from UT and University of Virginia. So I, I knew I knew the science in my gut. I knew that there was something and I also knew there was a lot that hadn’t been found out. So and that has proven to be true.

Anne Schweppe [00:12:06] So, it was, I wanted to follow in the leadership footsteps of my parents, actually.

Anne Schweppe [00:12:16] But the Nature Conservancy was so compelling. So and I saw that they took chances. I saw they just went for it, not knowing the answer or how it’s going to turn out.

Anne Schweppe [00:12:30] There’s a story, actually. When I first saw the Davis Mountains, I was with James King in a huge white Suburban, and over the middle of the windshield is this huge crack. And so you had to kind of go like this, either look over or look down.

Anne Schweppe [00:12:43] And being sort of a businesswoman, we were on the way to the Nature Conservancy, and I looked around at all these all these places, all these different places. And I said, “So, James, what’s going to happen? I want this. And I think this should be added.”

Anne Schweppe [00:12:58] And he said, “Oh, we’ll do it.” And there was tons of bravado in his voice, which meant to me that he didn’t have a plan, but he wanted the same thing. And so in in real time, it has happened. So and there’s still some more to go.

Anne Schweppe [00:13:17] But it was, there was a lot of what appeals to me, which is kind of adventure. I don’t know the end of the story, but I’m really going to go for it and see what happens. And that really is the theme of the Nature Conservancy is that we just sort of pounce on stuff and we don’t know the end of the story, but we just pounce. And 99% of the time it works out.

Lee Smith [00:13:42] So tell me about your dad.

Anne Schweppe [00:13:45] My father was just a crack pulmonologist in Houston and has all kinds of chairs. Not this, but chairs named after him. And just brilliant Germanic stoic elegance.

Anne Schweppe [00:14:01] Just, but back to kind of the story of why I was so intrigued by this project. He was what he called a critical thinker. And so he did all the science. He did his flowchart of why things were important.

Anne Schweppe [00:14:16] And at the time, I was taking care of a sick husband and two baby twins. And I knew when Dad told me about it that he’d already done the work for me. All the science, all the kind of crazy stuff that I would want to know, he’d already done that for me.

Anne Schweppe [00:14:37] So I was in the second he told me about it.

Lee Smith [00:14:41] And what was his background with the Nature Conservancy?

Anne Schweppe [00:14:43] He was state, my father was, Irving Schweppe was state chair for several years, a board member. And I ended up, after my father was state chair, I ended up inviting myself to board meetings, which are closed, but they would let me come in and sit.

Anne Schweppe [00:15:02] And I was just so intoxicated, if you will, by all their projects that I would just sit and listen and take notes. And then finally, they asked me to be on the board and I said, “No, that’s because…” Well I said, “You’re doing this book because my father’s chair.”.

Anne Schweppe [00:15:17] And they said, “No.” And then I ended up being chair a couple of years later. So I was state chair for a while and I’m still an emeritus board member, which means maybe you’re old, but I don’t care. So I’ve been on it, I’ve been on the board for many, many, many years.

Anne Schweppe [00:15:36] Well, having a science, what’s unique about the spot is that for me, having a science background, I’m immediately drawn to endemic species, of which I think there are 12 just on Mount Livermore by itself.

Anne Schweppe [00:15:49] I’m into large-scale conservation, so the Balmorhea watershed is just, it’s just, oh, so fabulous that we feed with water all the farmers downstream and recharge all kinds of water features there so that people are benefited, not only the endemic species and the raptors that fly from island to island, from sky island to sky island. But it’s I know that we have to really involve people in it. So there’s just it’s just a there’s there’s it’s a win-win situation.

Anne Schweppe [00:16:32] And also, that, this is a sort of an aside. But when we first, when I was still in that Suburban with the crack looking at all the places that, in Anne’s mind, I wanted to acquire for conservation. I remember asking James King, “Is there anyone that’s ever going to come out here because it’s so remote and it’s so incredible. Are people going to even come out here?”.

Anne Schweppe [00:17:01] And now, I can hardly schedule the time to get in and hike because or stay at the cabin because there are thousands of people, scientists, people that come. And they really own it for themselves.

Anne Schweppe [00:17:16] And so when I go out to the Davis Mountains, to the preserve, I don’t ever tell anyone that I had anything to do with it because I really want them, whoever, whoever’s visiting, I want them to own it. I want them to know it for the future. I want their kids to know it. I don’t want them to worship me. I want them to say, “This is mine.” And I just, I love that concept. So I’m just another visitor out there to everybody else.

Lee Smith [00:17:49] I went out there about two months ago.

Anne Schweppe [00:17:51] And yeah.

Lee Smith [00:17:52] With Marty Frenzel and her running group.

Anne Schweppe [00:17:55] Yeah. And if you if you look at the big poster, my name is the first because my name starts with an A and ends with an A, you know, it’s you got to kind of be dumb not to see that that’s.

Lee Smith [00:18:07] Yeah.

Anne Schweppe [00:18:08] That’s the girl that helped start it. But anyway that was just, the whole project was so compelling and adventurous and dangerous. And it was just something that appeals to my very odd, eccentric nature anyway, so.

Lee Smith [00:18:30] So what is the McIvor Conservation Center?

Anne Schweppe [00:18:33] The McIvor Conservation Center is a building that was constructed later, much later, after the acquisition of all the lands, which, of course, is the right thing to do, is get as much land as you can and then start to put in infrastructure.

Anne Schweppe [00:18:48] But what it is, is a welcome center for visitors and mostly education. So, say you’re studying the pine beetle, you can be a Ph.D. and go stay in bunks there. You can have presentations. It’s it’s it’s a real user-friendly and very diverse building named after Mr. McIvor, whose ranch it was. The Up You Down ranch was part of his ranch. So Don McIvor. But it’s a wonderful tribute to him.

Anne Schweppe [00:19:24] And it really helps to sort of further other people owning it, owning the preserve for themselves. They get invested, their children get invested, their families get invested so.

Lee Smith [00:19:41] Well, and for the research component of it, it furthers.

Anne Schweppe [00:19:47] Absolutely it furthers research in such an easy way where they have a place to stay. People can come. It’s it’s got several bunk rooms. So a lot of people and you could, you know, blob out on the couch and sleep on the ground. I mean, if it’s really a great, wonderful space for research, so.

Lee Smith [00:20:13] We’ve talked about what other properties have been added. But and again, tell me why getting those other pieces of the puzzle as you were coming in and looking around, why is that important too.

Anne Schweppe [00:20:26] The bigger the conservation area is on a on a natural basis, you know, there’s more room for migratory species to come in and out. And for animals, for instance, the cougar wants to, they’re very territorial, but they roam a lot. And so the bigger the space, the more those species have a chance to flourish and thrive and own their little spot or move over here. And, you know, the bigger the better.

Anne Schweppe [00:21:02] And also for watershed, I’m just big into water conservation, too, so the more watershed that’s protected, the less impervious cover, the more it gets to seep into the ground or run into streams and feed people downstream that want to do farming. So it’s, it’s, the bigger the better to me.

Lee Smith [00:21:26] So what is a sky island?

Anne Schweppe [00:21:29] A sky island is great. What a great name! But it’s a it’s a I guess I like the word ecotone, which is an area that is unique to itself that also blends other natural, it’s sort of an overlapping place of animals and plants.

Anne Schweppe [00:21:55] But a sky island is unique in in the, in endemic species. But it’s where raptors who travel from Canada to Mexico can fly and then hop and have different little safe oases to rest, to nest, to refuel. It has its own different set of plants that are unique to those islands.

Anne Schweppe [00:22:22] It’s, I mean, since the Davis Mountains are an extension to the Rockies that go into the Sierra Madres in Mexico, it’s actually the perfect little hopping space for bats, for birds. And then with the weird alpine plants that live up there, they have their own, you know, they they have their food source. So it’s really it’s a it’s a wonderful place to preserve.

Lee Smith [00:22:52] So what’s your favorite spot?

Anne Schweppe [00:22:54] I have several favorite spots. Obviously, the summit of Mount Livermore is, you know, the big reveal, if you will. But it’s pretty sexy. But you can see Mexico and the Marfa grasslands.

Anne Schweppe [00:23:13] But there’s also Locke’s Gap, which you can see Sawtooth Mountain and the back of Livermore and the grasslands and peaks. Most people don’t go there. And there’s sort of this weird plant that my mother used to plant called Cleome that grows naturally there.

Anne Schweppe [00:23:33] So there’s ten, I think at least 10,000 acres, maybe 30,000 acres, across the street, which is not open to the public now. But I do remember it has, it’s a very beautiful part of Madera Creek, and I like to go there and hike. And there’s some wonderful places with neon green blue water and places that you’re not supposed to jump off into the water. But it’s really special.

Anne Schweppe [00:24:12] And there’s actually a really cool story about that place because we had again, jumped off the cliff and bought this place and there was a lot of debt related. And one of, and so I was turning 50 and one of, someone asked me, do you want a party? And I said, “No. All I want to do is pay off the Fisher-Eppenauer place.”

Anne Schweppe [00:24:33] And so one of the TNC philanthropy members thought up this idea that if everyone gave 50, all my friends or anybody, could get $50,000, including me, I gave that, and we started raising money in 50,000-dollar chunks to really tackle that millionish debt. You know, it was a big debt, it was a big debt. And so we took a big chunk out of it. And the worldwide office at TNC was so impressed that they forgave the rest of the debt. They were just so stoked that we had really committed to doing that. And so they forgave the debt and now it’s free and clear, in free title.

Anne Schweppe [00:25:24] So that was a cool that was a really cool moment for me personally, too. And because I could turn some, you know, aging into something really great.

Anne Schweppe [00:25:40] Who’s moving?

Anne Schweppe [00:25:41] What’s your fondest memory out there?

Anne Schweppe [00:25:45] Well, I have two – sort of a macro and a micro. And I’ll start with the micro.

Anne Schweppe [00:25:52] One time I was hiking to the to Mount Livermore, and I knew enough about alpine plants to look at little low weird plants that grow low and just wait for weather to leave them alone and, and make sugar out of sunlight. And then all of a sudden, when spring comes, boom. Comes a big flower. And I just sat one whole day and watched this plant. And it just was so moving that it was so specialized to the sky island system and how it had adapted over millions of years to really be there. And so I’m moved by little tiny things, if you will.

Anne Schweppe [00:26:33] And then on a big scale, one time it was James King, I think. Jeff Weigel was there and some other TNC team members. But we had summited Livermore and we were watching. We were up there just having a great time and we looked up and there was some weather coming as it does in the monsoon season in late summer.

Anne Schweppe [00:26:56] And so we scrambled down really quickly on the scree, which is potentially dangerous if you’re not watching what you’re doing. But we got to the bottom and the lightning and the thunder and the rain started and we sort of thought, “Oh, shoot, we better … we’re in danger.”

Anne Schweppe [00:27:14] And so we, every one of us, found a little nook under some rocks. And the lightning was striking all around. But we were soaking wet, but we had had this euphoric experience on top of Livermore. And then we get that intriguing near-death experience. And so we were we knew we were protected, but we ended up peeking out under the rocks and looking at each other, and we all just started laughing and we laughed until we were just crying and waited for the whole thing to get over.

Anne Schweppe [00:27:52] But it was just such one of those, it was one of those days. You can’t buy that. There’s just no way. You can’t. Unless you just put yourself out there and really commit to this project, you won’t have those experiences. So it was pretty great. That’s pretty awesome.

Lee Smith [00:28:12] How does the expanse and scale of this area, how does that impact your sense of self?

Anne Schweppe [00:28:21] So I’m sharing this story about the scale of the Davis Mountains project because I hope it can inspire other people.

Anne Schweppe [00:28:31] So so everyday life we get caught up in our kind of weird little, you know, personal dramas. And when you get in your truck and you drive out there and you hit, you just you go over the loop 118 and you see the expanses. And all of a sudden, everything is wiped away.

Anne Schweppe [00:28:53] And that’s why I’m always moved to tears, because it is such an emotional relief to be able to get out of your head and be out in nature and nature’s just doing its thing. It’s propagating. It’s using the sunlight to make itself. Birds are flying in. Everyone’s having … they’re procreating, they’re eating, they’re drinking. And it just sort of distills all the real necessities of life into something so small in this giant expanse where you can see for 60 miles.

Anne Schweppe [00:29:35] So it’s, I recommend to everybody to go out there and you’ll fall for it. I mean, everyone falls in love, but psychologically, it’s a huge thing for people personally, 1 to 1 to go experience that. It is a freeing moment. It’s like being with God. That takes it all away from me right there. It’s just.

Anne Schweppe [00:30:00] I mean, I’m not making this up. It’s. It’s very real. It’s very real. This is not rehearsed. I’m not rehearsed. I’m not. This is just the truth. It’s ah, it’s absolutely truthful. It really is. And just to get out of your head, just for, just to relieve depression on a person-to-person basis. I would say that is one of the best cures ever.

Jeff Weigel [00:30:31] Cleansing.

Anne Schweppe [00:30:33] It is. It’s a truth. It’s the truth. And the the the crow is coming back. Okay.

Lee Smith [00:30:43] Do you remember the first time you walked out at night and looked up and just stared?

Anne Schweppe [00:30:53] I do remember the first night I saw the dark skies because coming from Houston, I’d never seen it. I had never seen it. And I couldn’t believe I was looking up, “Well, that’s what the Milky Way looks like. And that’s. How about five shooting stars in one minute?” I’d never seen that, for real. I mean. You just you’re looking at one and there’s another and there’s another.

Anne Schweppe [00:31:21] But to see the Milky Way and the feeling of how small we are in this huge universe is just overwhelming. And then, of course, being having a science background, I always think, “Oh, gosh, there’s someone over at the at the observatory, McDonald Observatory, just having a great night.”

[00:31:43] And I did. I did at one time see the Hale-Bopp comet, which was mind-blowing – glowing there because you could see the tail. You could see the groovy colors. It was weird. Awesome.

Lee Smith [00:31:58] Well, so how does that big expanse of land, protecting that big expanse of land tie in to dark skies at the McDonald Observatory?

Anne Schweppe [00:32:06] So. So the Nature Conservancy, with our conservation easements and core preserve, we’ve almost completely surrounded the McDonald Observatory. And so and then, you know, everybody’s super diligent about using low lights. But just having it being protected in general means there’s less light.

Anne Schweppe [00:32:28] So there’s there’s a little, there’s some pieces in there that. There are eyes on that for future. And so one of the things I want to do before I leave this earth is to complete that project. And I think we can do it. I do think we can do it.

Anne Schweppe [00:32:49] But we we we actually do have, we have, in conservation easements or in fee, we have surrounded in kind of a giant C-shape around the observatory. There’s a little bit of the C that needs to be closed up, but we can, I know we can do it.

Lee Smith [00:33:10] What are you doing to try to prove that conservation easements can be a profitable thing to get into?

Anne Schweppe [00:33:20] So one of the things the Nature Conservancy has taught me and given me the idea of a proof of concept, since I saw so many easements benefit the ranchers that owned the easements and also the Nature Conservancy got me involved or really interested in conservation easements.

Anne Schweppe [00:33:39] And so I’ve done a lot of work and I’ve actually been involved in two conservation easement ranch projects. I’m on my second one now where I pre-sold the conservation easement to the city of Austin and to the federal Department of Agriculture, which gave me a giant influx of cash. And so now what I really want to do is to prove to the world that you can do for people and do for yourself and make everybody win.

Anne Schweppe [00:34:12] And so what my project is in Hays County here, the seed being implanted in my brain by the Nature Conservancy was to raise a Wagyu hybrid beef that I can actually, that’s great for your brain, omega three acids that make you smart, grass-fed, organic, dry-aged, which is fabulous. So we do, we treat the cows beautifully. We treat the land beautifully.

Anne Schweppe [00:34:39] And I want to show that I can make some money off of that project and say, “Hey, easements work for everyone and you can actually make a profit.”

Anne Schweppe [00:34:49] Because money, let’s face it, is a driving force for a lot of people. And so I want to show that not only wealthy people can afford to do easements, but everybody can. And especially considering that I sold my easement. There are moneys out there to purchase easements and you can also benefit by the donation component that’s always required in your taxes.

Anne Schweppe [00:35:13] So it’s a very convoluted way to go. But I do think for the generations up and coming, it would be a great niche for young people to be able to facilitate that process to help people that may not know a lot about easements, to know how to, they can walk people through the steps to go through. They can identify money sources or tax benefits, and they can, for young people coming up that want a job now, that’s totally something I could have used when I was doing it is to have someone to help me. And so I highly recommend that niche for the youth of today.

Lee Smith [00:35:58] Segues into my next question. What advice do you have for somebody that’s as fired up as you are?

Anne Schweppe [00:36:06] Well, I’m pretty fired up about everything. If I was starting my life over with, I’d probably want to learn a lot about science. And then because there’s so much science that we didn’t know about 20 years ago and there’s so much science that has been, you know, since, illuminated in all our preserves, really. So science is huge.

Anne Schweppe [00:36:36] But if you know a little science, you can also learn about conservation easements and sort of marry and dovetail those two and facilitate landowners to not be scared of conservation easements because mine have, both of mine have worked.

Anne Schweppe [00:36:54] I’ve made friends. It’s been a fabulous relationship, so I’ve had zero problems. I’m not afraid. And they weren’t afraid of me. And, you know, especially the federal government, people are so scared. No. They’re just like us. They’re great. And they say, “Oh, why don’t you put these seeds in here, and here’s a program you can apply to to get it for free.” Well, that works out great for everybody. So.

Lee Smith [00:37:22] So what do you think about the future of of conservation work and issues in the future?

Anne Schweppe [00:37:31] The future of conservation is going to be hard. Part is that Texas is growing so much, the world is populating so fast, it’s going to be tougher.

Anne Schweppe [00:37:42] And yet there’s more, I think education-wise, people know a lot more about conservation. They’re not as afraid to launch in. So there’s the upside.

Anne Schweppe [00:37:53] And I think there is a definite time crunch where we really need to start acting now. I would love to see a whole generation learn from some of our reminiscences about this and be inspired about just go for it man, and just like be brave and go for it. And you don’t need to know how it’s going to turn out. Just go. Just try it and see what happens.

Anne Schweppe [00:38:17] And there is a lot more money out there in both local programs and on the federal level.

Anne Schweppe [00:38:26] So, you know, there’s good and bad. But if I were young, I would just take the good and sort of go for it.

Anne Schweppe [00:38:35] Since my work in the Davis Mountains, I’ve fallen in love with every single project that the Nature Conservancy does worldwide. And I’ve been to Patagonia, I’ve been to Mexico. I’ve been some really crazy places to see everything. I want to see everything. I love everything. I want to see why we’ve jumped in so much.

Anne Schweppe [00:38:57] And usually water and endemism is is involved. Archeology. There’s always people making some money, you know, keeping their lives together, their families together.

Anne Schweppe [00:39:14] And we did, it was after the Davis Mountains, did fly to northern central Mexico to see the Cuatro Cienegas project, which is, I think a Pleistocene remnant of pools that … so during the Pleistocene it was sea and so there are animals in there … there’s a freshwater shrimp. There’s probably, I want to say there’s a jellyfish, but there’s animals that have adapted to a freshwater environment. And there are these oases in the Sonoran Desert of pools that are crystal clear, blue turquoise – look like emeralds.

Anne Schweppe [00:40:02] And we did, a group of TNC team members and also board members went to see it, it was a crazy jalopy kind of weird trip out there. But what did strike me was the unique part of how nature can just pop up and just have just the weird anomalies that nature comes up with.

Anne Schweppe [00:40:28] And then also what touched me was the ejido system of land ownership in Mexico is still in place and that and that people were living off creosote, making creosote for I think they treat wood with it. But because of the water systems there, they were able to live nearby, drink water, have water for limited agriculture and also make a living there. So the traditional families that lived there were able to still live and enjoy and keep very pristine the area.

Anne Schweppe [00:41:10] But it was, it’s crazy to be out into the desert and just have this bizarre set of plants and weird animals that live in these these sinkholes, actually, I think they are. But that was a really great trip.

Anne Schweppe [00:41:29] And slightly dangerous as well. But, you know, that’s part of the appeal for me. I like to touch danger just a little bit, have a lot of excitement.

Lee Smith [00:41:41] So anything else you want to talk about or tell us?

Anne Schweppe [00:41:50] Every project that the Nature Conservancy that they are involved with is intriguing to me because they’ve all, like my father, who did the work for me with the Davis Mountains. All the science and the ecoregional planning, does all the science and prioritizes all these places.

Anne Schweppe [00:42:05] And so I was on the board of the Patagonia Board of Directors for a while, and I loved I loved my visits there because we could see the way the Nature Conservancy was not owning land there, but really just helping sheep farmers, cattle farmers know how to prevent desertification and to graze properly.

Anne Schweppe [00:42:35] And we even had lots of scientists help people. There is there is some fracking going on in southern Argentina and Chile that that we have advised them to say, “Hey, go frack here and do it this way and it’ll be less impactful. You’ll still get your same benefits.”

Anne Schweppe [00:42:55] So we help, we help people make money. We help people who want to stay there and want to take care of what they have. So I love being part of that.

Anne Schweppe [00:43:05] But there are a lot still a lot of places I really want to go. I want to go to Canada. I want to go to India. I want to go to Africa and see what we’ve done there. But I’ll just start with South America and North America. It’s really a good place to start. So I’ll go anywhere though.