Should you buy a house or buy land to build a home? Both options have some important differences you should be aware of so that you can make an informed decision.
water
Admire from Afar, Inquire up Close
If you’re considering buying a property from a distance, it’s important to do your homework and work with the right pros.
Just Add Water to Increase Your Land Value
In Texas, nothing attracts wildlife and birds to your property—and keeps them coming back—like water. And few property improvements are as likely to increase your land value as a pond, lake or stock tank.
Drought-Proofing Mule Deer Herds In Texas
Is it actually possible to insulate mule deer herds in arid environments, such as the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas, against the extreme pressures that can be delivered by harsh droughts? The answer is yes, to an extent.
Listing of the Week: Antone Ranch, A Legacy Recreational Ranch
The Antone Ranch is a legacy recreational ranch consisting of approximately 36,663± deeded acres in a large, private block with exceptional water resources, including live-water creeks, numerous fishing lakes and irrigated lands.
Understanding Historical Weather Patterns to Improve Ranch Selection
What is the carrying capacity of a ranch? An extremely important question that requires an understanding of regional soil and water factors as well as historical weather patterns.
Slow Soak: Guide to Managing Water on Your Land
“Anything we can do to slow runoff down gives us more of a chance to soak it into the ground,” says Kyle Wright, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services water quality specialist for Texas.
Basic Lake Construction Techniques for Building a Lake That Won’t Leak
Brad Vollmar of Vollmar Pond & Lake Management offers a detailed look at the process for constructing a new lake on your property, with plenty of do’s and dont’s to make sure your lake-construction project succeeds.
Along Came a Hero: A San Juan Trout Stream Is Reborn
High in the San Juan Mountains, nestled under 14,000-foot peaks, lies one of the most picturesque, clear-running trout streams you could ever imagine. This stretch of stream in the San Juans is a perfect example of what was and what could be.
Kenneth Bell: Putting Water Where It Isn’t
Decades of experience have shown Bell, who founded Quick Line Service Company’s Ranch Water Division in 1990, that the availability of fresh water dictates land’s productivity when it comes to livestock and wildlife.
Water for Wildlife
Water is an essential part of any healthy, sustainable ecosystem, and landowners should be sure to provide for critters both large and small.
What President Trump’s Executive Order on WOTUS Means for Real Estate and Land Owners
The Executive Order directs the EPA to begin a rewrite of the regulation to adhere more closely to the definition of “waters of the U.S.” under the Clean Water Act and provide a streamlined permitting process.
No Land. No Water
The statewide rains in August ensured that Texas, with 75.25 inches, had just enjoyed the wettest 24-month consecutive period in its history. While the life-giving moisture was needed and welcomed, it muddied the memory of 2011, when Texas, with an average of 14.18 inches, struggled to survive its driest year ever.
Proper Riparian Management = More and Better Water
Riparian areas or zones are important because they help maintain health of watersheds and healthy watersheds reduce runoff and improve amounts of quality water.
WOTUS Stay: What Does It Mean?
We can get bogged down in the validity of who has jurisdiction and the legal minutia or we can gaze beyond those arguments and take a look at what is truly at stake here.
A Look at the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES)
The central message of the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES®) is that any landscape—whether the site of a large subdivision, a shopping mall, a park, an abandoned rail yard, or even one home—holds the potential both to improve and to regenerate the natural benefits and services provided by ecosystems in their undeveloped state.
Real Estate and Water Rights in Colorado
It’s no wonder real estate is complex and buyers are discerning in the state of Colorado. Regional farm and ranch markets are vast and values vary considerably depending on a multitude of factors, perhaps most significantly, water.
Water Conservation in Texas
You don’t have to sit in a Texas coffee shop very long until the conservation turns to oil or water. Oil is discussed because we suddenly have a lot of it and as a result, the state is booming. Water becomes a topic due to its shortage, perpetuated by the continuing drought. WATER NEEDS Needs […]
Understanding Water Ownership & Water Rights in Texas
Although the Texas population is expected to double in size by 2050, the state’s water supplies are expected to decrease by 19 percent in that same timeframe.
The True Story of Water Usage in Hydraulic Fracturing
Land brokers and real estate agents, among others in Texas, have witnessed first-hand the positive economic impacts of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which make it possible for producers to tap vast deposits of natural gas and oil trapped in tight sand and shale formations.