Texas doctor spent 40 years restoring family land; $10M ranch becomes wildlife area

Image credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife For four decades, Texas rancher and physician Paul Burns worked to restore land that had been part of his family's history since the 19th century. What began as a severely degraded ranch in Brown County, Texas, gradually recovered through brush removal, native-grass reseeding, protection of springs and changes in grazing practices. In 2023, 2,178 acres of the historic Colonel Burns Ranch were acquired by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and became the Paul and Toni Fox Burns Wildlife Management Area. The property had been appraised at close to $10 million, and Burns agreed to a bargain sale while donating 25% of the appraised value to help provide the required conservation funding match.A Texas family ranch dating back to 1873The story of the property began with Burns' great-grandfather, Simon Pierce Burns, who purchased the original tract in 1873. The family eventually built a large cattle operation, but the Great Depression forced them to lose much of their ranch holdings. In the mid-1970s, Paul Burns and his siblings began buying pieces of the former family property as parcels came back onto the market. Over time, they assembled a...