Calvert Brothers Ranch
For more than 45 years, the extended families of Jonathan and Richard Calvert have been gathering on the banks of the Leona River on their family’s land in Frio County, Texas.
“Our annual family gatherings started in 1976 with a small campout with our dads,” said Blair Calvert Fitzsimons, one of four cousins who now operate the Calvert Brothers Ranch. “Now there’s about two dozen of us who gather each year for a treasured family tradition.”
Blair and her sisters Sarah Calvert Doerr and Mollie Calvert Massari, and her cousin Toby Calvert are the offspring of Jonathan and Richard Calvert, who inherited the ranch when their father passed away in 1981. James H. Calvert, their father, established the ranch in 1955. At the time of his death, the Calvert Brothers Ranch covered 7,000 acres.
Today, the Calvert Brothers Ranch comprises 4,718 acres. As has happened to many properties across Texas and the United States, as the ranch was passed down from generation to generation it was divided into smaller and smaller pieces. Operating costs and estate taxes have increased along with land values, and many families face difficult decisions about the fate of family land.
As the cousins grew up, went off to college, got married and had families of their own, the pull of the ranch kept the families together.
“Even when we were gone at school or raising our own families, it was always the number one priority to come back to the ranch for this gathering,” said Sarah. “It was always this place that lured us home.”
It was also a great way to vet future spouses.
“When we were younger, we’d bring our boyfriends or girlfriends out here and make them camp out with us,” recalled Blair. “We were hardcore campers and ranch people, and we’d find out pretty quick what they were made of.”
“The road is littered with bodies along the way,” said Toby, with a laugh. “Now that we all have kids, the gatherings have really grown and we initiated a new policy a few years ago. ‘No ring, no bring’ is the rule these days.”
The family gathers the same weekend every year, right after Christmas.
“We’ve been here in 20- degree weather and in 90-degree weather, and it’s where we all come together and celebrate the ranch,” said Blair. “Some of us might sit in a blind for a deer hunt, or drive around the ranch like our parents and grandparents did. We always end up sitting around the campfire each evening.”
Those campfire discussions led to serious talk about how to protect the ranch into the future.
“As the ranch has transitioned to the third generation, we have all taken on the responsibilities of owning and managing the ranch,” said Blair. “We began nibbling around the edges of the idea of a conservation easement because this ranch is our touchstone. We love it and don’t want to see it divided up anymore.”
Photos taken by Wyman Meinzer.
Complicating the conversation was Blair’s position as founding CEO of the Texas Agricultural Land Trust (TALT), a nonprofit dedicated to forever protecting working lands across the state through voluntary conservation easements, which Blair has championed across the state. Toby serves as a member of the TALT Foundation’s board.
“I really started hearing more about how all this works, and I got very intrigued by the idea,” said Toby.
Blair didn’t want to push the idea on the family, and they decided to wait until she retired to seriously pursue it. Blair retired in 2020, and since then the family has worked with TALT to negotiate and close a conservation easement on their land, which happened at the end of 2021. The easement forever protects 4,718 acres on the banks of the Leona River, which is shaded by enormous oak trees and home to a variety of riparian species and native wildlife.
The Calvert Brothers Ranch is just an hour and a half from San Antonio, and according to the Texas Land Trends report, land prices in Frio County have risen more than 350% since 1997.
“While we were finalizing the last details for the easement in late 2021, a 9,000-acre ranch just northeast of us was sold,” said Toby. “That ranch has already been broken up into multiple pieces and sold and resold again. It just makes you realize what we’re doing is important. Our easement will forever protect this rural land from ever being further fragmented.”
As the family moves ahead to the next chapter in the evolving history of the Calvert Brothers Ranch, one thing is certain.
“This easement is all about honoring our fathers and our grandfather and their love for the land,” added Mollie. “We’re paying it forward, and keeping it together for our children and our grandchildren, for generations to come.”
