Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
Are wildlife and water replacing oil and cattle in Texas?
Frates Seeligson is one of many ranchers contending with an historic drought in the hard heart of Texas. You can see a report on the situation by myself and photographer Jessica Rinaldi here.
Seeligson, an affable fourth-generation rancher who farms to the east of San Antonio in an area currently suffering from what has been dubbed “exceptional” drought conditions, told me that “there are only so many ways that you can make money from dirt.”
In Texas, much of the money from dirt has come from two commodities that have iconic status in this rough and tumble state: oil and cattle.
But like many Texas cattlemen, Seeligson is also finding money in white-tailed deer and leases his ranch to hunters.
