East Foundation

Launch your career in agriculture! Join East Foundation's skilled ranching team in South Texas for a hands-on internship. You'll gain invaluable experience in cattle operations, range science, and wildlife management across our 217,000-acre operation. We're seeking juniors, seniors, and recent grads in Natural Resources, Animal Science, or related fields. $15/hr + housing provided. Application deadline: January 28th Start and end date: March 3 to June 20, 2025 #RanchingLife #AgCareers #SouthTexas https://lnkd.in/gnYPene2

Happy National AG Day! Behind every acre of our land is a story—where those from our ranching team work alongside our science and education teams to advance land stewardship and conservation in South Texas. We're proud to keep ranching traditions alive while finding new ways to help our cattle and wildlife thrive side by side. This is more than just land to us—it's our legacy and our laboratory. #NationalAgDay #RanchingRoots #SouthTexas

Elisa Velador, one of our educators at East Foundation, recently hosted City Kids Adventures on our El Sauz ranch for an immersive Field Lesson! These San Antonio youth explored our coastal sand sheet ecosystem while learning about cattle ranching, scientific research projects, watersheds, native wildlife, and land stewardship principles at our Elliff-El Sauz Education Facility. ? We're honored to support Leon McNeil's incredible mission with City Kids Adventures, an organization that's been changing lives since 1995 by connecting inner-city youth with meaningful outdoor experiences and educational opportunities. Their guided outdoor experiences inspire the next generation to appreciate natural resources and make a difference in their communities. The McNeils' commitment to their motto, "Hard Work Has Many Rewards!" shines through in every child's transformative experience. #EastFoundation #CityKidsAdventures #FieldLessons #OutdoorEducation #LandStewardship #SouthTexas Learn more about City Kids Adventures here: https://lnkd.in/g2D6ny9N

Researchers from Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute-Texas A&M University Kingsville have been conducting aerial surveys of northern bobwhites across South Texas since the 1980s. In 2010, Dr. Stephen J. DeMaso and colleagues published the influential CKWRI Wildlife Technical Publication No. 2, which provided landowners with a simple equation to estimate bobwhite density from aerial surveys without complex analyses. From 2014 to 2019, our graduate students here at East Foundation?and those working through CKWRI combined data from 65 aerial surveys covering 9,000 miles across 250,000+ acres. This extensive research has allowed us to update Dr. DeMaso's conversion factor with additional recommendations on calculating error, survey effort, and optimal conditions. We dedicate this update to the memory of Dr. Stephen DeMaso, whose pioneering work continues to guide bobwhite conservation efforts in South Texas. Read CKWRI's Management Bulletin here: https://lnkd.in/ge6QZvBu

???We had an amazing time yesterday at the 28th annual Ocelot Conservation Day at Gladys Porter Zoo! We were proud to be part of this important event, raising awareness about the fewer than 80 ocelots remaining in the United States - all in deep South Texas. Most now only exist on large, unfragmented private landholdings that provide increasingly important habitat for ocelots, such as the East Foundation's El Sauz ranch near Port Mansfield. ? Our "Match the Ocelot Spots" activity across from the ocelot exhibit was a hit, with families learning about these endangered wild cats and their unique spotted patterns. It was wonderful to join forces with other conservation organizations, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Friends of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Native Cats, and many more, to educate the public about ocelot conservation efforts. ? With habitat loss and vehicle collisions threatening their survival, we believe that every bit of awareness counts. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth and joined the conservation conversation! Together, we can help protect these beautiful native wild cats for future generations. #OcelotConservationDay #EndangeredSpecies #WildlifeConservation #EastFoundation #SouthTexas #ConservationEducation #GladysPorterZoo

We've recently wrapped up an incredible week at our El Sauz ranch for Behind the Gates Field Days! We welcomed 1,889 fifth graders and 75 teachers from 15 IDEA Schools across the Rio Grande Valley. Students rotated through six interactive stations where they learned about what happens behind the gates of a working ranch and how it is relevant to their lives. Topics such as cattle ranching, endangered ocelots, animal adaptations, South Texas history, watersheds, and ecosystem exploration. Through hands-on activities like the cattle grazing game and watershed models, we shared valuable lessons about land stewardship and conservation. We'd like to give a huge thanks to our partners, sponsors, and dedicated staff who made this experience possible. Together, we're inspiring the next generation of land stewards! ?? #LandStewardship #Conservation #EnvironmentalEducation #SouthTexas #BehindtheGates #TexasFarmCredit #HEBHelpingHere #ElliffMotors IDEA Public Schools H-E-B Texas Farm Credit Elliff Motors The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Texas Master Naturalist Program Museum of South Texas History Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute-Texas A&M University Kingsville Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Career Opportunity: Facilities & Grounds Foreman We're looking for an experienced problem-solver to manage our facilities and grounds maintenance efforts across 217,000 acres of South Texas ranchland on our six ranches. What We're Looking For: ? 5-10 years of facilities and grounds maintenance experience ? Agricultural/ranch background is a bonus ? Hands-on, team player ready to tackle diverse challenges ? Comfortable working both indoors and outdoors. Benefits: ? Full-time salaried position ? Comprehensive benefits package ? Competitive compensation ? Opportunities for professional growth If you're passionate about managing and maintaining critical ranch infrastructure, enjoy dynamic work environments, and want to make a real impact, this job is for you, and we'd love to have you on our team! Learn more & apply now:?https://lnkd.in/gD8_uSw4 #EastFoundation #JobOpportunity #RanchLife #CareerInAgriculture #SouthTexasJobs

Today, on World Wildlife Day, we celebrate the vital connection between responsible land stewardship and thriving wildlife populations. Here at East Foundation, our approach to ranching demonstrates how working lands can support both livestock production and diverse wildlife habitats across South Texas. Through our science-based management practices, we're conserving native rangelands that serve as critical habitats for countless species. Our "management by experiment" approach allows us to continuously improve our stewardship techniques, testing innovative grazing systems and conservation methods that benefit the land and the wildlife that depend on it. When rangelands are healthy, everyone wins – the land maintains productivity, livestock thrive, and wildlife populations flourish - this is the foundation of true conservation, ensuring these working landscapes create value for generations to come. #EastFoundation #WorldWildlifeDay #LandStewardship #RanchingForConservation #SouthTexas

Meet Zo? Dibble, one of our current Quail Technicians from Orleans, Massachusetts! Zo? joins us with a BA in Natural Resources Conservation from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and holds previous experience as a Shorebird Monitor at Cape Cod National Seashore. She was drawn to East Foundation for the opportunity to expand her wildlife conservation skills and gain hands-on experience in field research, which we're so glad she's been able to do these past few months. When asked what her favorite part of the internship has been, she confidently mentioned trapping and banding the live quail. With a passion for ornithology (the study of birds), Zo? is building her career in wildlife biology one bird at a time. #EastFoundation #WildlifeBiology #Conservation #QuailTechnician #SouthTexas #WildlifeResearch

We're thrilled to share some exciting news from the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society's annual meeting this February! ? We were honored that East Foundation was awarded the "Land Stewardship Award," recognizing landowners who excel in developing, applying, and promoting sound wildlife management principles on their land. ?Additionally, a special congratulations to our educator Masi Mejia on being selected as Vice President for the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society! This leadership role reflects both Masi's expertise and dedication to wildlife conservation in Texas. We know that she's going to serve the chapter well. We'd like to thank everyone who stopped by our booth during the conference. We appreciated the opportunity to chat with so many passionate wildlife professionals and students and to answer your thoughtful questions about our conservation initiatives. The conference featured an impressive lineup of sessions on wildlife research, conservation, and management across Texas - from mammal and bird ecology to habitat management and wildlife communities. We're already looking forward to next year's conference! #WildlifeConservation #TCTWS #EastFoundation #TexasWildlife #LandStewardship #Conservation