Story and photos compiled by Melissa Blair, Public Affairs Specialist, Corpus Christi, TX

In the heart of Comal County, Texas, lies a hidden gem known as Honey Creek Spring Ranch. Its rich history spans generations, with the fifth-generation landowners, Joyce Moore and her sister Cindy Martinez, as the current stewards of this historic property.  Joyce’s son, Josh, is already playing a pivotal role on the ranch as well, ready to become the sixth generation to manage these lands. 

"Honey Creek Spring Ranch has been in our family for over 140 years. It's not just a piece of property, it's a part of who we are,” says Moore.

A remarkable cedar log house has withstood the tests of time, as well as a resilient stone chapel built in 1878 that sits on a ridge overlooking western Comal County. An old pumphouse built with limestone and concrete stands tall where they once kept milk and eggs and stored water. Moore describes all the structures, which she hopes to restore, as “works in progress.”

Moore reminisces about her ancestors' resilience as well. She recalls the family grew corn, milo, hay grazer, oats, and sugar cane; and produced their own milk, eggs, and vegetables. 

"They never really sold any of it. It was for their personal use as part of subsistence agriculture," she explains.

Protecting the Land for a Community

Conservation has always been at the forefront for the sisters and their parents who needed to find ways to work in the rocky soil common to the Texas Hill Country. They’ve worked with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for decades, implementing different practices to sustain their land.
 

"It's been a great experience working with Joyce and her family,” says NRCS Rangeland Management Specialist Cody Groff who has worked with the family since 2020. “It’s one of the larger places I deal with,” he says, explaining how many properties he visits are much smaller, having been previously subdivided or partitioned among family members. 

NRCS assisted with several fencing projects to replace the remnants of a 100-year-old barbed wire still attempting to contain livestock. Some parts are still supported by original rock fences. The old wire had become brittle, easily breaking apart in Moore’s fingers and offering no resistance to cattle.

Collaborating for a Conservation Easement

Despite their best efforts at maintaining the historic property, the sisters found themselves at a crossroads a few years back. As urbanization encroached upon the serene Texas countryside, their priorities had to change to something even more pressing. 

A few years back, Moore and Martinez learned of a potentially large development that would have impacted their land and surrounding properties—the Guadalupe River State Park and a state natural area. One treasured spot in danger of being destroyed is what is known as the Honey Creek Cave System. Stretching at least 20-miles, the underground ecological wonder is the largest cavern system in Texas. It just happens to lie in the heart of their ranch.
 

If the development went through, it could have had devastating consequences on the fragile ecosystem and waterways surrounding the area. Although the land looks rocky and strong, the rock is primarily made up of limestone, a highly soluble stone.  Karst terranes such as these create caves, springs, and other valuable ecosystems. When large developments are built on this type of land, groundwater pollution is hard to prevent.

"We knew that we couldn't just sit by and do nothing," Moore explains. 

Through strategic partnerships with organizations like NRCS and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Texas, Moore and Martinez enrolled their land into an NRCS Agricultural Conservation Easement Program – Agricultural Land Easement. This voluntary agreement ensures Honey Creek Spring Ranch remains protected from development in perpetuity. 

ACEP-ALE helps private and tribal landowners, land trusts, and other entities such as state and local governments protect croplands and grasslands on working farms and ranches by limiting nonagricultural uses of the land.

"It's not just a piece of paper," Moore clarifies. "It's a promise to the land to protect it for generations to come."

The adjoining land was also negotiated for purchase by the TNC and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department so it could be added to the nearby Guadalupe River State Park. Together, these decisions helped to protect the headwaters of Honey Creek for the foreseeable future.

"What? Am I giving away my land?" Moore poses a rhetorical question in response to what some folks thought she was doing. "There seems to be a misconception by the average person when they hear that we have entered into a Conservation Easement. They assume it means you're giving up all your rights on your land, but it doesn't."

NRCS was instrumental in helping Moore and Martinez obtain the conservation easement by providing much of the funding for the purchase of the easement to safeguard their land from urban encroachment.

A conservation easement limits the use of the land to protect it from negative impacts of development. Working lands are protected, keeping generational farms intact. In other words, while Moore and Martinez retain property rights, they can only build in accordance with easement specifications that are in the best interests of the land and natural resources.

In addition, easements preserve critically valuable wildlife habitat that is shrinking due to urban encroachment.

While NRCS provided much needed funding to see the project through, TNC Texas Director of Land Protection, Jeff Francell also worked closely with Moore and Martinez to acquire the easement and get the legal agreement in place.

“There’s a lot of unique things about this property and about working with Joyce and her sister,” says Francell. The land is especially valuable because of its proximity to both New Braunfels and San Antonio. 

“It would’ve been really easy to sell this property for development,” Francell says. “Because it’d been in their family for so many years, that wasn’t really something they wanted to contemplate.” 

Beneath the Surface: The Cavern System

Below the tranquil pastures of Honey Creek Spring Ranch, the Honey Creek Cave can reach as wide as 20 feet across to a tight squeeze, and from a few inches deep to over 10 feet deep. Brittle formations drip from the ceiling like candlesticks to the water below. The underground world is home to endangered species like the Texas blind salamander. 

Close family friend and a retired GIS manager turned caving enthusiast, Kurt Menking, serves as a hydrology expert on the ranch. He's been surveying the cave since 1980, making well over 200 trips. “It never gets old,” he says. 

US Geological Service (USGS) spring reports from the 1940s mentioned the cave, indicating they knew its approximate location. Cavers from the San Antonio area began visiting in the 1950s and 60s but reached a dead end about a quarter mile in, preventing deep exploration. In the early 1980s, cavers hammered and cleared a blockage which opened the cave. They have been surveying it ever since. 

The cave crosses the surface water divide, flowing into the Guadalupe River. The back-end feeds Cibolo Creek. Another section at the very back of the cave flows downstream directly into the Edwards Aquifer.

"It breaks into multiple ecosystems. So, when it floods really hard one way it'll go one way or the other. The water here comes from different watersheds and exits into different watersheds. It’s very unique in that regard,” Menking says.

He believes adding water into the creek because of local development would not have ended well. "It would destroy this entire habitat," he says. "This is a slow-moving habitat. All the creatures here would die."

At particular risk was the Texas blind salamander, which is listed as a threatened species in Texas. This unique amphibian has adapted to its dark environment by having non-functional eyes and light skin pigment, relying on other senses to find food.
 

Biologist Andrew Gluesenkamp has researched the cave for years and is familiar with many of the creatures that call it home. He has observed firsthand the aftermath of previous rainfalls and floods that have touched the area.

"Seeing the little fish and the logs wedged in the cracks up in this cave is what informed me that development is an existential threat to this 20 something mile long cave system."

Building new infrastructure like housing developments and associated infrastructure on the land around the creek and cave would be dangerous, says Gluesenkamp. "If you're in an area that regularly gets these intense downpours, it will certainly overflow your system. It will flow into the creek. And there's nothing you can do to avoid it.”

Honored for Their Commitment

Moore and Martinez’ efforts didn't go unnoticed. In 2023, the Comal County Conservation Alliance honored them with the Jensie Madden Comal Conservation Award. For Moore, the real reward was knowing the hard work had paid off and they were able to make a difference.

"I always tell people it's my favorite place on earth," she says of the ranch and beautiful spring with cascading water and lush greenery surrounding the cave. “We had to do something."

Due to the sisters’ actions and TNC’s efforts, nearly 6,000 acres of land in this watershed will now forever be protected.

Passing on the Legacy

It’s obvious from the way she surveys her surroundings that as much as they’ve already accomplished, Moore is far from done. In addition to improving the fields, rangeland, creek area, and cave, she also wants to work on the historical buildings and give them new life.

For Moore’s son, Josh, the ranch represents more than land—it's a legacy. 

“While everything else changes around it, I'd prefer for it to stay the same," he says of the place that has meant so much to his family. Josh describes growing up on the land as being a lot of hard work and long days. But he also fondly recalls when his grandfather would take him out on the property, placing him on the back of an old Billy goat that once wandered in from a neighboring property.

Currently attending college, Josh comes home to work on the property whenever he can. Most recently, he’s helped clear a field to prepare it for the 1,500 feet of cross fencing that was installed.

“I can no longer do everything I physically used to do, so Josh is my brawn now,” says Moore. “I want him to love this place as his own, just like I do. He wasn't raised right here for the first year or so, but he's been here pretty much every day of his life since, every weekend for sure. I raised him to be self-sufficient and a worker. And I think I have succeeded at that.”

She says she is proud of the way her son has stepped into his role, while joking, “He thinks he's my hired hand.”

Josh responds, "You say jump, I say how high."

A Story Still Unfolding

As the sun sets behind a mammoth oak and over the rolling fields of Honey Creek Spring Ranch, one thing is clear: this is more than a piece of land. It's a history lesson of resilience, dedication, and a deep-rooted love for nature. And for Moore and her family, it's a story that's far from over.

“I think they'd be proud. I know I am," Moore says of her parents and grandparents regarding what she and Martinez have done here. 

Josh, meanwhile, is thinking of the future of the ranch, including clearing more regrowth cedar and doing a prescribed burn to help improve native grass diversity. Like his mom and those who came before, it’s clear that he’s all in.

"Hopefully it'll never change, and it'll stay in the same hands,” he says.