In 2018, SMRF had the opportunity work with the City of San Marcos and a landowner to conserve the 284-acre Millican Ranch, which boasted extensive and impressive recharge features. SMRF found and helped the City obtain a special loan from the federal Clean Water Fund to purchase the land ensuring perpetual protection., the first loan of its kind in the state of Texas. Private landowners who followed SMRF’s work, later purchased the property neighboring the Geiger Ranch and closed on a conservation easement themselves in 2019, adding further protection to Spring Lake and the San Marcos River. The City of San Marcos was meanwhile pursuing other land opportunities and the protective loop has finally taken shape.
