Gary and Sue Price, owners of 77 Ranch in Blooming Grove, Texas, were recognized as a 2012 regional Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) winner Thursday during the 2012 Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver, Colo.

77 Ranch is the Region IV ESAP award winner and will compete with six other regional winners for the national ESAP award, which will be announced during the 2013 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show in Tampa, Fla.

“We are proud of longtime TSCRA members Gary and Sue Price, and their son Gary Lee, for receiving this prestigious award,” said Joe Parker Jr., rancher and TSCRA president. “Gary and Sue’s knowledge of cattle production and ranch management combined with their passion for conservation is an excellent example of today’s agriculture stewardship.

“The effectiveness of the conservation and restoration work at 77 Ranch has been proven by the trial of the drought of 2011,” continued Parker. “In a year when all of Texas was in historic drought and when ranchers reduced or completely destocked herds and trucked in hay and water, the Price family was able to sustain their entire herd with their available forage and water resources.”

Located approximately 50 miles from the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, 77 Ranch has been in operation since 1976. Their conservation and restoration work has been recognized by state and professional agencies through such awards as the Outstanding Rangeland Steward Award jointly presented by the Texas Section, Society for Range Management and the TSCRA, and the Leopold Conservation Award for Texas from the Sand County Foundation and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The enterprises at 77 Ranch include wetland and water development; wildlife management, restoration and leasing for bass fishing, waterfowl and upland bird hunting; quail habitat restoration; turkey population restoration; and harvesting nuts from 150 native pecans.

The ESAP award is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences; the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS); U.S. Fish and Wildlife; the National Cattlemen’s Foundation; and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

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TSCRA is a 135 year-old trade association and is the largest and oldest livestock organization based in Texas. TSCRA has more than 15,000 beef cattle operations, ranching families and businesses as members. These members represent approximately 50,000 individuals directly involved in ranching and beef production who manage 4 million head of cattle on 76 million acres of range and pasture land primarily in Texas and Oklahoma, but throughout the Southwest.