Conservation

The Cibolo Nature Center & Farm Has a New Name

From Our Deep Roots to a Bright Future – By Carolyn Chipman Evans, Founder & CEO

In a year when all of us have had a chance to step back and reflect, we here at the Cibolo have been hard at work responding to the community’s needs and doing some introspection as a team. We are emerging with a new way to represent ourselves, steeped deeply in our history and aiming for a nature-rich future for Boerne and Kendall County.  

When we started our work over thirty years ago with a handful of friends, our goal was to clean up and protect a stretch of the Cibolo Creek, a life source of our community. We were known then as the Cibolo Wilderness Trail. As time went by, we realized that the land and water we protected was really a part of something much larger and greater, and our goals grew.  In 1992 we built our first building and changed our name to the Cibolo Nature Center. We started our education programs, our citizen science research, and stewardship of Cibolo lands.  

We learned that water really does flow downstream and that to preserve Cibolo Creek, we must connect our efforts to a much larger watershed. Over time, our organization has become a primary steward of the Upper Cibolo Watershed, spanning more than 20 miles of waterways and providing over one million gallons per day into critical aquifer recharge.  

In 2007 we purchased the Herff Farm to further protect this fragile watershed. We then changed our name to the Cibolo Nature Center & Farm. For the last thirteen years we have worked to take this old abandoned farm and turn it into a public space that builds community through events, education and research. We also started a Nature Preschool and are nearing completion of the campus on the Herff Farm.  

Over recent years, we have come to realize that we are much more than a nature center or a farm, and we want a name to reflect that. Our research has become internationally recognized, our educational programming reaches tens of thousands of children and adults each year, our regional conservation efforts are recognized state-wide, and our civic engagement is making a significant impact on the future landscape of our growing community.  

It’s time once again for a new name.  

We are now the Cibolo Center for Conservation!  

Our mission remains the same—to promote the conservation of natural resources through education and stewardship. And all of our work will still take place on our two campuses—the Cibolo Nature Center and Herff Farm. In the spring of this coming year, our new preschool at Herff Farm—The Nest Nature School will open, and we hope to fill it with many little fledglings that will have the extraordinary experience of a deep connection to nature.  

With 32 years of incredible community support, we have come a long, long way. Together we can build a future with pristine lands and waters for the wildlife and people that depend on them.  

Thanks to you, our community, for your care and commitment. . .for all these years. And here’s to a new way forward as the Cibolo Center for Conservation!