Terlingua Ranch is a 200,000 acre community nestled in one of the largest bio-reserves in the world. This 5000 square mile Chihuahuan Reserve’s sustainability model has three zones, the “core”, a “buffer zone”, and a “transition area”. Characterized as a refugium for plant and animal communities and their genetic resources, a protective zone that provides education, tourism, and recreational facilities, and a transition zone that utilizes the concepts developed in the reserve to balance the needs of humans and the land. Terlingua Ranch strives to be designated as a transition area.
“The park serves as the keystone for a group of surrounding large protected areas, including Big Bend Ranch State Park (Texas), Black Gap Wildlife Management Area (Texas), and three protected areas in Mexico: Áreas de Protección de Flora y Fauna Cañón de Santa Elena, Maderas del Carmen, and Ocampo. The Mexican protected areas encompass more than 800,000 hectares, and Big Bend park managers collaborate with Mexican managers on resource issues. The river corridor is also a protected area, designated and managed as the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River on the U.S. side of the border and Monumento Natural Rio Bravo Del Norte on the Mexican side.”