In the world of Texas conservation, the figure of Andrew Sansom looms large. Few can match Sansom’s contributions to the natural landscape of Texas, such as the over 500,000 acres of state parks and wildlife management areas he helped protect during his leadership at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He has spent a lifetime finding common ground between those who want to conserve natural resources and those who want to monetize them. Sansom’s gift has been finding the formula for persuading landowners in Texas, where private property rights dominate public policy, that conserving their natural assets provides a measurable financial return as well as an emotional one. Over the course of his career, Sansom has become well acquainted with the rough and tumble of Texas politics, especially where it concerns the environment. After his trailblazing work at TPWD, he went on to establish The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, which has become one of the state’s premier research and education centers for the study of water and watersheds. Andrew Sansom: A Life in Conservation chronicles Sansom’s journey as an environmentalist, a fundraiser, a professor, an author, and most importantly, a central figure in the history of conservation in Texas. At a time when our public lands are being opened up for commerce as never before, we are at risk of losing not only habitat and wildlife diversity, but also a visceral connection to nature. Sansom’s life story offers inspiration and useful lessons in finding ways to protect our environment while allowing sustainable development for future generations.
