Ranching

In 1957 a father-son team leased land consisting of native grassland pasture in Shackelford County for their cow-calf operation.

More than fifty years later, the son part of that team, and now his son, continue to manage Chimney Creek Ranch. Both the cattle operation and the land itself have changed tremendously in the more than half-century since the Waller family relocated to Shackelford County.

The land is the same except that where once there roamed wild herds of buffalo, today you have well tended cattle and wildlife of many species.

The eastern headwaters of Chimney Creek are surrounded by a fence some 2.6 miles long and 400 feet wide, a total of 125 acres.  

This protects the buffered area from the impact of adjacent cattle grazing and wildlife hunting.  

This is a conservation practice intended to
i) increase water quality, and
ii) replenish the seeps, springs, and underlying stream aquifer.  

In addition, it functions to reinstate the native grasses of Texas and provide safe habitat for the native wildlife of Texas.  This riparian buffer was established with the assistance of the NRCS in 2008.

Nancy and T. Edgar Paup established the “Robert B. Waller Endowed Graduate Scholarship” at Tarleton State University in 2015.

Under the Scholarship criteria, it is awarded annually to a full time graduate student in the Department of Wildlife, Sustainability and Ecosystem Sciences.

It has been awarded to three Tarleton students:

Danielle Belleny- 2016, 2017

Rinchen Wangchuk- 2018

John Palarski- 2019

The research has included quail studies on the Chimney Creek Ranch and various other research as needed by Dr. T. Wayne Schwertner and his Department.

The scholarship has been of benefit to Tarleton State University and its graduate students to further their continued studies and research.