Latest News

01 Mary Anne Piacentini Receives the Pugsley Award

Mary Anne Piacentini, president and CEO of the Coastal Prairie Conservancy (CPC), has been named the 2026 recipient of the Honorable Cornelius Amory Pugsley Medal, a national honor recognizing outstanding contributions to parks and conservation. Administered by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA) in partnership with the National Park Foundation, the Pugsley Medal has recognized leaders in parks and conservation for nearly a century. Past recipients include Lady Bird Johnson, Laurance Rockefeller, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, Houston conservationist Terry Hershey and National Park Service founder Stephen Mather. A city planner by training, Piacentini has dedicated her career to the Houston region, helping shape both its physical landscape and how people experience it. When she joined CPC in 1999, the organization protected approximately 1,300 acres. Today, CPC has permanently conserved 36,607 acres and counting of coastal prairie, wetlands, farms and ranches across Southeast Texas.

02 Watch KHOU11 Story on Ranching on the Katy Prairie

KHOU 11 reporter Amanda Henderson visited the Katy Prairie to explore the challenges facing Texas ranchers and how permanently conserved working lands can help keep ranching on the landscape. The story features longtime Waller County rancher David Welch, who raises cattle on land conserved by the Coastal Prairie Conservancy, and CPC Conservation Director Wesley Newman. Together, they share how conservation and ranching can work hand in hand to protect open space and sustain working lands for generations to come.