In Liberty County, Texas, a remarkable new conservation project is helping safeguard one of the region’s most valuable natural landscapes. The Batiste Creek Conservation Easement permanently protects 1,218 acres of forested bottomland, wetlands, streams, and wildlife habitat within the Pine Island Bayou watershed, a sub-basin of the Neches River Basin. The property includes more than 200 acres of wetlands and approximately 40,000 linear feet of streams and tributaries with nearly 8 miles of waterways that support water quality, floodwater storage, and habitat for native wildlife.
This project reflects the kind of long-term, landscape-scale conservation that defines Unique Places to Save’s mission: restoring and conserving natural and working lands and aquatic resources through permanent protection and stewardship.
Batiste Creek is important not only because of its size, but because of what it still represents. In a part of Southeast Texas shaped by active industry, timberland management, and transportation corridors, large intact natural tracts are increasingly uncommon. Batiste Creek stands out as a place where the floodplain still functions as a floodplain, where wetlands remain connected to streams, and where wildlife can still move through a broad, undeveloped landscape. The conservation easement ensures this property will remain in a predominantly natural, scenic, forested, undeveloped, and open condition in perpetuity.
“Working with Unique Places to Save on our wetland mitigation project has been an absolute pleasure. From start to finish, their team made the entire process incredibly smooth and straightforward. They have a deep expertise in navigating the complexities of land conservation and permanent protection, which gave us peace of mind that our efforts were both effective and legally sound.
What really stood out with this organization was just how easy they were to collaborate with on such a tedious project. They took the time to understand our specific goals and ensured that our conservation efforts were tailored to protect the unique value of our property for the long term. We look forward to partnering with them for many years to come on this and future projects!”Christie Parker, Batiste Creek Landowner
What makes this project especially compelling is the scale of its water resource protection. The property’s wetlands and stream corridors do the quiet but essential work that healthy landscapes are meant to do: they store and slow floodwaters, filter runoff, retain sediment, cycle nutrients, and support aquatic life. These natural systems help protect downstream waters while strengthening the ecological health of the entire watershed.
Batiste Creek also protects the kind of wildlife habitat that is becoming harder to find at a meaningful scale. The property is dominated by bottomland hardwood forests, mixed riparian woodlands, and wetland plant communities typical of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain. These habitats provide important stopover and wintering habitat for migratory birds and support a wide range of amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and aquatic organisms.
The project is also about restoration as much as protection. Portions of the site were historically influenced by silvicultural drainage and timber management, and the mitigation plan calls for restoring hydrology and enhancing wetland habitat across the property. That work includes restoring 964 acres and enhancing 200 acres of riverine forested wetland systems, helping natural processes recover while ensuring the land remains permanently protected. This is what makes Batiste Creek so exciting: it is not just preserving what remains, but helping a large and ecologically important landscape become even healthier over time.
With the addition of Batiste Creek, Unique Places to Save moves closer to nearly 9,000 acres preserved across its growing conservation portfolio. That milestone speaks to the cumulative power of permanent protection as Unique Places to Save grows project by project, stream by stream, wetland by wetland. Batiste Creek adds a major new piece to that legacy: a large, connected tract in coastal Texas that will continue to protect clean water, resilient habitat, and the natural character of the region for generations to come.
Batiste Creek is the kind of place that people connect with immediately, even if they have never been there. It is a landscape where wetlands still slow and hold water, where streams still move through a forested floodplain, and where wildlife still finds room to thrive. In a rapidly changing world, protecting places like this is more than good conservation. It is an investment in cleaner water, richer habitat, and a healthier, more resilient future.