A Pleasant Valley: J. David Bamberger and 50-plus years of Selah
“What we needed was a new kind of pioneer, not the sort which cut down the forests and burned off the prairies and raped the land, but pioneers who created new forests and healed and restored the richness of the country God had given us, that richness which, from the moment that the first settler landed on the Atlantic coast, we had done our best to destroy. I had the foolish idea that I wanted to be one of that new race of pioneers. – Louis Bromfield, “Pleasant Valley,” epigraph from Water from Stone: The Story of Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve
Passionate conservationist David J. Bamberger has transformed his Blanco County land into a natural paradise. Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve, is reached going out a no-count road from the heart of Johnson City, up a gradual incline as you leave town. Soon there are hills everywhere. Turn into the ranch’s entrance, and the gradient turns steeply downward. As you enter the property a series of signs commemorates the many awards J. David Bamberger and Selah have received: Texas Environmental Excellence Award in Education, Arbor Day Winner Good Steward Award, Excellence in Grazing Management Award, Land Stewardship Award, Stewardship Forest Award, Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation Education, and the Leopold Conservation Award.
Drive slowly. Roll down your windows. Have a Selah moment.