Mary Anne Piacentini[/caption]

When Mary Anne Piacentini was told she would receive one of the inaugural Terry Hershey Awards in Audubon Texas's Women in Conservation program, she said it created an awkward situation. She was in the process of nominating other women for the same award. Piacentini was among four women chosen for the inaugural 2015 award for their decades of work in Texas conservation efforts.

Piacentini graduated from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design with a master's degree in city and regional planning in the 1970s. She soon found herself in Houston working on parks and roads projects with the Houston-Galveston Area Council and the city of Houston, she said. Piacentini went on to head the Cultural Arts Council for a decade before becoming the executive director for Friends of Hermann Park. She managed the park's $75 million capital improvements project in the mid-1990s, and served as chairwoman of the board of directors of the Texas Land Trust Council.

In 1999, Piacentini was tapped to become executive director of Katy Prairie Conservancy, or KPC. At the time, the organization owned roughly 1,300 acres. Through land purchases and conservation easements with neighboring landowners, Piacentini and the KPC board of directors have grown the conservancy to include 20,000 acres, including a working ranch. The Matt Cook Wildlife Viewing Platform at Warren Lake is open to the public from 7 a.m. to dusk, 365 days a year, and students regularly visit the field office to learn about native Texas ecology and wildlife.

How did you find out you received the Terry Hershey Award from Audubon Texas?

It's very funny because when they first told me I said, "Oh, I don't know if I should accept or not, because this is a team effort." It's very much a team effort, and I thought the whole team should win the award. But they said, "It's a Women in Conservation award! It's going to you!" So, of course I was very honored, but it's really so many people who work on this.

How did you get involved with the Katy Prairie Conservancy?

[After working for H-GAC, the city of Houston and the Cultural Arts Council], I became the director of the Friends of Hermann Park, which is now the Hermann Park Conservancy. [I] worked there five years and helped identify the need for a master plan. I hired three people who implemented the master plan. In between I'd always been a consultant ... so I took a year and I was helping people raise money. I was helping people make plans and [manage projects] and the Katy Prairie Conservancy had a board member who knew me and suggested I come in.

I actually came in thinking I was going to become a consultant with them. So, I came in and I started talking with them and I said, "Here, I'll give you ideas and help with research...." Well, we must've had five meetings and I got more and more excited about what it was they were doing and what I thought they could do. They got more and more excited about what they thought I could do for them.

I wanted to work with them, but I said, "There's a big problem. I don't have a biology background. I am not a naturalist. I'm an urban and regional planner. I'm good at putting deals together and talking to people. I can raise money, but I don't have [a biology background]."

To replace Carter Smith, who was my predecessor and is now the director of Texas Parks and Wildlife, I said, "You're going to need I think two people, [and] you're going to have to let me hire a land manager."

So that was OK and eight months later we met Wesley [Newman], who is our conservation stewardship director, and I think it was a wonderful team because he has a master's degree [in range land ecology and management] from [Texas] A&M [University].

What are some of your goals with the KPC?

We support sustainable agriculture. We have tenant farmers [and] what we're doing provides extraordinary benefits. Prairies improve water quality. Prairies hold back the floodwaters and help [keep]downstream neighbors from getting flooded. There was a study done [in part] by Harris County Flood Control that looked at the absorption qualities of prairie grass. It holds back the sheets of water. There's not just immediate value; long-term value is there. Kids learn ecology. We're saving seeds [as part of a project with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin] so we don't lose [native plant] species.

Two new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant walking paths were constructed outside the field office. What other projects are underway?

We'd like to build a learning center [at the field office]. It would have an open-air area where students can learn and it would be accessible for people who want to come out and use the trails.

The KPC offers weekend and evening events, including Ranger Treks, free prairie guide trainings and hands-on wildlife hikes. The Matt Cook Wildlife Viewing Platform on Warren Lake is open 365 days per year from 7 a.m. to dusk. Field Office, 31950 Hebert Road, Waller. 936-931-5564. www.katyprairie.org