People Stories

Meet the visionary who restored 5,500 acres of wrecked Texas land to paradise

Fifty years ago, the wildly inspiring David Bamberger bought the worst land he could find with the aim of bringing it back to thriving life. Although born into poverty, he became an immensely successful fast food tycoon before cashing in his chips and assuming the role of Totally Inspiring Steward Of The Land. It’s not the storyline one might expect from somebody who started a fried chicken empire – but it’s a beautiful story.

After selling his company, Bamberger took to the hills to begin his work. “My objective was to take the worst piece of land I could possible find in the Hill Country of Texas and begin the process of restoration,” he says in the short film Selah: Water from Stone. He settled upon a wasteland of 5,500 overgrazed acres of “wall-to-wall brush, there wasn’t any grass, there wasn’t any water, nobody wanted it,” he says – and thus, Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve was born. By “working with Mother Nature instead of against her,” he says, he was able to bring it back to beautiful, thriving life. In the film below, Bamberger talks about the preserve’s name, Selah, […]

More about restoration work:

Water Warriors and Other People Stories

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The visionary who restored 5,500 acres of wrecked Texas land to paradise
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David Bamberger bought the worst land he could find with the aim of bringing it back to thriving life. Although born into poverty, he became an immensely successful fast food tycoon before cashing in his chips and assuming the role of Totally Inspiring Steward Of The Land.

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