The Passion Behind our Mission
Ned and Genie Fritz in East Texas, 1996
It all began with small acreage and big ideas, says Genie Fritz, TLC’s co-founder alongside her husband Ned. She remembers countless conversations on the land—meeting people who cared deeply about conservation but didn’t have the right tools to protect what needed protecting.
“There was this great need from landowners,” she says. Bigger outfits like the Nature Conservancy weren’t interested in the smaller plots, but folks who’d been overlooked had no less passion for preservation.
That passion was shared by a small but mighty team of volunteers, the bedrock of what was then called NAPA (the Natural Area Preservation Association). “We did it all,” says Genie. She remembers sitting on the sofa with the first group of dedicated volunteers, addressing and shipping out mailers to garner interest. “We would get people together and say ‘Here’s what needs to be done.’ And little by little it grew.”
Eileen Fritz McKee—Ned and Genie’s daughter and longtime TLC board member—recalls both the promise and the chaos of a burgeoning organization in their family home. “Papers were everywhere,” she says. “If we wanted to have a dinner party, we would have to pick up all the piles.” Eileen credits her mother for keeping things organized. While Ned’s imagination ran wild, Genie provided a grounding force and a clear structure to make things happen.
“I did the typing,” says Genie, ever humble. “Ned would write things down in the middle of the night. That mind was constantly working.”
And always ahead of the curve, according to Eileen. “He was the first person to talk about sustainability,” she says. “Both my parents were doing everything that’s trending now, but fifty years ago. They were a great team.” She smiles. “Plus, they were in love.”
That passionate dedication—not only to nature, but to the radical concept that people should work in companionship with it—was an everyday reality for Eileen and her three sisters. Their Dallas home was on three acres of prairie, with a wild park at the end of the street. Eileen recalls swimming in the local creek with their father, how they once spotted a cottonmouth snake gliding downstream. Family vacations were spent in National Parks and Forests. “We grew up in the outdoors,” she says.
Ned, Genie, and Pokey Rehmet at Eagle Rock Ranch, 2003
While her father was a legend in the courtroom, he was also a “self-made Master Naturalist” whose expertise was in high demand. She remembers the long line of folks who desperately wanted to accompany him on the trail. “To go on a hike with Ned Fritz was on your bucket list.”
And according to Genie, this was absolutely crucial to getting policy makers on board. “He would take these politicians on walks. In the past they hadn’t really cared, and then they saw it all through his eyes.”
But Ned didn’t rely on his own expertise—he always included as many scientists as possible in the conversation. Eileen remembers in particular how he recruited botanists from the University of Texas. “It gave us more prestige,” says Genie.
And it gave landowners the power to preserve. “A lot of people have land in their families for years but don’t know what’s there,” says Genie. “They can tell you it’s a lovely piece of land, that this little bunch of flowers needs to be saved.” But without the resources and mobilization efforts that she and Ned provided with that early grassroots effort, those acres would have fallen into the hands of developers, and would be “under concrete,” as Ned used to say. “Now,” says Genie, “they know to come to TLC.”
When she looks back on the organization’s evolution, Genie speaks not only of growth, but of a shift in public consciousness. “It’s grown from a small group of volunteers to a real organization,” she says. “And it’s just getting bigger. People are beginning to realize the value of being able to get out into nature.”
Her own favorite protected property is also the very first that TLC, then NAPA, saved—a hundred acres in the Angelina National Forest called the Catahoula Preserve. Purchased in 1984, this forest of longleaf pine and beautiful creeks is, according to Genie, one of the most wonderful places to take a walk—and get lost. She laughs, remembering that before developed trails and proper signage, early NAPA volunteers would occasionally lose their way.
Catahoula Preserve, TLC’s first protected property
Genie and her family returned to Catahoula Preserve after Ned’s passing in 2008 to spread his ashes in the forest of longleaf pine. Both Eileen and Genie recall how friends and family met up in Lufkin to drive out together. It was a joyful gathering and a testament to both Ned’s and Genie’s legacy.
When asked what her favorite part of Texas nature is, Genie responds immediately. “Sunflowers.”
Eileen smiles. “That’s my father’s plant. He loved to work out in the sunshine.” She remembers him poised with a pad and pencil in the backyard, like a flower catching light, jotting frantically to keep up with the pace of his ideas. Recently, Eileen returned to her childhood home and discovered a small bunch of sunflowers standing proudly right where her father used to sit, as if waiting for Ned to head outside and let his imagination run wild. “I’ve always said he was the original force for nature,” says Eileen.
That dynamism, rooted in a family’s commitment to both enjoying and protecting the wide open spaces of Texas, rallied a still-thriving community to its cause.
Genie puts it quite simply. “People that wanted to see land preserved—they joined us.” And like Ned’s patch of sunflowers, that foundational desire is alive and well in the movement he and Genie began in those conversations out on the land.
Celebrating 40 Years of Conservation
We have been collecting stories and photos from people that have made this organization what it is today, highlighting all the hard work, special moments, and conservation successes we have had over the last four decades. We will be sharing these throughout the year here: https://www.texaslandconservancy.org/40-years-of-conservation
As we move forward to the next 40 years, we hope you will continue to support this important work and help to create a future where being in nature won’t be a thing of the past.