Happy 2021! As we look over our shoulder and say goodbye to 2020, we have a lot to contemplate. Fear and uncertainty made up the vast majority of the year and some fear and uncertainty will continue in 2021.

For landowners the uncertainty will play into goal planning as we move forward. Is it time to pull in and be more conservative with our goal planning, or go bold? Of course, time will tell.

For landowners who are primarily conservative anyway, caution will most likely prevail, especially with yesterday’s Georgia runoff election results. There’s a great unknown on how South Texas landowners will be affected.

We do know that life goes on and the daily work continues regardless of what happens in the political realm. So with that in mind, we as an association will continue to move forward to seek out information that is relevant to landowner decision making.

As many of you know Taxation is one of our main educational emphases this year. Cassie Gresham, partner in the Braun and Gresham law firm, spoke in the last week of December of 2020, in the first of our series. Cassie hit on some of the deadline reminders for landowners and touched on the topic for our next webinar series on January 27: Wildlife Valuation. We are pleased that Tim Siegmund from Texas Parks & Wildlife Department will be presenting on that topic. It will be highly educational; so we hope you will plan to join in. The Zoom participation registration link will be going out soon.

I would like to welcome the incoming new board of directors: Forrest Runnels and three past serving directors: Sylvia Chavez, Alice East, and James McAllen, Jr. We look forward to a very productive year! I would also like to thank our new slate of officers: Whit Jones, Chairman; Eric Opiela, President; Ellen Randall, Vice-President; Giovana Benitez, Secretary; and Mark Alvarenga, Treasurer; for their service and time commitment.

Beginning next month, we’ll be featuring landowner stories in this newsletter. We’ll be starting with our directors and advisors and then will be reaching out to our members to highlight their lives and experiences on the land.

Lastly, I would like to thank our end-of-2020 givers who have made an impact on the Association. Thank you to Becky & David Crow, Walter Negley, and Newell Atkinson. Your generosity is so appreciated! I’d also like to thank those that gave a gift of membership to others: Newell Atkinson, Giovana Benitez, and Joe Maley.

Let us know if you have an issue, question, or suggestion. We are here to help!

Until next month,

Susan J. Kibbe Office (361) 348-3020 Susan@STPRA.org