The Borderlands Research Institute – at Alpine's Sul Ross State University – was founded in 2007, with a mission to empower land managers to conserve the region's natural resources. In the Trans-Pecos, that means private landowners. National and state parks here are treasures. But what residents and visitors alike cherish about this part of Texas – its unbroken vistas and star-filled night skies, its “primitive” and wild qualities – is tied to the presence of large, and largely undeveloped, ranches. The Borderlands Research Institute studies the region's wildlife. But it also works to provide tools to keep working ranches intact, and to preserve and restore features of those landscapes that are central to the Big Bend's natural heritage.