John Bunker Sands

An executive director of the Rosewood Corporation, the Hunt family oil, gas, real estate, and private investment group, John Bunker Sands was heavily involved in managing the organization’s 6 ranches. In the 1980s and ’90s, he rotationally grazed cattle, improved the land’s ecological diversity, and focused on restoring wetlands on 2100 acres scattered across 4 counties. After his death, the family’s recreated wetland at the East Fork of the Trinity River was put into use by the North Texas Municipal Water District to filter and clean wastewater using a network of 28 cells, while at the same time offering lessons in wetland ecology and water conservation to visitors.