However, historic land management practices, such as overgrazing and fire suppression, have resulted in an increase in the density of native woody plant species in the coastal prairie. For example, prior to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) acquisition in 2000, the area supported private ranching operations during much of the twentieth century. While valuable for thornscrub-dependent species, honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) and huisache (Acacia farnesiana) shrubs are encroaching into the grassland, reducing the cover of gulf cordgrass (Spartina spartinae), a critical component of the northern aplomado falcon’s habitat in the Bahia Grande Unit. Scientists from The Peregrine Fund previously reintroduced the falcons to Coastal Texas. Without these reintroduction efforts, the northern aplomado falcon might have become extinct.