B and B

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is seeking donations in order to keep our state parks open

Texas has been hit with a record drought over the past 15 months.  The first few weeks of December saw a little relief, but forecasts call for the drought to likely continue well into next year.

Apparently the Texas parks system has been hit hard in the budget as a result, and they are now asking for people to send donations to help keep our state parks open. 

Please consider donating if you love Texas state parks.  You can do so at the website of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department:

Record drought and heat, devastating wildfires, and a drop in visitation have led to a critical situation for state parks.

We need to raise $4.6 million to keep state parks operating, and we can't do it without you.

There are three simple ways you can help:

1. Make a year-end, tax-deductible donation.
2. Make a donation when it's time for you to renew your vehicle registration.
3. Most importantly, because visitor fees pay for about half of all park operating costs, visit a state park this holiday season.

Please act now, to help keep Texas State Parks open for everyone to enjoy. Our state parks won't be the same without you.

Thank you,
Carter Smith
TPWD Executive Director

In case it helps out, here's a scene I captured at Guadalupe River State Park north of San Antonio a few weeks ago.

No more swap. Texas gets a new state park on the Devils River and can keep the old one.

I was surprised and encouraged to hear this news.  Instead of losing access to a large, remote natural area in order to gain another, smaller, but more accessible, one, the people of Texas will be able to use both thanks to private donations. 

From today's Austin American-Statesman:

Using a remarkable pool of private contributions totaling more than $10 million, the commission agreed to buy the Devils River Ranch from Dallas-area home builder Rod Sanders for $13 million.

The ranch fronts the east side of the Devils River for about 10 miles before the river begins merging with the Amistad International Reservoir on the Rio Grande near Del Rio. The ranch, which is largely desert scrub, includes a large lodge, several other residences and an airstrip.

The Devils River State Natural Area also is on the east side of the river about 13 miles upstream, and the two properties will compose a single state nature complex on the river.

The purchase means that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department now controls about 38,000 acres adjacent to Devils River, which is only 90 miles long but is regarded as the purest natural waterway in Texas and is considered sacred by anglers, paddlers, campers, hikers and wildlife lovers.

The deal was in contrast to a land swap proposal in early November in which the state and Sanders would have exchanged ownership of the two large tracts, and Sanders would have received $8 million in cash.

I'm looking forward to checking this place out.

State Park swap in the works?

Potentially interesting maneuvers at Texas Parks and Wildlife.  They appear to be in a hurry to swap the existing, remote, Devils River State Natural Area for a somewhat smaller, more accessible ranch downstream.  I'm not sure what to think of this, but the hurry is definitely unsettling.

From Shannon Tompkins in the Houston Chronicle:

The swap/purchase would put into Texas Parks and Wildlife Department hands a "spectacular," much more accessible-to-the-public tract that could become "one of the premier parks in our system," said Scott Boruff, TPWD deputy executive director.

But some conservation organizations and paddler/anglers are leery of the deal, questioning the logic of the transaction, TPWD's procedures for informing the public about the proposed exchange and the impact on paddlers of trading away the only public land along the upper reaches of the Devils.

"There are several things that concern us. How are they going to pay for it? Not just the up-front costs — the $8 million - but development, operational and maintenance costs, particularly given the economic issues state agencies are facing," Ken Kramer, director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said of the Devils River swap/purchase proposal. "And we're certainly concerned with what seems like a rush to get this deal done quickly, without much notice and opportunity for public input. The first I heard about it was last week. It doesn't appear to me they are living up to the spirit of their policy on land transactions."

...

The Devils River swap/purchase has been discussed only in closed-to-the-public executive session of the TPW Commission. The Nov. 4 TPW Commission meeting at which the proposal will be considered for adoption will be the first meeting at which the transaction is publicly discussed.

Hopefully this can be considered with a bit more deliberation and public discussion.

Texas Parks and Wildlife offered land next to two state parks. Will they take it?

From the Hill Country Planning Association:

The Hill Country Planning Association asks that you please consider sending two e-mail letters (samples provided (below) to support Tx Parks & Wildlife Commission purchasing 732 acres adjacent to Lost Maples and accepting 3000 acres adjacent to Government Canyon.  My understanding is that the state needs to hear public support, or the default position would be to decline these opportunities to meet budget cuts.  With sufficient support, they have a good chance of being passed.   Thanks 

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Land Purchase - Bandera County:  Lost Maples State Park
In a meeting on May 27, 2009, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission (the Commission) will consider the purchase of approximately 732 acres of land adjacent to Lost Maples State Park in Bandera County. At this meeting the public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed transaction before the Commission takes action. The meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Headquarters, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744. Prior to the meeting, public comment may be submitted to Ted Hollingsworth, Land Conservation, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744 or by email at:  ted.hollingsworth@tpwd.state.tx.us  or through the TPWD web site at www.tpwd.state.tx.us .

Dear Mr. Hollingsworth: 

I will not be able to attend the May 27, 2009 meeting described below.  I wish to submit my opinion for public comment.  I strongly support purchase of land adjacent to Lost Maples State Park in Bandera County.  Lost Maples is a popular destination and is at risk of having its natural resources decline through overuse.  Purchasing an additional 732 acres of land adjacent to Lost Maples will help protect more of this invaluable and rapidly vanishing habitat.

 

Sincerely,

(name and address)

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Acceptance of Land Donation - Bexar County:  Government Canyon State Park

In a meeting on Ma7 27, 2009, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission (the Commission) will consider accepting a donation of approximately 3,000 acres adjacent to Government Canyon State Park in Bexar County.  At this meeting the public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed transaction before the Commission takes action.  The meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Headquarters, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744.  Prior to the meeting, public comment may be submitted to Ted Hollingsworth, Land Conservation, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744 or by email at:  ted.hollingsworth@tpwd.state.tx.us  or through the TPWD web site at www.tpwd.state.tx.us .

Dear Mr. Hollingsworth:

I will not be able to attend the May 27, 2009 meeting described below.  I wish to submit my opinion for public comment.  I strongly support TP&W Commission accepting donation of 3000 acres adjacent to Government Canyon State Park in Bexar County.  Government Canyon State Park is a wonderful asset that the public is just starting to utilize.   With such close proximity to San Antonio, it is expected the park will be heavily utilized.  The City of San Antonio Parks and Natural Areas are already over-utilized and crowded.  Accepting donation of additional land adjacent to Government Canyon will help protect more of this invaluable and rapidly vanishing habitat.

 

Sincerely,

(name and address)

Hill Country Planning Association, aka "Hill Country Militia," rises up against developers' land-trashing

For a little story on the animosity that real estate developers are engendering in our neck of the woods due to the way they manage to transform bucolic hill country vistas into moonscapes of destruction, see this recent article in the San Antonio Current by Greg Harmon of harmon on earth (emphasis added):

[In early 2007] Reports that the San Antonio Water System was seeking to expand its authority across the city’s entire 5-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction, and that a new high-density development straddling Medina and Bandera counties was seeking SAWS sewer and water service, had rattled a broader geography of turf warriors. Many of them were already members of the non-profit Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, whose mission is specifically focused on protecting the Edwards Aquifer.

In a galleon of a ranch house outside Helotes modeled on Yellowstone National Park’s guest quarters, they debated just what they could do to stop the quickening pace of sprawling development. While SAWS officials argued that extending their pipes would better protect area water supplies by limiting the creation of smaller, less-professional water-company operations or, worse, the explosion of septic-tank communities, the consensus in the meeting was that the lines would only ensure the continued rush of concrete, sheet rock, and tarpaper.

The mix of political persuasions was bridged by a collective, dawning environmental consciousness, perhaps best illustrated by the retired neurosurgeon from Quihi, busy battling plans for a quarry in his hamlet.

“I never considered myself an environmentalist. I really didn’t,” said Robert Fitzgerald. “But once you start looking at what people are doing down there, if you have any feeling at all, you become an environmentalist.”

A member of the Edwards Aquifer Authority publicly confessed the agency hadn’t been willing to act on many issues out of fear. “It’s fear of what the legislature will do. Really, it’s fear of what the developers will get the lege to do to us,” he said. “Some think it’s time we called their bluff.”

Then Bebe [Fenstermaker] shot off from the front of the room. “We’re losing Texas. I don’t know if you know that,” she said. “I can’t stand to drive anywhere anymore … We look like New Jersey.”

A woman at the opposite end of the stone and timber expanse shook her jaw. “New Jersey looks better.”

Some attendees compared the motivation behind the night’s meeting to the survival ethic of the early Texians. “We’re kind of like the pioneers 200 years ago,” said one. “When there was a fight, they all left their homes and came together.”

No surprise that in such a charged environment when prospective names for the group were floated the combativeness of the moment seeped out. “How about militia?” offered one. “Hill Country Militia?”

It took time, but eventually the more mundane Hill County Planning Association was adopted.

Early versions of the group’s Master Plan struck one prominent participant as a rewrite of the Communist Manifesto, though it read more like an early American Revolutionary screed. A trace of those rhetorical flourishes remains, particularly the opening “We the People.”

After lengthy defining of place and purpose, the group’s Master Plan comes to a solitary demand: “An immediate moratorium is called on all development in The Hill Country to assure compliance with all local, State, and Federal laws and until a comprehensive cumulative environmental impact study is completed.”

...

Group members were still working out the final language of the Master Plan when developers at Sonoma Verde were blasting and excavating their way to the perfect limestone tabula rasa, a blank slate devoid of any living thing, atop that cherished Edwards recharge zone.

...

Today the [Fenstermaker] sisters watch as Post Oak Development blasts a hill flat on the backside of Crownridge Canyon Natural Area off Kyle Seal Parkway. It’s like nothing they’ve ever seen before.

“This is like West Virginia coal mining,” Mary Fenstermaker says.

“We’ve seen land raped, but we’ve never seen that,” Bebe says. “I’ve never seen Texas treated like that.”

For much more, read the entire article.

Christmas Mountains: Texas GOP still trying to sell off more public land

Our GOP administration in Texas continues its assault on the concept of public lands.  They haven't had much success lately, but they keep trying.  This time, it is Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who for months has been doing his best to try to sell off 9,000+ acres of land out in the spectacular west Texas desert into private hands. 

This land, in the Christmas Mountains adjacent to Big Bend National Park, was donated to the state by a conservation group back in the early 1990s.  Once Patterson decided last year that it must be sold, the National Park Service stepped in to propose purchasing it and taking it off the state of Texas's hands.  But Patterson now appears to be refusing to consider the Park Service proposal.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has an update:

AUSTIN -- Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson continues to block a proposal that could put the Christmas Mountains into the hands of the National Park Service, conservationists complained this week.

Patterson, who is chairman of the School Land Board, which has authority over the Christmas Mountains, has so far declined to bring up for board consideration a park service proposal to add the mountains to Big Bend National Park.

Patterson, who drew criticism for his recent attempts to sell the property to private interests, raised eyebrows last week when he told an audience in Fort Worth that "Big Bend National Park doesn't want" the Christmas Mountains.

Conservationist Luke Metzger likened Patterson's stance to "blocking democracy."

"To prevent the proposal from at least being considered -- I think that's outrageous," said Metzger, director of Environment Texas. "It's a failure of government for him to not to even allow the case from being made to the full land board."

The three-member board has met three times since the federal agency made its proposal Jan. 31, and another meeting is scheduled for March 18. The park service's proposed management plan for the Christmas Mountains has not been put on any of the meeting agendas.

A spokesman for Patterson did not respond to questions about the land commissioner's plans. However, in a statement that he posted this week on the Star-Telegram's PoliTex blog, Patterson indicated that he did not want to transfer the property to the park service -- at least for the moment -- and that he is still considering selling the mountains to a private bidder, which he has said can act as a good steward of the property.

For more on the Christmas Mountains story, see jobsanger and Capitol Annex.

"Where were you all last time?"

The line of the night, from the precinct chair at our Democratic precinct convention (aka "caucus") last night, addressing the (guessing) 200 or so attendees in an elementary school cafeteria:

Where were you all last time we had one of these things, when we had like four people!

Water pollution report should be an embarrassment for all Texans

Water pollution is still a major problem, particularly here in Texas.  The Express-News reported yesterday (emphasis added):

Texas leads the nation in the number of treatment plants and industrial facilities that fail to meet pollution standards for the wastewater they dump into rivers and streams, according to a report released Thursday.

The report, Troubled Waters, found that 318, or about 53 percent, of the state's major industrial and wastewater plants failed Clean Water Act standards in at least one of 12 reporting periods in 2005.

...

The data were compiled by U.S. PIRG and released by Environment Texas on the banks of the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park on Thursday. Nationally, the groups are lobbying for Congress to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act, which would strengthen water quality protection.

Although Texas tops the nation in the number of facilities that violate water pollution rules, it falls in the middle of the pack when looking at the percentage of facilities that do so. The list is topped by smaller New England states like Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, all of which had more than 75 percent of their plants earning violations.

Locally, Environment Texas has been leading efforts to change state pollution laws that, the group claims, makes it profitable to pollute in Texas.

A 2003 state auditor's report that looked at 80 pollution cases backs that contention. The auditor found that state fines for the pollution cases totaled less than $1.7 million, but the facilities involved benefited more than $8.6 million by not complying with regulations.

Glenn Shankle, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, recommended changing the regulations to address the profit issue in 2006, but the commission has not adopted the recommendations. Agency spokeswoman Lisa Wheeler said the commission will likely take up the issue again early next year.

Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, who attended the news conference, promised to sponsor legislation next session to "take away the incentive for these worst polluters to make a profit at the expense of the rest of us."

It would be the fourth consecutive session such legislation is introduced, Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger said.

"Each time the Texas Chemical Council and others have been able to defeat the bill in committee," he said.

This state of our waterways should be an embarrassment for all Texans.  I hope we can do better.

For the full Troubled Waters report, visit Environment Texas.

Texas Progressive Alliance weekly blog roundup

The Texas Progressive Alliance puts together a roundup of members' highlighted posts on a weekly basis.  I've been remiss in not posting these more often.  This week's roundup was compiled by Vince at Capitol Annex.  You may notice a post by your truly buried in there somewhere.

TXsharon says, "YOU SUCK AT&T" and she can only say that because she doesn't use AT&T. Over at Bluedaze she tells why, if you use AT&T for your Internets, you can't say they suck.

Stace at Dos Centavos reports on racism and bigotry committed by a corporation and a UT fraternity.

What's really going on in Irving? Xanthippas at Three Wise Men notes there's more going on in the immigration crackdown than possible profiling and arrests.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme notes that NOW wants to know why U.S. District Judge Judge Samuel Kent was 'punished' with a 4 month vacation after the investigation into sexual harassment charges concluded.

Criticism of Hillary Clinton's laugh is no laughing matter, so says PDiddie at Brains and Eggs in HRC:LOL.

Might be time for a bit of horsetrading on the floor of the Senate, and one of Texas Kaos' regular diarists, Fake Consultant, has a bit of advice on the subject for Majority Leader Harry Reid in On Larry Craig, And Filibusters or Wanna Make a Trade?

Truth, it has been said, is the first casualty of war. The Republican-Media coalition must have declared war on Social Security, and Blue 19th exposes their lies.

Human rights advocates cheered the Williamson County Commission's vote to sever ties with the operator of the T. Don Hutto holding facility for undocumented immigrants, but Eye On Williamson's wcnews wonders if a battle within the Republican party over the county's share of the profits may have driven their decision.

McBlogger at McBlogger speculates as to the reasons Sharon Keller (Chief Justice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals) needed to get out of work at 5 on Sept. 25th.

Vince at Capitol Annex tells us about the Texas Conservative Coalition's new Election Integrity Task Force, its new Chairwoman and its likely recommendations.

Peter at B and B writes about the quixotic attempts by a group of environmentally-conscious Republicans to get their chosen political party to care about conservation and stewardship: Republicans for Environmental Protection, all 70 of them, meet in San Antonio.

Off the Kuff looks at the ongoing dispute between the Harris County Appraisal District and the State Comptroller over how commercial properties are taxed.

In Texas Kaos diary, Dallas and Denton drinking water at risk by TxDOT's route selection choice for FM299, Faith Chatham's shares a letter from Highland Village Parents Group activist/homeowner Susie Venable to Mayor Tom Leppert of Dallas regarding the City Water Department's failure to monitor possible MTBE contamination issues. Despite cries of running out of money, TxDOT selected the only route (of 8) which would double project costs by requiring bridges to be built across three tributaries to Lake Lewisville (drinking water source for Denton and Dallas Counties) in the area of the lake already contaminated by MTBE.

Gary at Easter Lemming updates the Pasadena Mayor Manlove resignation and his running for Lampson's seat. There are a lot of happy faces at city hall. Easter Lemming broke the story back on the 22nd.

Trinity Trickey strikes again at The Texas Cloverleaf. This time pro toll road literature features the war on trees and the fight against Angela Hunt by the powers that be. Only in Dallas.

This week's installment of GLBTube at the Houston GLBT Political Caucus Blog is a double feature: first, a sampling of clips related to ENDA; then gay republicans are running ads in order to sabotage hypocritical presidential candidates!

WhosPlayin hammers away on GOP Congressman Michael Burgess for dissing Muslims and being one of 30 boneheads to vote for giving mercenary firms like Blackwater a license to kill.

The Texas Blue looks at how the evangelical social movement isn't playing nice-nice with the Republican Party any longer, and why that is good for America.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author, syndicated columnist, political analyst and commentator, who is on a virtual book tour will stop by Para Justicia y Libertad on Oct 11 to discuss his new book The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African-Americans and Hispanics.

Hal at Half Empty counted a Lucky Seven congressional candidates that want to run against Nick Lampson in Texas CD 22. He ROFLs and LMAOs.

Canyon Lake Gorge carved during flood of 2002 opening for public tours

Those of us who lived in the San Antonio and, particularly, the Hill Country north and northwest of San Antonio, will never forget the flood of early July 2002, when a large area here received 30 inches or more of rain in less than a week.   

As a result of those tremendous rains, Canyon Lake, a mid-size reservoir on the Guadalupe River, rose dramatically.  Soon, tremendous amounts of water started pouring over the wide, grassy spillway for the first time in its history (Canyon Dam was built in the 1960s).

The rains were over in a week, but the water continued to rampage through the spillway for weeks thereafter.  When the lake finally dropped and the spillway dried out, a brand new, stunning, gorge was revealed.

I've been aware of this new geologic feature since shortly after the floods.  I have even had the opportunity on at least two occasions to take a private tour, but have unfortunately yet been unable to visit.

Now, more than five years later, the general public will finally get their chance to examine the Canyon Lake Gorge, as the Express-News reports that it opens for Saturday guided tours starting today.

Via this article, I also discovered the Gorge Preservation Society, apparently a "local citizen's group" that has joined with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the Army Corps of Engineers to develop long-term plans for the new gorge.

The newness of the geology is one reason why visitors are not allowed to visit unattended, as it is still unstable, and thus both dangerous and in need of extra protection.

I certainly plan to take advantage of these public tours soon, and plan to report back here with pictures.

Update:  Maybe I won't be able to go so soon.  From a longer article via AP comes crucial info that the Express-News left out:

Early demand for the 3-hour tours is so high they are booked for at least six months. Rhoad said the authority hopes to train more docents so dates can be added.