The rate of land-trashing by real estate developers in northwest Bexar County has reached the stage where it threatens the continued existence of an amy training ground, Camp Bullis. This threat has compelled both the City of San Antonio and the U.S. Army to act, which, finally, has brought some attention to the issue -- though, alas, not in a general sense. Plenty of formerly beautiful Hill Country terrain and wildlife habitat has been scraped and blasted into nothingness in recent years without raising much alarm from anyone but those of us in the immediate area.
From the San Antonio Express-News over the weekend: A federal
judge Friday ordered a San Antonio-area developer to cease
road-clearing operations for a new subdivision adjacent to Camp Bullis,
giving wildlife experts time to evaluate the project's impact on
golden-cheeked warbler habitat. U.S. District Judge
Xavier Rodriguez granted a temporary restraining order against
INTCO-Dominion Partnership and set a hearing for 10 a.m. Wednesday on
an environmental group's request for a permanent injunction that would
halt development next to the range. The lawsuit, filed
Friday by Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas, contends that INTCO is destroying dense trees and brush that are home to the endangered
migratory bird that nests each spring and summer in the Hill Country.
Destroying warbler habitat is a violation of the Endangered Species
Act. “This is an early victory. It's not the end,”
Aquifer Guardians President Enrique Valdivia said. “But if we didn't
get the restraining order, the bulldozers might work through the
weekend and there wouldn't be anything left to litigate over.” INTCO has been clearing trees and brush on the 340-acre site near
Bullis as it prepares to build a road for a high-end subdivision. The
company's Austin-based attorney, Allen Glen, said it was “a safe
assumption” his client would follow the order and suspend work. ... Critics of
INTCO say the project, and others like it, are driving the warbler onto
Camp Bullis, and that if the trend isn't stopped the Army will be
unable to train on the 27,994-acre range. As growth has exploded in the
area, the warbler population on Bullis has nearly doubled from 672 in
2001 to 1,086 in 2007. Fort Sam and top city and county
leaders say any reduction of training area raises the risk of the Army
moving 37,250 military and civilian workers to be on the post by 2011. “The issue is bigger, of course, than the fate of the warbler. It's
concern about development around Camp Bullis and, of course, the impact
on the aquifer recharge zone,” Aquifer Guardians' Valdivia said. Federal law and Defense Department policy forbid the Army from taking
legal action, forcing it to rely on groups such as the Aquifer
Guardians and the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, which had
considered seeking the restraining order. ... Post
spokesman Phil Reidinger said court action is the only way to stop work
on the site while biologists take a closer look, and added that Fort
Sam “cannot shoulder the conservation burden alone” — a view shared by
its advocates. “The really big problem with this is Camp
Bullis is really the only one in the area that is observing the law,”
Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance Executive Director Annalisa Peace
said. “If everybody was observing the law, it probably wouldn't be a
problem for Camp Bullis.”
We're rapidly beginning to resemble less attractive areas that have long abandoned intelligent development.
Posted by: J Dean | July 15, 2008 at 08:54 AM