B and B

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.

Stop the Border Wall

Our own government apparently plans to turn Texas and the Rio Grande Valley into a new Berlin, divided by a wall -- a wall thorougly destructive of the communities which it splits and the land which it occupies.  I know I am not alone in finding this an extremely repulsive concept.

From the Express-News today:

Construction of nearly 70 miles of border fencing in the Rio Grande Valley is scheduled to begin as early as next spring, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday, spawning renewed cries that local officials are being shut out of the controversial plan.

...

Though the final design won't be approved until the close of the public comment period, which ends Oct. 15, the agency said the fence will be at least 16 feet high and 3 to 6 feet below ground, capable of withstanding vandalism, cutting and penetrating, as well as a crash of a 10,000-pound vehicle traveling 40 mph.

Border community leaders were surprised, disappointed and even angry over the government's announcement of the environmental study.

"We continue to be confused and bewildered, and I don't think it's by accident," said Chad Foster, mayor of Eagle Pass and chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, a group of leaders from El Paso to Brownsville. "They've never been open. They've never been above board. There's never a good time for a bad idea, but at least they're consistent about that."

The wall will consist of 21 segments, which will range from 1 to 13 miles, along the border near Rio Grande City, McAllen, Mercedes, Harlingen, Brownsville and Fort Brown.

The agency said it would clear vegetation to build temporary access roads and construction staging areas, which will affect a swath of about 60 feet, stretching along the 70 miles.

"They're supposed to be working with us, but instead they are running it down the throats of the residents of Brownsville," said Pat Ahumada, mayor of Brownsville.

The construction also will affect portions of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which has raised concerns among environmentalists, who fear the fence will destroy riverfront wildlife habitat that attracts thousands of eco-tourists from all over the world.

The environmentalists also say the fence could cut access to the Rio Grande for endangered species, such as ocelots and jaguarondi, destroying one of the most biologically diverse regions in the country.

For more information and for info on how to help fight the Border Wall, see the No Border Wall website at notexasborderwall.com.

Wind energy battle on the south Texas coast

The fight over wind farms along the south Texas coast continues.  From the Express-News over the weekend:

A coalition of bird and conservation organizations will make a last-ditch effort Monday to stall or kill two large wind farms on the Texas Coast.

The increasingly acrimonious dispute pits two favorites of the environmental movement against each other — the supporters of wind energy and bird lovers.

A coalition of bird and conservation organizations will make a last-ditch effort Monday to stall or kill two large wind farms on the Texas Coast.

The increasingly acrimonious dispute pits two favorites of the environmental movement against each other — the supporters of wind energy and bird lovers.

...

The debate has become nasty at times, with local Audubon societies and the famous King Ranch facing off against the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation and the John G. Kenedy Jr. Charitable Trust, which own the land where the turbines would be built.

The developers of one of the farms, the Australian-based Babcock & Brown Ltd., claims it has conducted more environmental study on this site than almost any other in the world.

The company's chief development officer, John Calaway, said those studies show the wind farm has little potential to harm birds. Calaway said the company is even pioneering a radar-based system for the project that can shut down the turbines within a minute in the event of a massive bird run-in.

But Calaway said it's unlikely at this point that he would share the studies with any of the groups in opposition.

"I don't think that, because of the way they've been referring to us, that we will be jumping up and down to accommodate then," he said. "And quite frankly we don't have to."

It is this kind of in-your-face arrogance that makes me, who might normally be sympathetic to this particular energy development, extremely suspicious.

What are Calaway and his company hiding?

Whooping cranes' habitat threatened by development pressure

I was distressed to read this morning that housing development is threatening to eat into the small area of remaining habitat for the majestic, endangered Whooping Crane on the Texas gulf coast. 

From the San Antonio Express-News:

An Austin developer who insists he is doing everything possible to protect the species wants to be the first to build a subdivision in an area deemed critical habitat for the sole remaining wild flock.

The dispute centers on 100 acres of the roughly 35-mile-long swath of Texas coastline named critical habitat for the species' survival by the federal government in the 1970s. The development, if allowed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is being touted as a potential precedent setter by both sides and has caught the eye of national environmental organizations.

Those who are adamantly against the project worry that it could open the floodgates for development in the environmentally sensitive habitat. They are pressuring the corps to order a full-scale environmental impact statement on the project.

...

[Developer Bill] Ball is a managing partner of Seadrift Ranch Partners. The corporation bought the roughly 6,000-acre ranch near Seadrift last year. Current plans call for developing a 700-acre residential and marina subdivision on the San Antonio Bay. Roughly 100 acres of the property on the southern end of the development are in critical habitat.

...

[Tom] Stehn [of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] said it's too early to cast judgment on Ball's proposal, but he said he is worried about the overall impact of coastal development on the whooping crane.

"I'm afraid that development will rob the species of the opportunity to grow," he said. "This is just one. There will be others. We all knew (development) was coming, but it's just exploded."

As Stehn points out, this is just the beginning.  If we are not careful, before we know it, we could lose a major chunk of habitat.  If that happens, we could well lose the Whooping Crane once and for all.

For more on this impressive bird, see my December 2005 post, Whoopers put on a show.

Express-News features Texas state parks

The Express-News has much of their Sunday Travel section devoted to Texas state parks this week, including profiles of two specific parks:  Pedernales Falls in the Hill Country north of San Antonio, and Palo Duro Canyon in far, far northwest Texas.  The former I've been to a few times; the latter I've never been to since I can't figure out a convenient way or time to get up to Amarillo.  The idea of this spectacular and rugged canyon in the middle of the drearily monotonous plains is intruiging. 

The newspaper plans to do further profiles of the remaining parks, so this will apparently be an ongoing feature for quite some time.

Other articles in yesterday's paper include The state of our state parks and New Texas state parks funds prompt call for repairs, more staff.

Of course, whle reading about our parks may be enjoyable, actually going to them is even more so. Sometimes it just doesn't work out, though.  Last weekend we tried to visit South Llano River State Park, near Junction, a couple hours west of here--a park in an area that is part Hill Country and part West Texas.  We hadn't been there since shortly after we moved to this area more than eight years ago. 

But thanks to all the rain that we've been having, the river was a bit high, and covered the low water crossing of the road that enters the park.  So the park was closed to all for the July 4 holiday.  Fortunately, thanks to the new funding for our parks system, we don't have to worry about it being closed for good eventually.  So we'll have to try again soon.

Parks funding: "a tremendous short-term victory", but long term is "unfinished business"

The Houston Chronicle and the Tyler Morning Telegraph have provided useful summaries of what the parks funding bill that passed the legislature at the last minute actually contains.  Here are a couple substantial excerpts, though if you care about Texas's parks, it is worth looking at the entire articles.

From the Morning Telegraph, May 31:

"It appears that we will receive more than 90 percent of what was recommended by the State Parks Advisory Committee and requested by TPWD's commissioners," George Bristol, president of the Texas Coalition for Conservation wrote to supporters.

According to Bristol's group, the department fell short $3.4 million in its request for transportation and equipment, $1 million in division support, $5.9 million in major repairs and $14 million in acquisition and development. The local park grants appropriation was $3.5 million less than requested. The department will receive almost double what was requested for Battleship Texas.

TPWD will also see an increase of $10 million in Texas Department of Transportation inter-departmental fund. That money will be used to improve state park roads. The last budget included $5 million.

In all, the department is expected to get about $180 million of its $195 million request.

But the good comes with restrictions and strings. According to a Texas Coalition for Conservation summary the major repairs are to be funded with bond money. The department has $17 million it can issue from an old bond program. The remaining $27 million must come from a new bond package that has to be approved by voters in November.

TCC had hoped Legislators would have approved a pay-as-you-go plan or, if requiring a bond package, authorize the entire amount needed for repairs in a single bond. Department officials have said that the peaks and valleys of having to repeat bond elections makes long-term planning for repairs more difficult.

Also $17 million of the $36 million appropriated for the local parks' fund has already been mandated to projects in select House districts and will not be required to go through the normal competitive bid process.

Actually new money for acquisition and development is only $4.3 million, and $2.5 million of that is mandated for purchasing land next to Palo Duro State Park. The remainder of the $13.9 million for land purchases will come from the sale of Eagle Mountain Lake State Park and several small parcels, leaving the department only enough money to buy one park designated west of Fort Worth and add several small areas to existing state parks.

The budget is also built around the department raising an additional $16 million in park user fees. Although the department doesn't have a plan outlined yet, there has been some talk that it may have to start charging youth an entrance fee.

From the Chronicle, June 3:

And no one at TPWD or in the Legislature believes this one-time increase in funding will address park problems that took decades to create.

For example, the agency's backlog of needed repairs to state parks — repairs necessitated by the wear from millions of visitors and years of deferred maintenance — is estimated to be $430 million.

To address that backlog, the agency would need the Legislature to appropriate for that purpose at least $40 million each year for 10 years.

"We had a tremendous short-term victory," Hilderbran, through a news release, said of the Legislature's actions on park funding. We secured record appropriations for the next two years; however, a long-term funding solution is unfinished business."

Parks funding passes amidst dramatic final days of legislative session

I tuned in to the Texas House proceedings Sunday night just after midnight (hence Monday morning, officially) in anticipation of seeing action on the parks funding bill, HB 12, in the final hours of this legislative session.  Instead, I saw quite a dramatic display, as the latest battle in the attempt to dislodge Tom Craddick from the Speaker position was launched. 

A fellow GOP representative from El Paso, Pat Haggerty, in the middle of a brief speech, started to take a roll call on a motion to declare the speaker position empty -- the exact motion that Craddick had spent the last two days furiously trying to suppress, ever since the original Friday night uproar that prompted the resignations of two parliamentarians and their replacement by loyal Craddick-ite former legislators, Republican Terry Keel and Democrat Ron Wilson.  The new parliamentarians interpreted every rule to Craddick's benefit in order to run out the clock on the attempt to oust him.  Immediately prior to starting his roll call, Rep. Haggerty asked the chamber about Keel and Wilson:  "Where did they go to parliamentarian school that somehow makes them better than God?"

The Craddick forces eventually halted Haggerty's impromptu roll call and Haggerty then stormed out of the chamber, with over 50 other representatives (out of 150; most of those walking out were Democrats no doubt) joining him, breaking the quorum and forcing the House to adjourn for the night.  All this with only a single day left in the session, and numerous bills still waiting for final approval.

Not being very familiar with how the House operates, I was worried that this action would doom a major part of the increased state parks funding, which was contingent on passage of HB 12.  That could be acceptable if it helped to depose Craddick, but he was still as entrenched as ever despite the walkout.

Fortunately, that worry seems to have been misguided.  The House returned to session today for the final day and unanimously passed HB 12 (as I found out first via Charles Kuffner), thus ensuring that Texas' state and local parks systems will be well funded for the next two years.  Unfortunately, based on what I read, modifications made to the bill in the state Senate suggest that we will probably have to go through this all over again in 2009.  Fortunately, parks obviously have extraordinarily wide support so odds of success are good.  One area to target:  more money for acquiring new parks.

From the Express-News online, hot off the wire late Monday night (emphasis added):

Texas lawmakers gave final approval Monday to increasing spending for state and local parks but stopped short of using all of the sporting goods tax revenue supporters said is necessary for the long-term vitality of parks.

"This is mixed. Short term, we did great, but long term is very much a question," said House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Chairman Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, a longtime champion of state and local parks.

A special parks advisory committee last year recommended a 10-year plan and urged lawmakers to allocate all of the sporting goods tax revenue for state and local parks.

The bill would increase funding for state and local parks by $156 million, and it includes a $44 million bond issue that requires voter approval in the November election.

"It's a good, solid package, and it's a good first step," said George Bristol, vice chairman of the parks advisory committee. "Basically, we got almost everything we wanted for the first two years. Obviously, it will take longer than two years to fix up the parks."

Senate leaders insisted on a study of the sporting goods tax to determine from which items the sales tax should flow to parks. For example, Hilderbran asked if billiards equipment tax revenue should continue to be eligible for parks funding. The tax revenue from canoe sales currently does not go for parks, he said.

Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, who pushed the parks bill through the Senate, said the $156 million increase for state and local parks over the next two years is "very generous."

"It's going to make it very difficult to go back. This is a great step in the right direction," Estes said.

But he added that state leaders must spend more on park acquisition, considering Texas' rapidly expanding population.

The parks committee recommended that Texas spend $15 million a year to develop new parks. The budget calls for less than half of that.

Investing in new parks, Estes said, "is something that we need to work on in the future."

Meanwhile, though, today is a day to celebrate.  It's been a truism ever since I arrived in Texas in 1998 that our parks, while great places, just don't get much money.  This looks like it's about to change, at least for the next couple years. 

Parks funding comes down the wire, as state House descends into chaos

As the hours tick down on this biennial session of the Texas legislature, the state house has devolved into chaos due to a renewed, so far unsuccessful, attempt to oust the current dictatorial GOP House Speaker, Tom Craddick.  The Dallas Morning-News has more on last night's quite unusual events.

Meanwhile, though, the status of the bill to lift the cap on funding of state parks via the sales tax on sporting goods and the final total that our long neglected parks will receive over the next two years are both still up in the air.

State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran of Kerrville is lamenting that no one in the state Senate is championing parks, leaving that job up to him.  (Jeff Wentworth, GOP senator from San Antonio and the hill country and presumed parks advocate, where are you?)  From the San Antonio Express-News:

"I'm championing it here, and I champion it in the Senate, too," Hilderbran said about his efforts to lift the sporting goods tax cap on revenue that flows to state parks. "I'm going over there, bursting into meetings with the lieutenant governor and other people on other bills, saying, 'What in the hell's going on? You promised this.'"

More than 20 of the state's 31 senators originally signed on to legislation to remove the cap, but questions about the funding and a study of the revenue are dividing lawmakers.

"I'm confident that we are going to have an agreement that's going to be good for our park system," said Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, who is the Senate's chief negotiator for House Bill 12.

...

Lawmakers are proposing to increase the operating budget for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department from about $50 million to $157 million for the two-year budget cycle.

But $16 million of the increase is a "phantom," Hilderbran said, because it relies on such changes as charging scouting groups and church organizations admission into state parks. And an additional $74 million of the increase hinges on HB 12 passing, he said.

"So it's not quite as good as it sounds," Hilderbran said.

HB12 is the bill to lift the cap on funding via the sporting goods sales tax -- a variant of the original one co-sponsored by a huge majority in both the Senate and House.  It passed the House virtually unanimously.  It passed the Senate, but in an altered form that Hilderbran called "crummy" according to a report from the Texas Observer earlier this week.  Now the differences need to be worked out in a conference committee, and there's only a couple days left to do so. 

And with the House in chaos due to this last minute battle over the speakership, our parks may be left by the wayside yet again.

Parks funding all up to Lt Gov Dewhurst. Will he come through?

The latest on the state Senate's machinations to restrict funding to restore Texas' parks, from the Austin American-Statesman (emphasis added)

[A] Senate version of an appropriations bill had appeared to give $142 million more to the state parks department over the next two years, but that number drops to about $8 million when corrected for money already in the department's base budget, federal grant money and other sources that [parks advocate Rep. Harvey] Hilderbran's office says do not amount to additional funding.

"The next two days are real critical to give us some indication of what parks will get," Hilderbran said. "This is in the lieutenant governor's hands [Dewhurst]. He can set up funding for parks that will consistently fund it better than we have been, or he can stop short of leading us to a restored Texas parks system that provides the visitor experience we all want."

What will it be, David Dewhurst?

Leading parks advocate claims parks funding bill is stalled by Senate leadership

The Kerrville Daily Times reports that the leading parks advocate in the state legislature, Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, is speaking out about the state Senate's lack of action on the bill to fully fund our state parks system.  The bill passed the state House recently with an overwhelming margin.  Now it needs action in the senate, and it isn't getting any from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and other GOP senate leaders.

“We’re concerned about its status in the Senate. The leadership in the Senate is not taking an active roll in passing it. In fact, they’re sitting on it,” Hilderbran said.

House Bill 12, which removes the $32 million cap on the sporting goods tax used to fund Texas parks, passed in the House 139-4 last week. Despite that overwhelming majority, the measure has seen no movement in the Senate.

Hilderbran said Senate members are touting their own plan, which would appropriate a one-time $140 million allocation for parks. That’s more than the $105 million allocations allowed in Hilderbran’s funding plan with the cap lifted.

“But, what that takes is for you to have confidence that the Legislature is going to appropriate that level of funding every year, and that isn’t going to happen,” Hilderbran said.

This has been one of my primary concerns all along -- that, despite the sudden and apparent overwhelming support for funding our parks, state GOP leaders would quash the bill in the state Senate.  Will they come through on their promises to lift the funding cap?

“I’m going to stick to this,” Hilderbran said. “We’ve got to get the lieutenant governor and the Senate leadership to do what the people have asked and pass this.”