Yesterday, the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service announced the establishment of the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge, which will protect one of Texas's last wild rivers, the surrounding forests, and the habitat of wildlife like bobcats, river otters, and the threatened American Alligator.

With more than 75% of the hardwood forest in Texas already destroyed, the old-growth oaks and bald cypress trees along the wild Neches river are ranked a "number one priority" for conservation by the federal government.

Although the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had identified this area for protection as far back as 1985, water developers with the city of Dallas had been pushing to cancel plans to create the refuge so the city could use the site for their proposed Fastrill reservoir, drowning forever some of Texas' last best hardwood forests. The developers put on a full-court press to stop the Refuge, hiring powerful lobbyists like Cliff Johnson, former advisor to three Texas governors, and Katherine Armstrong, former Parks and Wildlife Commissioner and recent host of Vice President Cheney's infamous hunting trip.

The approval of the refuge means the Service can begin purchasing land to establish the refuge, effectively blocking water developers from building the reservoir.

This is a major victory in the fight to protect Texas natural areas, and wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of a coalition of organizations including the Texas Committee on Natural Resources, the Friends of the Neches River, the Conservation Fund, the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense, Environment Texas and others.  And, of course, major credit goes to Dale Hall, director of Fish and Wildlife, for standing up to the water developers and doing the right thing. Send him a thank you note.