Preserving Texas In the News

The National Park Service should designate the state's 9,270 acres in far West Texas as a "national preserve" so hunting can be allowed, Patterson said in a Friday letter to Park Superintendent Bill Wellman.

Patterson announced last year that he wanted to sell the rugged property, which is difficult to manage because of deed restrictions, to a private landowner who could provide better stewardship.

The state acquired the land 17 years ago from a donation by the Virginia-based Conservation Fund and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. The gift came with an anticipation that the land eventually would go to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department or the National Park Service for perpetual conservation.

Patterson does not support the park service's suggestion that it acquire the property by using private donations to buy it from the state. Congress should come up with the money for the purchase and ongoing management, Patterson said in the letter.

Without such a commitment, "the Christmas Mountains will run the risk of being neglected due to a lack of funds needed for its care," Patterson wrote.

His plans to sell the land to the private sector fizzled after the park service expressed an interest in acquiring it.

The three-member School Land Board, which Patterson chairs, rejected two private bids for the land earlier this year. But Patterson has been lukewarm on the park service plan because hunting would not be allowed on the land.

"My consistent concerns regarding the disposition of the property have been the funding source, public access ... and that Texas firearm laws be respected," Patterson said in the letter to Wellman.

Patterson noted President Bush issued an order last fall instructing federal agencies to "facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat."

The National Park Service generally bans firearms in national parks. In his letter, Patterson requested that it "designate the Christmas Mountains as a National Preserve so that opportunities for public hunting would be made available."

But park service officials contend such a move would require a long process and would be impractical because of the scarcity of wild game.

"That's still the case," Big Bend National Park Service spokesman David Elkowitz said Wednesday.

Patterson's letter advances negotiations "only slightly," Elkowitz said, noting the commissioner is no longer mentioning other federal agencies as possible purchasers.

Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger faults Patterson for inventing concerns, believing that he simply wants to sell the land to private interests.

"Firearms and hunting, of course, only became an issue when NPS expressed interest in the land," Metzger said. "Even though there is tremendous public and legislative support for having NPS permanently protect the Christmas Mountains, it appears Commissioner Patterson is going to take his ball and go home if he doesn't get his way."

The House Land and Resource Management Committee is scheduled to consider the Christmas Mountains issue during a May 5 hearing.