Preserving Texas In the News

AUSTIN -- The state will wait until closer to Christmas to complete its controversial sale of the pristine Christmas Mountains near Big Bend National Park to private interests.

The School Land Board was scheduled to consider bids Tuesday for the 9,269-acre tract near Terlingua but delayed the move because of a problem with the paperwork.

The proposed sale of the publicly owned wilderness to private interests has drawn fire from conservationists and officials from the nonprofit foundations that donated it to Texas.

The original donors say it was their understanding that the land would remain in public hands. One nonprofit official warned that the state should not look for further donations from his foundation should the sale go through.

But Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, chairman of the School Land Board, said he remains undeterred. He also said that the panel's two other members favor the sale and that the trio will consider new bids in November.

"Moving this land out of government hands is in the best interest of the land and those who want to preserve it," Patterson said.

Recent history

The Christmas Mountains proposal follows other controversial attempts by the state to sell public lands to private interests. Last year the General Land Office presided over the proposed sale of 400 acres at Eagle Mountain Lake in Fort Worth, and in 2005 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department tried to sell 46,300 acres at Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Those properties ended up staying in government hands after public outcry. On Tuesday, about 20 members of the public addressed the School Land Board, and most said they opposed the deal.

Luke Metzger, director of the advocacy group Environment Texas, said the state will have broken its promise if the sale goes through.

"We had a deal," he said, referring to the understanding with the original donors that the land would remain in public hands. "Our good name is on the line here. By violating that trust, we're dishonoring the state of Texas and showing that we're not good for our word."

The Christmas Mountains are on the northwest corner of Big Bend National Park. The property was donated to the state in 1991 by the Virginia-based Conservation Fund and the Pennsylvania-based Richard King Mellon Foundation under the condition that it remain protected from development.

Then-Land Commissioner Gary Mauro told donors that the state agreed to restrictions that would allow transfer of the land only to the National Park Service or the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Development barred

Patterson denied that the state is breaking its word, saying that the National Park Service and the Texas parks department declined to buy the property. He said that restrictions on the property prevent development and that the wealthy individuals bidding on the land are in a better position to care for it.

The property is not part of the state parks system but is held for the Permanent School Fund, which helps finance public education. The General Land Office put the property up for auction last month, with a spokesman saying the agency is not equipped to act as a steward for the property.

The agency received six bids for the property, including one from developer John Poindexter, who tried to buy the tract in Big Bend Ranch State Park two years ago. Poindexter offered $509,828 for the Christmas Mountains.

In his bid, he said he would combine it with another property and then donate both to a charitable foundation when he dies.

Another bid -- the highest of the six -- was for $652,000 from Louis Waters and family. Waters is the retired chairman of the former Browning-Ferris Industries.

The School Land Board rejected all six bids Tuesday, with Patterson explaining that a mistake on a state map that described the property put the transaction on hold.

In a news release, the General Land Office said it had agreed to hold the property but cannot invest the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to fence it and protect it from poachers. The agency also has a fiduciary duty to earn money on state land for the Permanent School Fund, a spokesman for Patterson said.

Groups oppose sale

In an e-mail, Mike Watson, an officer for the Richard King Mellon Foundation, wrote that if the auction goes through, "the state [should] not look to the R.K. Mellon Foundation for any future help."

In another e-mail, Richard Erdman, a Conservation Fund executive vice president, wrote that "it was the hope ... that this land would be made available to the general public for hunting and other recreational uses."

Residents of the area say the Christmas Mountains are about 6,000 feet high. The terrain is mostly desert.

The encumbrances on the land restrict almost any development, including road construction. As part of the bid process, the General Land Office required potential buyers to submit land management plans.