New threats to Texas natural areas
Protecting Texas natural areas is a bit like fighting a fire: you put one out and another one starts somewhere else. After successful campaigns to protect the Christmas Mountains, our state parks and other treasured landscapes, Environment Texas has launched campaigns to protect newly threatened wild places.
Hill country land being sold
A state agency is in negotiations to sell publicly-owned, ecologically sensitive land in Hays County to a real estate developer. The General Land Office (GLO) has proposed selling the 2,200 acre property, which sits along the Blanco River in Kyle, to Masonwood Properties to build “high-end homes.”
The land is home to an endangered bird, the Golden-cheeked warbler, and sits over the Edwards Aquifer, the drinking water source for almost 2 million central Texans. Development would threaten these two key resources and is inconsistent with a multi-year regional planning effort to steer development off the aquifer.
Under the direction of Commissioner Jerry Patterson, the GLO has moved into the land speculation business, flipping properties to raise cash for the Permanent School Fund. The agency has repeatedly purchased environmentally sensitive lands with hopes of selling them to developers.
“The state of Texas shouldn’t be in the business of encouraging sprawl,” said Luke Metzger, Environment Texas director.
Environment Texas is working to protect the Blanco river land as a park and to reform the GLO to prevent future abuses.
Border wall threatens wildlife
Much of this country’s most spectacular wildlife, including jaguars, Sonoran pronghorn and hundreds of bird species, depend upon protected public lands along the Southwestern border for migration between countries. Local communities also rely on protected natural areas for clean water, recreation, economic development and quality of life.
Unfortunately, a proposal for a double-layer, reinforced wall along the southern border could seriously harm wildlife populations. Environment Texas is endorsing the Borderlands Conservation and Security Act, which would allow the Department of Homeland Security to build fencing in appropriate areas, while using low-impact border security methods in remote stretches of the southern border.
The cactus wren is just one of many species of birds that call Texas’ hill country home.
