F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 | o n e | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 Luke Metzger Joan Susman Brandon Dugo | t w o | ExEcUtivE Summary Despite our state’s great size, the rapid development of Texas natural areas is having a deleterious effect on our natural resources and waterways, is jeopardizing Texas’ growing recreation and eco-tourism based industries, and is threatening the beauty, character and rural heritage of the Lone Star State. As Texas continues its dramatic growth, the stress on our natural areas will only escalate. Every hour, 20 acres of open space are destroyed in Texas to make way for new strip malls and subdivisions.1 Chronic under-funding of parks protection and open space acquisition have opened the doors to developers to pave over even iconic Texas wild areas such as Big Bend and Caddo Lake. Clearly, Texas has been remiss in its stewardship of our natural heritage. This report examines specific threats to some of the Texas natural areas at greatest risk and identifies immediate opportunities to help save Texas’ natural heritage. Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer Called the “Soul of the City,” Austin’s Barton Springs is known across the state for great swimming and clean drinking water, but encroaching development threatens its future. With at least 7,500 acres of land in the Barton Springs watershed immediately threatened with development, the Austin City Council should include at least $75 million in the November 2006 bond election to acquire sensitive land that will protect this unique natural resource. texas State Parks Already ranked 49th in the nation in per-capita spending on state parks, the Texas Legislature cut $2 million from the budget of the state parks department in 2005. Far from growing to meet the needs of our natural resources and growing population, the parks system is barely surviving. The Legislature should establish sustainable and substantial funding to meet the basic operating and repair needs of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and to support new park acquisition. caddo Lake Home to beautiful Spanish moss-covered cypress trees and Texas’ only naturally formed lake, the Caddo Lake region has been designated a “Wetland of International Importance” due to its critical habitat for migratory species, such as neotropical songbirds and colonial waterbirds. The U.S. Army has long planned to turn over 2,600 acres of wild areas in the former Longhorn Army Ammunitions Plant to be protected in the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, but a group of developers is seeking instead to use the land to build an industrial park. The development would deeply encroach into the existing wildlife refuge, fragmenting the wildlife habitat. The Army should reject development plans for these critical lands and immediately transfer them to the Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion in the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Neches River Bottomland Forests The old-growth oaks and bald cypress trees along east Texas’ Neches river provide critical habitat to the endangered bald eagle and red cockaded woodpecker and the threatened American Alligator and river otter. However, the area faces significant development pressures and is ranked a “number one priority” for conservation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In March 2005, the agency proposed acquiring up to 25,000 acres of hardwood forests to establish the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately, water developers are pressuring Fish and Wildlife to drop plans for the Refuge so they can instead build a reservoir, flooding and destroying the forest. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should move forward immediately with establishing the refuge. Padre island The Padre Island National Seashore hosts the longest remaining stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world and protects dunes, lagoons and rare coastal prairie. However, BNP petroleum is pursuing a plan to drill up to 18 gas wells on Padre over the next 30 years. The federal government should buy out the mineral rights under Padre Island and stop the drilling in this fragile ecosystem. | t h r e e | Swallowtail Butterfly Summer Tanager Prairie Dog Swamp Mallow Palo Duro Canyon Texas Dandelion Green Jay Indian Blanket White Tailed Deer Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge Dinosaur Valley Upper Neches National Wildlife Refuge Colorado Bend Fort Boggy Barton Springs Inks Lake and the Edwards Aquifer Village Creek Enchanted Rock Bastrop Pedernales Falls Buescher Guadalupe River Brazos Bend Government Canyon Monarch Butterfly Mountain Boomer Attawater Prairie Chicken Padre Island National Seashore Texas State Parks Proposed for Expansion Resaca de la Palma Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley Proposed Upper Neches National Wildlife Refuge Barton Springs and Edwards Aquifer Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge Padre Island National Seashore Painted Bunting Wild Phlox Sand Verbena | f o u r | IntroductIon From the piney woods of East Texas to the desert wilderness of the west, from the rolling hills and swimming holes of the central Texas hill country to the barrier islands of the Gulf of Mexico, the natural areas of Texas are a big part of what makes Texas special. These treasures provide us with clean, plentiful water and beautiful places to take our families for a swim or picnic, and they give us a glimpse into Texas’ disappearing wilderness. When Texas first became a Republic, there was more than enough land to go around. Thus the sale of most of its public lands to fund the new government likely did not raise eyebrows. But Texas is a much different place that it was 170 years ago. Most Texans live in cities, and less than 1% of us own any sizeable amount of land or have our own well for drinking water. We rely on public parks and open spaces, and well-managed private lands, to give us access to nature, recreational opportunities and much of our water. But our natural areas are increasingly at risk. Out of control development is replacing open spaces with subdivisions, bubbling creeks with paved culverts. Energy production and resource extraction is leveling many of our last forests and permanently scarring coastal vistas. Water developers threaten our rivers and lakes with dams and reservoirs, despite ready alternatives. Our once proud state parks system has been starved of funding, forcing parks to the auction block and leaving the rest dilapidated and with restricted public access. But it does not have to be this way. Strong majorities of Texans want these areas protected and are willing to pay for it if need be. A recent poll found that fully 77 percent agree that “if state leaders don’t purchase and protect some of Texas’ natural areas today, they will be lost forever to development.”2 Policy makers are recognizing the considerable economic values of protecting our land – including tourism dollars, increased property values and natural purification for drinking water supplies. Better planning can meet our economic and growth needs without destroying our last natural areas. It’s time for our elected officials to invest in Texas’ natural heritage and to provide the planning and resources we need to preserve Texas for future generations. If we continue to allow development in our last, best wild places, the beauty and character of our state will be lost forever. | f i v e | Barton SprIngS and the EdwardS aquIfEr Barton Springs Best known for its swimming pool (the largest natural pool inside an urban area in the whole United and the Edwards Aquifer States), Barton Springs is an icon for the city of Austin, annually attracting some 300,000 visitors trying to beat the heat. Barton Springs, and the Edwards Aquifer that feeds it, also supplies a significant portion of the region’s drinking water and is home to endangered wildlife. Both Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer are particularly vulnerable geologic structures. The ground above and upstream of them is thin, allowing pollution to easily enter the watershed. Further, the rapid movement of water in the Edwards Aquifer and the relatively large size of its spring outlets provide none of the filtration and absorption that protect many aquifers from contamination. When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added the Barton Springs salamander to the list of endangered species, they noted “the primary threats to this species are degradation of the quality and quantity of water that feeds Barton Springs due to urban expansion over the Barton Springs watershed.”3 In 1992, in a near-record turnout, Austinites passed an ordinance (the “S.O.S. Ordinance”) that, among other things, established impervious cover limits for new surfaces built near threatened waters. Such restrictions are critically important because the less porous a surface material is, the less underlying soil can absorb rainfall and purify the water of pollutants. Unfortunately, despite strong citizen support for the ordinance, end-runs around the water quality standards and repeated threats to end them in the Texas Legislature leave the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer at continued risk. For example, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the world’s second largest maker of chips that run personal computers, is currently working to relocate its corporate headquarters to a site over the Edwards Aquifer. By claiming their development plans pre-date the passage of the ordinance, AMD and developer Stratus Properties plan to build an 860,000-square-foot office complex at substantially greater impervious cover levels than allowed by law. By attracting thousands of employees and their families to the area, the project may encourage even more development. Thousands of acres of ranch land could be converted to subdivisions, golf courses, shopping malls, new roads, sewer plants, and expanded highways. Legislation passed by the Texas House of Representatives in April 2005 posed an even greater threat to Barton Springs and the Aquifer.