January 2009

{FMWC} E-Newsletter – January 2009


FRANKLIN MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS COALITION

http://www.franklinmountains.org/


Next Meeting: January 21, 2009
New Time: 6:30 PM
New Place: Centennial Museum, UTEP Campus, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX (located at the corner of University Ave. and Wiggns Road)

Agenda will include discussing a new place for future meetings. If you have questions please contact Scott Cutler at 581-6071.


Dues are Due

We begin 2009 looking forward to continuing our support of the Franklin Mountains State Park; spreading the word to new organizations and the general public about the work we do to protect the Franklins; and working to insure that Castner Range remains in its natural state.

The New Year also means it is time to renew your membership with the Coalition. Your dues and additional contributions allow us to remain vigilant and effective in our conservation efforts.

Individual membership is open to all who share our goal of preserving the scenic beauty and wilderness character of the Franklin Mountains. Dues are $10.00 per year and are due in January each year.

Membership applications are on our website, http://franklinmountains.org/ under How To Join. Please complete the membership form and mail it, along with your check to:

Scott Cutler, Treasurer
Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition
112 Colina Alta Dr.
El Paso, TX 79912

Thank you for your generous support.


A Major Donation in 2008

Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition received a very generous donation in 2008. A member who wishes to remain anonymous but has supported FMWC for many years made a remarkable $20,000 gift. It will be used to further efforts to protect the mountains and to see that Castner Range is protected as open space.

The Coalition greatly appreciates the generosity of the donor and the vote of confidence in the work we do.


Annual Meeting

It has been a number of years since the Coalition has put on an annual meeting. So much has happened this past year, especially the 30th anniversary of FMWC, that it’s time to get together and celebrate. Consequently, the March meeting will be a time to honor our past and look to our future. We are inviting founding members of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition to attend so all may celebrate their early work to save the mountains.

The event will take place at Jaxon’s Restaurant on Airway Blvd. There will be a no-host bar. Dinner will be a fajita buffet costing $16.00 per person. We will need to have a final count by Monday, March 16 so please make your reservation by then. Unfortunately, no tickets will be available at the door. You’re welcome to attend even if you don’t plan to eat.

When: March 25, 2009
Time: 6 PM Meet and Greet
6:30 PM Dinner
7:30 PM Meeting
Place: Jaxon’s Restaurant, 1135 Airway Blvd.

Please contact Scott Cutler to make reservations.


Poppies Celebration
March 14, 2009

The third annual Franklin Mountains Poppies Celebration at Castner Range is coming soon so save the date: March 14, 2009 10 AM – 6 PM at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, 4301 Transmountain Rd. This should prove to be a bigger event than previous years with more exhibitors, speakers and craft vendors as well as music and food. Please plan to come out and support our efforts to protect Castner Range and the magnificent poppy displays that occur there.

The program includes nature talks, wildlife displays, educational exhibits, and demonstrations. Educational speakers will be in the Gazebo from 10 AM – 2 PM and there will be music, entertainment and tequila tasting from 2 – 6 PM. The Celebration will also include videos by local documentarian and producer, Jackson Polk, puppet shows, a magician, and raffle prizes all day.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is an invited honored guest to whom we’ll present hundreds of scenic Castner Range postcards, each personalized with written sentiments about the Range by El Pasoans and visitors and asking her assistance to preserve the Range as open space, in its natural state.

Many thanks to Judy Ackerman of FMWC, the staff of the El Paso Museum of Archaeology at Wilderness Park, Franklin Mountains State Park, Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition, the El Paso Archaeological Society and others for helping organize this event. Don’t miss it!


More Castner Range News

For three years, FMWC tried unsuccessfully to meet with Fort Bliss Garrison Commander Col. Robert Burns. Now Bob Burns is the Vice President Business Development – Defense, for El Paso Regional Economic Development Corporation (REDCo http://www.elpasoredco.com/ ). He met with FMWC members Scott Cutler, John Moses and judy Ackerman for over an hour on January 7th and invited his boss, Bob Cook, REDCo president, to join us.

We presented information on a conservation conveyance of Castner Range, invited REDCo to join FMWC and mentioned our upcoming Poppies Celebration.

Col. (Ret) Burns assured us that Fort Bliss is too busy with war and expansion issues to even consider doing anything with Castner Range before 2015. Bob Cook confirmed that pressure to develop Castner Range will only increase in the future. They both feel that Fort Bliss, El Paso City leadership, and El Paso citizens “get it” that there should be NO development on Castner. However, the corporate memory is short.

They suggest building a partnership with the Environmental Department at Fort Bliss and work to build a strategic plan with a timeline that will preserve Castner as natural open space. Ecotourism is a growing business in El Paso and may have links to Castner. If FMWC could find funding for cleaning the unexploded ordnance on Castner, that would sweeten any deal for the Army to transfer Castner to conservancy or the Franklin Mountains State Park.

Do you want to participate in strategy meetings on how to preserve Castner Range? If so, contact Scott Cutler or judy Ackerman.


Franklin Mountains State Park News
To create an easier and safer climb at the “Window” section of the FMSP Ron Coleman Trail, a chain route will be installed to aid hikers’ climb up/down this 40 ft. limestone wall. After several trips to the “Window” by park staff to assess, test the rock and analyze the best locations for the chains, stainless steel bolts and hangers were installed on January 13, 2009. Staff will be working on the chain installation during the upcoming weeks and expect to have the project completed by the end of this month.

For more of the latest news and information about the Park, visit their great website: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/franklin/


Lone Star Legacy

You can make a lasting contribution to the future of Franklin Mountains State Park with your tax-deductible donation to the Lone Star Legacy Endowment Fund. Checks, payable to "Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation" can be sent to: Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Attention: Lone Star Legacy, P.O. Box 191207, Dallas, TX, 75219. Mark your donation to the endowment fund for Franklin Mountains State Park.


The El Paso Museum of Archaeology Presents:
The Hero Twins Saga: From Mesoamerica to Mimbres
January 25, 2009 at 2 PM
Professor Marc Thompson

Professor Thompson explores the Hero Twins Saga in the first program in his Southwest Iconography Explored Series. Twin culture heroes and their adventures are described in the 16th-century Maya book Popol Vuh, depicted on 1,500-year-old Maya pottery, 1,000-year-old Mimbres bowls, and 15th- century kiva murals in New Mexico.

This program is the first in a series to explore the connections between ancient Mexico and the Southwest. Marc Thompson, Director of the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, is your host for these presentations.

All programs are free and are held from 2 to 3 pm on the following Sundays: 25 January, 22 February, 1 March, 26 April, and 17 May in the auditorium at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, 4301 Transmountain Road in El Paso.

For further information contact Marilyn Guida at 915-755-4332 or guidamr@elpasotexas.gov . http://www.elpasotexas.gov/arch_museum/


Preserve Alberta Park, Colorado

“Texas billionaire developer Billy "Red" McCombs seeks to construct a city of up to 10,000 people just below the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Ski Area, one of the snowiest spots in Colorado. The “Village” at Wolf Creek would destroy lush meadows, alpine creeks, unspoiled backcountry recreation opportunities, and one of the most critical wildlife corridors in the Southern Rocky Mountains, harm already established businesses that service Wolf Creek visitors, and dramatically increase traffic on a snowy mountain pass.” (Friends of Wolf Creek, http://www.friendsofwolfcreek.org/)

Peter Miesler of Durango, Colorado brought this issue to our attention recently and is asking our help in a letter writing campaign to Mr. McCombs asking that he abandon the Village, return his parcel of Alberta Park to the Rio Grande National Forest and establish a wetland biological preserve. What does this have to do with our area?

Alberta Park currently functions as a key component in a vast nearly pristine watershed. A component that serves vital biological, life sustaining functions such as holding and filtering water used in countless ways by millions of down stream Rio Grande River stakeholders.

Please contact Kathy McConaghie (227-5330 or kmcconaghie@gmail.com) if you would like more information on this issue. Come on, folks, it only takes a few minutes to write a letter.


FMWC In Cyberspace

This is the electronic version of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition newsletter. To be added to or removed from the distribution list, contact: j.p.ackerman@sbcglobal.net.
Each year, in January, we send the paper version of this newsletter to all members, with a membership renewal form. If you do not receive a paper copy, I do not have your US postal address. Please send it to: j.p.ackerman@sbcglobal.net.

The Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition

Borderland Mountain Bike Association * Border Toasters, Toastmasters International * Celebration of Our Mountains * Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition * Chihuahuan Desert Wildlife Rescue * El Paso Archaeological Society * El Paso Cactus and Rock Club * El Paso Native Plant Society * El Paso Regional Group of the Sierra Club * El Paso/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society *El Paso Youth Symphony * Friends of the Rio Bosque *Jolly Elders * League of Women Voters of El Paso * Mesilla Valley Audubon Society * Mountain Park Community Association * Photography Enthusiasts of El Paso * Southern New Mexico Group of the Sierra Club * Southwestern Environmental Center * Skyline Optimist Club of El Paso * Trans Pecos Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists * Vista Hills Rotary Club