Monday, January 10, 2011

January 2011

NEWSLETTER January 2011
Contents:

Dues Are Due
Annual Meeting
Please check newsletter
Petition
Map
Natural Open Space
Remembering John Green
Park News
Mark Your Calendars
Poppies
Museum of Archaeology
TX Wildlife Trail
Lone Star Legacy
Cyberspace
FMWC Board

FRANKLIN MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS COALITION


http://www.franklinmountains.org/


Dues Are Due

With the New Year we ask that you consider renewing your support of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition. Your donation will help us in our efforts to protect the Franklin Mountains and provide support to the Franklin Mountains State Park. Please complete the membership card available on our website, http://www.franklinmountains.org/ under the “How to Join” tab. Then, sent it to FMWC Treasurer, Pat White, 10525 Texwood, El Paso, Texas 79925 and enclose a check made payable to Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition. Thank you


ANNUAL MEETING January 19, 2011
(Scott Cutler):

Happy New Year! As we begin 2011, FMWC will hold its annual meeting on Wednesday, January 19th. This will be a great opportunity to visit with friends and learn about the Coalition’s many activities in 2010. The highlight of the evening will be a presentation by Mr. Steve Bonner of SONRI, Inc. Steve is working with the Coalition and The Frontera Land Alliance on the federal grant that Frontera received to study and define how the conservation conveyance tool can be used to transfer surplus military lands to conservation organizations for the protection of open space. This has great potential to help preserve Castner Range. Steve will present us with an update on where things stand in the process. It should be a very informative and fun evening. I look forward to seeing you on the 19th!

Meeting Details
When: Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Time: 6 – 8 pm
Where: Jaxon’s Restaurant, 1135 Airway Blvd.
Costs: $16 per person – includes non-alcoholic beverage, salad, baked potato, tip, and tax. Dessert is extra.

Menu options
Grilled chicken
Santa Barbara beef
Veggie fajitas

Please make your reservations and menu selection with our Treasurer, Pat White, at 591-3562 or pat_white@hotmail.com

Reservations must be made by January 16 and a check received by Pat to confirm your reservation. Send check made payable to Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition to Pat White, 10525 Texwood, El Paso, Texas, 79925.


Please check for your hard copy and e-mail newsletter!

In January of each year, FMWC sends a hard copy of the newsletter to all our members. If you did not receive your newsletter in the mail, we do not have your US postal address. Please send your address to Secretary, judy Ackerman, j.p.ackerman@sbcglobal.net or 3344 Eileen Dr, El Paso, TX 79904. If you did not receive your e-mail version of the newsletter, please send judy your e-mail address. Thank you for helping to keep our data up to date!


YOUR PRESENCE URGENTLY NEEDED:
(Jim Tolbert):

Please plan to attend City Council meeting!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011, City Council will decide whether to zone 792 acres along Transmountain Road next to the State Park as Natural Open Space or allow that land to be developed with commercial and low-density homes and permit the construction of a major multi-lane arterial that will run the length of the Franklin Mountains State Park in Northwest El Paso.

Your presence at the meeting in support of Natural Open Space is critical!


Keep Getting Petition Signatures
(Jim Tolbert):

We are coming to a critical deadline for both of our petitions to preserve land in the Scenic Transmountain Corridor. Next Tuesday, January 11, 2011, City Council will decide whether to zone 792 acres along Transmountain Road next to the State Park as Natural Open Space or allow that land to be developed with commercial and low-density homes and permit the construction of a major multi-lane arterial that will run the length of the Franklin Mountains State Park in Northwest El Paso.

FMWC President, Scott Cutler, recently responded to questions about the petitions this way: “The Coalition has, since its inception in 1978, worked to protect open space not only for the spiritual renewal and healthful activities open space provides people but also to provide habitat for wildlife as well which also enhances the human experience in the out of doors.”

City Council is still waiting for TxDOT to complete an Environmental Assessment. Because it may be another 6 to 8 weeks before that EA is finalized, we plan to continue to collect signatures for a few more weeks. If you are a registered voter in the City of El Paso, you can voice your opinion to our City Council.

Go to http://www.franklinmountains.org/ for more info. Please print out both petitions in full-page landscape configuration

http://www.iloveparks.com/fmwc/PDFs/Initiative%20Petition%20Form.pdf & http://www.iloveparks.com/fmwc/PDFs/Initiative%20Petition%20Form2.pdf , sign and send them to: Jim Tolbert, 2701 Frankfort Ave., El Paso, TX 79930 so that they reach him before the end of the month. If you can collect more than your own signature, be sure that those who sign are registered voters residing in the City of El Paso. Notarizing is not necessary but will keep the Municipal Clerk from tossing a full page of petition signatures if only one mistake is found.

Of course, if you can get the petitions to Jim before January 11th, that will be the best thing to do. Thank you!


Editor’s Note: Jim Tolbert has done a series of informative posts about this topic on his excellent site, El Paso Naturally, at http://elpasonaturally.blogspot.com/ - I urge you to use the valuable background presented there.

















TXDOT highway plan and proposed NOS


Natural Open Space
(Rick Lobello):

On April 6, 2010 I presented to City Council a PowerPoint on how Natural Open Space benefits our community. Helping people understand why we need to protect our environment is an important part of my job at the El Paso Zoo. What follows is an updated summary of my presentation on natural open space.

1. Natural Open Space helps people enjoy the benefits of the natural world.

Here in El Paso we have lots of natural open space on the high mountain ridges of the Franklin Mountains, but little natural open space in the lower elevations immediately surrounding the mountain range where most people prefer to hike and walk. Lower elevation natural open space is also critical to many species of plants and animals that live only in lower elevation habitats or need both lower and higher elevations areas.

Protecting natural open space is not only a problem in El Paso, but around the world. To varying degrees humans have already altered nearly half of the earth’s land surface. If current land development trends continue this number could easily reach 70% in the next thirty years.

2. The availability of natural open space helps to prevent nature deficit disorder by giving people more opportunities to explore the natural world, especially children.

Nature deficit disorder is a growing trend in this country where the average American child spends 44 hours a week with electronic media. Effects of Nature Deficit Disorder include: Childhood obesity, attention disorders and depression and long term inability to cope with stress and adversity.

3. Natural Open space is important to the water cycle, nature’s ability to produce oxygen and capture CO2 and other ecological services such as pollination and the services provided by millions of different species of microbes.

A single tablespoon of healthy soil might contain over a billion beneficial soil microbes!!! How many microbes live in one acre of natural open space in El Paso is anyone’s guess. The number is too big for most of us to fathom. Microbes provide amazingly complex ecological services. These services include reprocessing materials into available forms (i.e., mineralization) and into microbial cells and humus. Soil bacteria microbes fix atmospheric nitrogen and help plants to grow in areas where nitrogen is scarce. Other minerals like sulfur and phosphorus require microbial transformation in the soil that surrounds the roots to make them more available to plants. They also improve aeration by loosening dense and compacted soils.

Most importantly microbes decompose organic waste materials such as leaves and manure into organic humus. Our desert needs this humus to store both moisture and nutrients in the soil. Without healthy soils most plant species could not survive and the entire desert ecosystem as we know it would likely collapse.

Microbes are also important to balancing soil acidity and alkalinity, creating the carbon dioxide plants need, as well as producing vitamins, toxins, and hormones that both feed and protect the plant system.
Most people looking out across the desert landscape are not aware of the role microbes play in the desert and or in their everyday lives. Trying to imagine all that microbes do for us in maintaining the ecosystem is like trying to imagine all the stars and galaxies in the night sky.

4. Natural Open space provides habitat for thousands of species of animals and plants native to our Chihuahuan Desert and a part of our natural heritage.

Protecting Natural Open Space and a wide variety of habitats at all elevations requires strategic planning designed to protect these habitats and wildlife corridors important to species needing to move from one elevation to the next in search of food and water. Animals also need natural open space for protection from the powerful rays of the sun, wind and rain. To adequately raise their young natural open space is needed to protect many animal species from human disturbance and natural predators.

At this time strategic plans for the continued development in El Paso and the surrounding area focus almost solely on the needs of humans and not on the natural environment. “Smart growth” elements in planning may appear in part to be green, but do not address the habitat needs of most species of native wildlife including a careful analysis of wildlife corridors needed to maintain sustainable populations of larger animals like mule deer, javelina, coyotes, foxes and bobcats.

We need natural open space because we are connected to the natural world in countless ways. Every time we allow another acre of natural open space to be transformed by development activities including urban sprawl, wider roads and mining, we weaken the ecosystem and its services, all critical to our own survival.




(The long-tailed weasel is one of the most secretive animals living in the Franklin Mountains. Lowland areas like those being developed along the Trans Mountain Scenic Corridor are important to many desert wildlife species like the long-tailed weasel that prey upon pocket gophers and ground squirrels. ©Will Wilson)







REMEMBERING JOHN GREEN
(John Sproul):

It was late March in 1979. HB 867, the bill to establish Franklin Mountains State Park, was about to get its first test, a hearing before the House Environmental Affairs Committee. Four members of the Wilderness Park Coalition (now Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition) had traveled to Austin to speak in support of the bill. John Colburn, Joan Duncan, Carrol Hedrick and Richard Worthington had marshaled their facts and honed their arguments. They were ready to make their case.

They also had one other tool in their toolkit, a slide presentation prepared by Coalition member John Green. It was entitled “The Franklin Mountains: El Paso’s Wilderness Heritage.”

Legislative hearings can be long, drawn-out affairs and can test the patience and concentration of the committee members. The Environmental Affairs Committee had already heard two hours of testimony on other bills before HB 867 came before them. Would the committee members stay focused? Would they hear the message of the El Pasoans? Would a group of East Texas legislators see the special value in an arid West Texas landscape?

State Representative Ron Coleman, the bill’s sponsor, spoke first. Next was John Colburn, who gave the slide presentation. Here, the message came through clearly and dramatically, thanks to John Green’s artful photography. The legislators “got it.”

At the end of the hearing, the committee referred HB 867 to its Urban Parks Subcommittee. Referral to a subcommittee can be a death knell for proposed legislation, but not this time. Impressed by the El Pasoans’ testimony and the remarkable landscape brought to life through John Green’s photos, the committee ultimately reported the bill favorably to the full House.

HB 867 was on its way. More hurdles lay ahead, some quite formidable. But each was cleared, and a jewel of a park was born.

In the ensuing years, the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition dealt with many other challenges. John Green, one of the Coalition’s most loyal and dedicated members, was always there to help. His passions were archaeology, botany and photography. He applied all three as an eloquent voice for the Franklin Mountains.

John Green passed away November 18, 2010 at the age of 83. In the Franklin Mountains, his legacy lives on.


PARK NEWS
(John Nunez):

Happy New Year from all of us at Franklin Mountains State Park!

Park visitation has been higher than usual this holiday season due to the pleasant weather we were blessed with throughout November and most of December. It has been great to see so many people come out and enjoy the mountains! With the recent snow sprinkled across the mountains, we have seen many people come out to enjoy the mountains and snow as well.

Park rangers have been busy with the usual park maintenance. The rangers will begin to re-paint all the picnic sites and metal tables at the Tom Mays Unit. Park Manager Cesar Mendez just received the green light from our Region 1 Headquarters to go ahead and convert some of the picnic sites near the Aztec Cave and End Loop area to campgrounds. Some of these campsites will be ADA accessible as well. Work is expected to begin soon.

In early December, work on clearing out overgrowth on the Nature Trail was completed with the assistance of the TDCJ trustee work crew. Also more work has been done to our Wildlife Viewing Area (Bird Blind), with much help from our volunteers Richard Love and George Murray. They are out there almost every day to make sure the Bird Blind is ready for the birds and visitors alike.

Park rangers have been working on the park vehicles as well. This type of work is ongoing since a couple of our work trucks are well over the 200,000 mile mark. As mentioned previously, due to budget cuts, it may be a while before park staff could expect to receive a new work truck. Much credit goes to Rangers Felipe Camacho, Alvaro Garcia and Lead Ranger Robert Pichardo for their hard work and ingenuity for keeping the work trucks running.

Budget cuts are being anticipated for the coming year at the park. Park staff will be limited as far as patrolling the back country so we ask volunteers or coalition members to report any suspicious activity that may be witnessed while out and about in the mountains. Please report any suspicious activity to the park at either 566-6441 ext #21 or 487-1982 (booth phone #).

Many thanks to our volunteers for all their help with giving guided hikes at the park and for helping with patrolling and educating the public about hiking safety and etiquette. Park volunteer George Murray has been assisting park staff with several guided tours throughout November and December. New volunteer Heath Shawhart gave a guided tour for some visitors to the West Cottonwood mine shaft in December. Since the park is currently under staffed, park rangers have been very grateful to our volunteers for helping out with the tours.

Park staff is anticipating the Puzzler mountain bike race on January 16, 2011. The race will begin in the northeast side at the Round House at the Bowen Ranch towards the North Hills area up to the Tin Mines and cross over Mundy's Gap towards the Tom Mays Unit. The race will continue to the Northern Pass trail up and over the ridge to Hitt Canyon (the Bone yard) and then south back to the Round House. Park staff will assist with water stations and keeping track of the racers throughout the race. All at Franklin Mtn. State Park are more than happy to offer assistance for such an exciting event!

Other than that, business as usual at the park. Park rangers are continuing with the signage project. The main focus now is to finish restoring and installing new signs at the Tom Mays Unit and around the northwest area of the park. With the assistance of volunteers, park staff will also continue with installing signs in the Tin Mine Unit as well.

With everything going on at the park, it is never a dull moment for all park staff. Every day is different and exciting! Many thanks to our volunteers! Cheers!


MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

5th Annual, 2011 Franklin Mountains Poppies Preservation Celebration on Castner Range

will take place from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday, March 26th at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, 4301 Transmountain Road and will include a full day of programming: Nature talks and walks, wildlife displays and a visit with a real wolf, film festival, educational exhibits, demonstrations, art vendors, live music and food. NEW this year is a dedicated children’s activity center. We will have convenient free ADA accessible shuttles from El Paso Community College NE campus. Previous year’s celebrations have attracted thousands of attendees from near and far to this Free Family Fun day.

We need volunteers to assist with a wide variety of activities and we are looking for Vendors and Non-profit Exhibitors to participate. Non-profit organizations who are actively involved in event planning can reserve their exhibitor booth for free. Contact Maria Aragon or Ben Fyffe of the Museum and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) 541-4481or MCAD@elpasotexas.gov for more information.


El Paso Museum of Archaeology:

Wed., Jan. 12, 1:00 pm, Free Museum Tour for Adults

Sat., Jan. 15, 2:00 pm, Free Zip Tour of the Traditions and Symbols exhibit with artists Oscar Moya and Lydia Limas

Sun., Jan. 16, 3:00 pm, Free Showing of The Mystery of Chaco Canyon, presented by the El Paso Archaeological Society

Wed., Jan. 19, 1:00 pm, Free Museum Tour for Adults

Sun., Jan 23, 1:00 pm, Free Museum Tour for Families with Elementary School Children with family-friendly docent Art

Sat., Jan. 29, 1:30 to 3:30 pm, Family Workshop: Metal Embossing/Repujado with Maria Almeida Natividad, small charge, reply for details, ADVANCED PAID RESERVATION REQUIRED, Limit of 25 participants age 6 and up

Sun., Jan. 30, 1:00 pm, Free Museum Tour for Families with Elementary School Children with family-friendly docent Art


FAR WEST TEXAS WILDLIFE TRAIL, TPWD News Release, 12/20/2010:

Some of Texas’ most remarkable natural history and most iconic wildlife can be found at sites featured on the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail whose debut this month completes a statewide wildlife trail system launched 15 years ago to bolster birding and other forms of nature tourism.

The Great Texas Wildlife Trail system’s ninth and final trail spans the vast reaches of West Texas – from El Paso to the Permian Basin to the Big Bend -- and features 10 driving loops and 57 sites. Sites located along the 940-mile circuitous route highlight the region’s tallest mountains, grandest rivers, starriest skies, vast sand dunes, sprawling desert and an encyclopedic roster of much of the state’s most noteworthy flora and fauna.

“West Texas is a huge area still somewhat unfamiliar to many travelers who don’t know where to go to see the best of what the region offers,” says TPWD nature tourism manager Shelly Plante. “The trail map makes the vast area more manageable and provides guidance on where to go and how to contact chambers of commerce for information on where to stay and dine. It’s a wonderful complement to the historical commission’s Texas Mountain and Texas Pecos trail maps, putting all of West Texas’ cultural and natural resources at your fingertips.”

The colorful, 27 x 36-inch map points the way to such West Texas landmarks as the Franklin and Guadalupe mountains, Big Bend National Park, Indian Lodge, the McDonald Observatory, Hueco Tanks State Park, Wyler Aerial Tramway and Chinati Hot Springs. Each Far West Texas Wildlife Trail roadside site is marked by the trail’s brown sign sporting the outline of a scaled quail. Also highlighted on the state’s newest wildlife trail are top local and regional parks, nature-rich golf courses, nature trails and nature centers.

Travelers can refer to the map, which is marked with the 57 sites broken down into 10 loops, to find out which sites charge a fee and which are open daily and allow camping, are day-use only or require calling ahead of time to visit. Each site listing provides a synopsis of best spots to view indigenous and migratory bird species, as well as West Texas critters such as horned lizards, roadrunners, bighorn sheep, mule deer, bobcat and the occasional mountain lion.

The new West Texas map and the other eight in the state’s suite of wildlife/birding trail maps can be purchased for $2 each from the Texas AgriLife Extension Bookstore. The set of nine maps can be purchased together at the discounted price of $10. The maps will guide you to more than 900 distinct birding and wildlife viewing sites throughout Texas. Each map includes driving loops, and each site is designated with a unique highway sign and site number corresponding to the map. The maps also have information about the wildlife likely to be found at each site. For more information, visit TPWD’s Great Texas Wildlife Trails website.

For information on the Texas Heritage Trails visit the Texas Mountain Trail Region (www.texasmountaintrail.com) and Texas Pecos Trail Region (http://www.texaspecostrail.com/ ) online.

Photo Editors: For j-peg images of the new West Texas trail sign, scenics and maps of the four trails, please visit:


http://archive.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/news_images/?g=far_west_texas_wildlife_trail


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: Lone Star Legacy Endowment Fund, c/o Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, P.O. Box 191207, Dallas, TX, 75219. Mark your donation to the endowment fund for Franklin Mountains State Park.


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.


The Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition

Borderland Mountain Bike Association • Border Toasters, Toastmasters International • Bordersenses • Celebration Of Our Mountains • Centro San Vicente • Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition • Chihuahuan Desert Wildlife Rescue • Eco-Club EPCC • El Paso Archaeological Society • El Paso Cactus And Rock Club • El Paso County Master Gardeners • El Paso Native Plant Society • El Paso Regional Group Of The Sierra Club • El Paso/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society • El Paso Youth Symphony • Environmental Advocates at UTEP • Friends of the Arroyo • 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 • Southwest Environmental Center • Skyline Optimist Club Of El Paso • Sunrise Neighborhood Association • Trans Pecos Chapter Of The Texas Master Naturalists • Vista Hills Rotary Club • Voter Education Project, Inc •