Fort Worth Star-Telegram / December 30, 2002 / Neil Strassman - Staff Writer

 

Sierra Club Seeks to Conserve Natural Open Space

The last refuge in an increasingly Urban Texas, the loss of native plants and habitat is threatening a number of species and endangering outdoor recreation

          There is a forgotten 10 acres of wilderness smack in the middle of Fort Worth, near the city's zoo.

          The sliver of natural woods -- home to great blue herons, turtles and other wildlife -- was inadvertently saved years ago when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took out a hairpin turn in the Trinity River as it straightened the channel.

          "I knew about it almost 50 years ago," said Charles Dreyfus, who discovered the tangle of brush and river while on a family picnic. "It is a reminder of why they call it Forest Park."

          That little piece of nature is included in the Special Places of Texas report just published by the Sierra Club's Lone Star chapter. The report, part of the Sierra Club's Wide Open Spaces Campaign, is a vigorous appeal to Texans to support conservation.

          Unless swift action is taken to preserve open space, the report says, wildlife could vanish and outdoor recreational opportunities could become severely limited in North Texas' sprawling urban landscape.

          Pressure from development and rising land costs, especially in the Metroplex, make any delay in implementing conservation measures a disaster for wildlife and compromises the ability to establish new parks, said Brian Sybert, the group's natural resources director and the report's author.

          "Time is running out for conserving Texas' natural heritage," Sybert said.

          North Texas has little parkland, and the open space that does exist is "fragmented and chopped up by development" much faster than in other areas of the state, he said.

          An estimated 97 percent of Texas land is privately owned, and the state spends little on parks. A 1998 Texas Tech University study ranked Texas 49th in per-capita spending on state parks, and state officials say there's been no change.

          "Not a shining light, is it?" said Jack Bauer, Texas Parks and Wildlife director of land conservation.

          The projected doubling of Texas' population by midcentury, to about 40 million people, adds urgency, say environmentalists and state park officials. The Metroplex population is also expected to double by 2050, to about 10 million.

          The report highlights 32 Texas locations -- grassland prairies, forests, springs, lakes, deserts and coastal areas -- as examples of undeveloped open space that could be protected. While it is not a comprehensive inventory, the report examines the condition of some areas and the threats that could ruin them.

          The Sierra club asked conservationists to nominate places for the report, which aims to build public awareness and support for setting aside open space. The list includes Padre Island National Seashore, Big Bend National Park, Caddo Lake and some lesser-known areas.

          The North Texas locations range from the few state parks of more than 1,000 acres in the region to the 10-acre patch near the zoo.

          That spot is slated for preservation, said James Toal, the Fort Worth architect working on the Trinity River Vision plan, a proposed makeover of more than 80 river miles.

          "We recommend that the land stay a conservation area, a natural area, and that formal trails not go in there," Toal said.

          Some other North Texas communities also work to preserve open space.

          The Grapevine Lake Preservation Association, concerned that the 877-acre Marshall Creek Park on the lake's west end was being torn up by off-road vehicles that also drove wildlife away, successfully fought to restrict the gas-powered dirt bikes and other rigs.

          The off-roaders are now limited to 125 acres away from the water and have to comply with noise limits and restrictions on operating hours, said Kathleen Hawkins, an association board member.

          "We all hashed out our needs and concerns," she said. "It wasn't the outcome we wanted, but it was a compromise."

          And Flower Mound in south Denton County has a master plan that includes an open space plan and an advisory board to oversee it, said Tim Riley, the city's environmental resources manager.

          In one 100-acre residential development recently, the developer was allowed to reduce lot size from two acres per house to one acre, and 50 acres was left as open space, he said.

          Gayle Loeffler, who lives on the west side of Flower Mound, nominated a largely undeveloped 4,000-acre tract of private land that was included in the Sierra Club report.

          "A bunch of us used to ride horses out there," Loeffler said. "It's full of wildlife, hills and creeks, and there are thick, thick woods. Go in there and you would lose yourself."

          Texas has always had room to grow, but a shift in land-use patterns and ownership over the past century has dramatically changed the state. A century ago there were 3 million Texans, 80 percent of whom lived in rural areas. Now there are 20 million people, and 80 percent of them live in cities.

          Native plants and animals are constantly pushed aside by housing tracts, shopping malls and ranchettes. Fences, roads and shopping malls fragment the components of habitat -- food, water, shelter and space -- into smaller and smaller pieces that eventually fail to sustain some wildlife populations.

          In an increasingly urban Texas, some animals -- raccoons, possums, sparrows and starlings -- do well because they can survive varying circumstances. But other animals with specific habitat requirements disappear, and the loss of native plants at the base of the food chain complicates life for a number of species.

          The Sierra Club report also calls for the several large state parks on the west side of the Metroplex -- Mineral Wells, Dinosaur Valley near Glen Rose and Possum Kingdom -- to be enlarged. State parks officials agree but have little money to acquire more land.

          "We need to add acreage to places like Dinosaur Valley, before it is completely surrounded by development, to make it a viable wildlife habitat and promote recreational opportunities," said Walt Dabney, state parks director.

          Other North Texas places cited in the report are the several hundred-acre chunks of land near Cedar Hill State Park and the Dallas Nature Center in southwest Dallas County.

          The parks agency hopes to acquire and develop at least four new state parks in the next decade, Dabney said. But it all comes down to money.

          Counting the sale of Eagle Mountain Lake parkland, the state might have about $10 million to spend, said Bauer, who determines the acquisitions.

          "It's catch as catch can. It's peanuts, it's nothing," he said. "If people really want parks we probably ought to consider a general obligation bond to acquire and develop new areas."

          Last November, voters approved an $80 million bond package for repair and restoration of the state's existing parks.

          "The Sierra Club wants to help the state get money for conservation -- that's why it published the report," Sybert said. "To protect these areas we need all the public support we can get."