Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Public Hearing
April 6, 2000
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
7 BE IT REMEMBERED that heretofore on the 6th
8 day of April 2000, there came on to be heard
9 matters under the regulatory authority of the
10 Parks and Wildlife Commission of Texas, in the
11 commission hearing room of the Texas Parks and
12 Wildlife Headquarters complex, Austin, Travis
13 County, Texas, beginning at 9:12 a.m., to wit:
14
15
APPEARANCES:
16 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
17 Lee M. Bass, Fort Worth, Texas, Chairman
(absent)
18 Dick W. Heath, Carrollton, Texas
Nolan Ryan, Alvin, Texas
19 Ernest Angelo, Jr., Midland, Texas
John Avila, Jr., Fort Worth, Texas
20 Carol E. Dinkins, Houston, Texas
Alvin L. Henry, Houston, Texas
21 Katharine Armstrong Idsal, Dallas, Texas
Mark E. Watson, Jr., San Antonio, Texas
22
THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
23 Andrew H. Sansom, Executive Director, and
other personnel of the Parks and Wildlife
24 Department.
25
.0002
1 OTHER APPEARANCES:
2
Rene Barrientos, 11 ME 624, P.O. Box 542,
3 Cotulla, Texas 78014;
4 Dave Richards, 25935 Fox Brian, Boerne, Texas
78006, representing Gary Grant Sales;
5
Dr. James C. Kroll, Route 5, Box 2585,
6 Nacogdoches, Texas, 75964, representing Texas
Deer Association;
7
Margie Raborn, Route 2, Box 206E, Allevton,
8 Texas, 78935, representing TSA;
9 Gene Riser, P.O. Box 809, George West, Texas,
78022, representing Texas Deer Association;
10
Jerry Johnston, P.O. Box 79117, San Antonio,
11 Texas, 78279, representing Texas Deer Association
and Texas Trophy Hunters Association;
12
Larry Grimland, 2610 Manana, Dallas, Texas,
13 75220, representing Whitetail Ranch;
14 Ellis Gilleland, P.O. Box 9001, Austin, Texas,
78766, representing Texas Animals;
15
Walt Glasscock, 408 Shriley Oaks Drive,
16 Columbus, Texas, 78934, Representing Texas
Sportsmans Association;
17
Jack Brittingham, Route 3, Box 3560,
18 Palestine, Texas, 75801, representing Briar Lakes
Ranch;
19
Marty Berry, representing self;
20
Bill Grace, 126 Mustang Creek Road, Salado,
21 Texas 76571, landowner, representing TDA;
22 Don Casey, 897 Shovel Mt. Road, Cypress Mill,
Texas, 78654, representing Blanco County;
23
David Hayward, 8300 Que Pasa Ranch Road,
24 Anderson, Texas, 77830, representing Que Pasa
Ranch;
25
.0003
1 OTHER APPEARANCES (CONTINUED):
2 David K. Langford, representing Texas Wildlife
Association;
3
Tomme R. Actkinson, 3002 Magnolia, Temple,
4 Texas, 76502, representing Lone Star Bowhunters
Association;
5
Kevin Hilbig, 4905 FM 535, Cedar Creek, Texas,
6 78612, representing Lone Star Bowhunters
Association
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.0004
1 APRIL 6, 2000
2 *-*-*-*-*
3 PUBLIC HEARING
4 *-*-*-*-*
5 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: This meeting is
6 called to order. Thank you. Before proceeding
7 with any business, Mr. Sansom has a statement to
8 make.
9 MR. SANSOM: Madam Chairman and
10 members of the Commission, a public notice of
11 this meeting containing all items on the proposed
12 agenda has been filed in the office of Secretary
13 of State. This is required by Chapter 551 of the
14 Government Code and referred to as the Open
15 Meetings Law. I would like for this action to be
16 noted in the official record of the meeting.
17 Ladies and gentlemen, so that
18 everyone will have a chance to address the
19 Commission today, I'm going to talk to you a
20 little bit about kind of how we do these
21 meetings. And we're thrilled that all of you are
22 here, and we appreciate the fact that you've come
23 to participate.
24 Chairman Dinkins is in charge of the
25 meeting and I will sort of assist her as usual as
.0005
1 kind of a sergeant at arms. Now, out there in
2 the corridor we have some cards that are required
3 for you to sign up if you wish to speak.
4 Chairman Dinkins will call your name from those
5 cards. So you must fill one out if you want to
6 talk. Everyone who has filled out a card will be
7 allowed to speak from the podium here in front of
8 me, one at a time. When your name is called, I
9 would like for you to come forward, to state your
10 name, and who you represent, if someone other
11 than yourself. If there's a lot of folks that
12 want to talk on a particular issue, the chairman
13 may call the name of the second person in line,
14 and I would like for you to come and stand at the
15 back of the room so that we can move the process
16 along.
17 Everyone will have three minutes to
18 speak and I will keep track of that with this
19 little traffic light that I have here and notify
20 you when your three minutes are up. If the
21 Commissioners ask you a question or if they
22 discuss things among themselves, that time will
23 not be counted against you.
24 In order for us to show proper
25 respect not only for our board, for our staff,
.0006
1 and for each other, I will not be tolerant of any
2 statements which are simply argumentative or
3 critical of others. And I know that you will
4 adhere to that and cooperate with me in that
5 regard.
6 If you have any kind of written
7 materials or tapes or videos or anything that you
8 would like for the Commission to see, please give
9 them to Ms. Lori Estrada here on my right and she
10 will make sure that the Commissioners get them.
11 Thank you very much, all of you, for
12 attending our meeting today.
13 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
14 Mr. Sansom. The commissioners have all received
15 a copy of the minutes of the last meeting. And
16 the Chair would entertain a motion for the
17 approval of those minutes.
18 COMMISSIONER HENRY: So moved.
19 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
20 Motion by Commissioner Henry and second by
21 Commissioner Angelo.
22 Is there any discussion? All in
23 favor say aye; those opposed nay. Motion
24 carries. Thank you.
25 (Motion passed unanimously.)
.0007
1 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Our next order
2 of business is the acceptance of gifts. And
3 there is a list of those in the briefing book,
4 the agenda book that was sent. Mr. Sansom, do we
5 need a motion for approval of those gifts?
6 COMMISSIONER RYAN: So make a
7 motion.
8 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: All right.
9 Motion by Commissioner Ryan, second by
10 Commissioner Watson. Any discussion? All of
11 those in favor say aye; all opposed nay.
12 Motion carries. Thank you.
13 (Motion passed unanimously.)
14 TPWD DONATIONS OVER $500
15 Name of Donor: Jimmy Silva, Chambers County
Judge
16 Description: Small Boat Radar
Purpose of Donation: Law Enforcement
17
Name of Donor: Texas Black Bass Unlimited
18 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Tram Improvements at TFFC
19
Name of Donor: Texas Parks and Wildlife
20 Foundation
Description: Food, Lodging, Tour, Prizes
21 Purpose of Donation: Natural Classroom Symposium
22 Name of Donor: Treesearch Farms
Description: Trees and shrubs
23 Purpose of Donation: School habitats in Houston
24
25 Name of Donor: ALCOA Alumina & Chemicals LLC
Description: Equipment
.0008
1 Purpose of Donation: Lake Texana State Park
2 Name of Donor: Partners in Palo Duro Canyon
Foundation
3 Description: Radios
Purpose of Donation: Palo Duro Canyon State park
4
Name of Donor: Travis Audubon Society Inc.
5 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Special Nongame and End.
6 Spp. Conservation Fund
7 Name of Donor: Temple-Inland Forest Products
Corporation
8 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Special Nongame and End.
9 Spp. Conservation Fund
10 Name of Donor: Bolivar Peninsula Chamber of
Commerce
11 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
12
Name of Donor: Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, Inc.
13 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
14
Name of Donor: Austin Woods and Waters Club
15 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
16
Name of Donor: Central and South West Services,
17 Inc.
Description: CASH
18 Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
19 Name of Donor: Park Board of Trustees, City of
Galveston
20 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
21
Name of Donor: Frank Boggus
22 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
23
24
Name of Donor: KOWA OPTIMED, Inc.
25 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
.0009
1
Name of Donor: KOWA OPTIMED, Inc.
2 Description: Three scopes and eyepieces
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
3
Name of Donor: Michael C. Delesantro (Weslaco)
4 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
5
Name of Donor: Reliant Energy HL&P
6 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
7
Name of Donor: Swarovski Optik North America
8 Ltd.
Description: CASH
9 Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
10 Name of Donor: Swarovski Optik North America
Ltd.
11 Description: Four binoculars
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
12
Name of Donor: Boy Scouts of America
13 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
14
Name of Donor: John G. and Marie Stella Kennedy
15 Memorial
Description: CASH
16 Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
17 Name of Donor: Corpus Christi Convention and
Visitors Bureau
18 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
19
Name of Donor: Reliant Energy
20 Description: CASH
Purpose of Donation: Great Texas Birding Classic
21
Name of Donor: Texas Wildlife Association
22 Description: Shotgun shells
Purpose of Donation: Youth Shooting Sports,
23 Chaparral WMA
24 TOTAL: $78,250.68
25 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: And now we come
.0010
1 to the great part of --
2 MR. SANSOM: It is the great part,
3 Madam Chairman, and I would like to ask you to
4 come down here at this time and join me for the
5 part of the meeting that I think many of us
6 consider very, very special.
7 I would like to note that last
8 evening we participated in the recognition of
9 many of our incredible volunteers from throughout
10 the state in our second annual Lone Star Legends
11 Volunteer Awards program. A number of those
12 winners, or at least one, I know, is here with us
13 today. And I would like for Leonard Ranne and
14 anyone else who was recognized last night in the
15 volunteer awards program to stand so that we can
16 recognize you.
17 (Applause.)
18 MR. SANSOM: I think some of our
19 staff certainly put in plenty of volunteer hours,
20 theirselves. Because many, many, many, many
21 people in this department, in fact most, put in
22 far more than a 40-hour week for the citizens of
23 the State of Texas.
24 Today we have the great privilege of
25 recognizing two of them who will be retiring.
.0011
1 The first is Antonio Buenano from Coastal
2 Fisheries who has worked for Texas Parks and
3 Wildlife as a technician for 32 years. During
4 all of that time he has been in Rockport and he
5 helped and was an integral part of the
6 development of the field sampling technology in
7 the early '60s and '70s that has made the famous
8 Texas coastal monitoring program and database one
9 of the most influential scientific instruments in
10 the country.
11 His biological collection techniques
12 and tabulation of data is a model to other
13 technicians, which he spends a good deal of time
14 training. Antonio has trained numerous staff
15 over the years in the use of all gear, equipment,
16 and scientific instruments. He gives workshops
17 and he is known throughout our system as a leader
18 among the people who really get their work done
19 out in the field. And that's our fish and
20 wildlife technicians.
21 Please recognize, retiring today
22 with 32 years of service, Antonio Buenano from
23 Coastal Fisheries.
24 (Photographs were then
25 taken; applause.)
.0012
1 MR. SANSOM: Members and ladies and
2 gentlemen, for the past several years we have
3 almost been totally preoccupied in our system
4 with its repair. As all of you know, some 20
5 percent of our state parks are more than 50 years
6 old, having been built largely by the Civilian
7 Conservation Corps during The New Deal. Over 20
8 percent of our parks -- 60 percent of our parks
9 are more than 20 years old. The bedrock of that
10 repair program has not only been in our
11 infrastructure division but in our regional
12 maintenance specialists who have struggled to
13 keep these facilities open and ready for the
14 public.
15 Today we recognize John Rochelle who
16 is the regional maintenance supervisor and
17 specialist at Waco, who is retiring with 27 years
18 of service. He started out as a seasonal worker
19 at Lake Whitney State Park over 27 years ago and
20 he has worked for most of his career in the
21 maintenance program as a supervisor in Waco. His
22 work has reflected the dedication that it has
23 taken to keep these facilities, sometimes in the
24 face of some real daunting deterioration, open,
25 safe, and clean for the public. And he has been
.0013
1 very, very instrumental in the progress that we
2 have made in terms of automatic maintenance
3 programming and cycling.
4 So please recognize from Waco, in
5 the State Parks division, John Rochelle, retiring
6 today, 27 years.
7 (Photographs were then
8 taken; applause.)
9 MR. SANSOM: Many of the law
10 enforcement officers that you will be introduced
11 to today who will be receiving service awards
12 were members of the 34th Game Warden Training
13 Academy which graduated in 1980.
14 But first let me introduce to you a
15 man who is receiving a service award for 25 years
16 of dedicated service to Parks and Wildlife.
17 Bruce Bunn has been a person who is known
18 throughout our system. He started basically as a
19 summer intern at Huntsville in 1974. He's worked
20 at Lake Colorado City, at Sabine Pass, Sea Rim,
21 Lake Livingston, Fort Richardson. When I first
22 met him, he was a superintendent at McKinney
23 Falls.
24 In all of these positions, including
25 regional directorships at two locations, Waco and
.0014
1 Lubbock, and a headquarters assignment, he is
2 known throughout our system as a respected leader
3 and colleague and one who I think has clearly
4 demonstrated a lot of leadership and mentorship
5 for younger people coming along.
6 Today he is a regional director for
7 State Parks in Lubbock and we recognize Bruce
8 Bunn for 25 years of service to Texas Parks and
9 Wildlife.
10 (Photographs were then
11 taken; applause.)
12 MR. SANSOM: One of those graduating
13 cadets in 1980 in that 34 class was Jose
14 Esparza. Jose got out of the academy and joined
15 the ranks in -- of the department actually in
16 1975. He's received many awards during his
17 career, including officer of the year of St.
18 Hedwig. He has got an urban assignment because
19 he spent most of his career in San Antonio and so
20 he has had some unusual things to have to
21 handle. He lost part of his thumb while trying
22 to take care of a mountain lion incident in the
23 middle of San Antonio. He was one of the major
24 players in the Hill Country buck case, which we
25 all read about in Hill Country Village a couple
.0015
1 of years ago. He's a very well-known person
2 throughout Bexar County and he's thoroughly
3 involved in his community in everything from FFA
4 to 4H and other such programs.
5 So please recognize, with 25 years
6 of service from the law enforcement division,
7 Jose Esparza from San Antonio.
8 (Photographs were then
9 taken; applause.)
10 MR. SANSOM: Our next awardee,
11 having served TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT
12 for 25 years, immigrated to this country from
13 Mexico and started as a seasonal worker at Lake
14 Brownwood State Park 25 years ago. He has spent
15 his entire career in that park and he has had a
16 wonderful, wonderful association not only with
17 all of the visitors to the park but all of its
18 staff.
19 Juan Gonzales is a new American and
20 an important part of our system and a strong,
21 active member of the staff at Brownwood State
22 Park. Please recognize Juan Gonzales, with 25
23 years of service.
24 (Photographs were then
25 taken; applause.)
.0016
1 MR. SANSOM: All of us who have
2 worked around the building here -- and I know
3 many of you commissioners and members of the
4 legislature -- by the way, I would note that Vice
5 Chairman of the State Recreation Resources
6 Committee, Robin Cooke, who joined us yesterday,
7 is also here today. And we welcome him to this
8 meeting. He knows Jack King.
9 Jack King is a director II in our
10 law enforcement division, having worked in that
11 division for 25 years. He got out of the academy
12 in 1975 and was assigned to Corpus Christi, where
13 he worked as a field game warden for ten years.
14 He became a staff lieutenant, which was where I
15 first met him, in the Corpus Christi regional
16 office in 1985. He became the district
17 supervisor down there in 1992. And he was
18 promoted to assistant commander here in law
19 enforcement headquarters in 1994.
20 Over the years since he has been in
21 this office, Jack King has supervised programs
22 that all of us are familiar with, including
23 Operation Game Thief, the Civil Restitution
24 Program. He's been directly involved with
25 emergency management activities, not only here
.0017
1 but throughout the state. Today, he is director
2 of policy and planning in the law enforcement
3 central headquarters.
4 Please recognize Jack King, from the
5 law enforcement division, 25 years of service.
6 (Photographs were then
7 taken; applause.)
8 MR. SANSOM: Once again, from the
9 State -- from the State Parks Division, we
10 recognize David Lopez. David began his
11 employment in 1974 as a ranger at Varner-Hogg,
12 which many of us have visited down there in
13 Brazoria County, Commissioner Ryan. David's duty
14 assignments have been at Sea Rim, at Lake Corpus
15 Christi, and as a park ranger at Lake Texana
16 before it opened in 1981.
17 In 1998, just two years ago, he was
18 promoted there to park manager, and he runs one
19 of the neatest parks we've got, which is at Lake
20 Texana.
21 Please recognize David Lopez, with
22 25 years of service.
23 (Photographs were then
24 taken; applause.)
25 MR. SANSOM: Also from headquarters
.0018
1 here in the law enforcement division, Dennis
2 Johnston. Dennis came to work for the department
3 in 1980 in Franklin County. He became a
4 lieutenant in the Temple regional office in 1990
5 and became district supervisor there in 1994.
6 Three years ago he was promoted to the director
7 of Fisheries Enforcement at the Austin
8 headquarters.
9 Please recognize Dennis Johnston, 20
10 years of service.
11 (Photographs were then
12 taken; applause.)
13 MR. SANSOM: Also from law
14 enforcement, Audie Nelson. Audie started in
15 Rockport in Aransas County where he was
16 recognized by GCCA as the coastal warden of the
17 year in 1983. He transferred later to San
18 Antonio, where he remains today as a law
19 enforcement officer.
20 Please recognize Audie Nelson, 20
21 years.
22 (Photographs were then
23 taken; applause.)
24 MR. SANSOM: I spent one of the most
25 memorable days in my tenure here at Parks and
.0019
1 Wildlife with the next gentleman that I would
2 like to introduce to you. He is -- his name is
3 Carl Perry. He works on the railroad. He
4 started there as a force account employee in
5 1980. He served there as a park ranger and a
6 maintenance foreman as well. He supervises the
7 maintenance and repair of 29 timber trestles, the
8 completion of all bridge replacements at the
9 railroad, all track and equipment repairs and
10 maintenance.
11 During his tenure, the railroad has
12 become, as all of our sites, computer friendly,
13 and he helped set up the computer systems there,
14 began the automation process, and currently
15 assists with virtually all computer-related
16 problems at the park. He is an example of real
17 leadership in our department.
18 I had the wonderful opportunity to
19 spend the afternoon with him and his crew along
20 the railroad one day and I watched him interact
21 with his employees. And the way that he
22 supervises them and manages them as a team is one
23 of the most exemplary efforts I've seen at Texas
24 Parks and Wildlife. That leadership is evident
25 in that after 20 years of service he is going
.0020
1 back to school at the Trinity Valley Community
2 College and will complete his associate's degree
3 in business management.
4 Please recognize Carl Allan Perry,
5 with 20 years in the State Parks division at the
6 Texas State Railroad.
7 (Photographs were then
8 taken; applause.)
9 MR. SANSOM: From Palestine, Texas,
10 Michael Pike graduated from the academy in 1980,
11 assigned to Anderson County in Palestine. He's
12 been there and performed faithful service for 20
13 years. We've had some extremely interesting
14 issues over there, particularly as the Post Oaks
15 Savannah has continued to change. But he has
16 been a stalwart in our efforts over there to
17 protect the resources of Anderson County.
18 Please recognize Michael Pike from
19 Palestine with 20 years of service to law
20 enforcement.
21 (Photographs were then
22 taken; applause.)
23 MR. SANSOM: The next lady that I
24 would like to introduce to you came to work at
25 Parks and Wildlife when she was only 17 years
.0021
1 old, as a seasonal. Cathy Piper started working
2 in State Parks 20 years ago. She became a park
3 ranger at Dinosaur Valley and moved on to
4 becoming a safety officer and interpretive
5 ranger.
6 She has served on numerous
7 leadership committees in the department,
8 including a career development and advancement
9 committee to regional directors advisory board.
10 She developed the grant for funding of the
11 Dinosaur Valley's new ADA Trail and she works
12 there today as volunteer coordinator.
13 Please recognize Cathy Piper from
14 State Parks, with 20 years of service.
15 (Photographs were then
16 taken; applause.)
17 MR. SANSOM: From Hankamer, Texas,
18 Don Robertson. His first duty station was in
19 Livingston when he got out of the academy. In
20 1983 he went to La Porte in Harris County and he
21 transferred to Chambers County, where he remains
22 today.
23 Please recognize with me and welcome
24 Don Robertson from law enforcement with 20 years
25 of service. Let me tell you that Don holds a
.0022
1 master peace officer's license, he's got 80 hours
2 of TCLOSE mounted patrol time in. He's attended
3 the Federal Marine Offshore Patrol School and
4 he's a very, very active participate in both the
5 Houston and the Pasadena rodeo associations.
6 Welcome Don Robertson.
7 (Photographs were then
8 taken; applause.)
9 MR. SANSOM: Alfonso Vielma. First
10 duty station was in Texas City on the upper
11 coast. He started work there in 1980, worked
12 until '84.
13 He transferred all the way from
14 Galveston Bay to Comstock in Val Verde County,
15 where he worked along the Texas/Mexico border on
16 Lake Amistad and the river for ten years. As
17 part of that service he received a National Water
18 Safety Congress Appreciation Award on his work on
19 boater education and water safety in the Del Rio
20 area.
21 He became the administrative
22 sergeant in region five in San Antonio in 1994.
23 And in '96 he was appointed lieutenant game
24 warden in San Antonio. He received a meritorious
25 service award for his work done with a number of
.0023
1 our law enforcement officers during the 1998
2 floods in New Braunfels.
3 Please recognize and welcome with me
4 Alfonso J. Vielma, with 20 years of service, from
5 San Antonio.
6 (Photographs were then
7 taken; applause.)
8 MR. SANSOM: Finally, a gentleman
9 whom I have had the pleasure of knowing
10 throughout my service here at Parks and Wildlife,
11 Louis Washington. Louis graduated in that 34th
12 class and was stationed in Dallas for ten years.
13 He was promoted after that time to lieutenant and
14 went back to the academy as a trainer and
15 affirmative action recruiter. His service took
16 him all over the state to work with young people
17 in different colleges and universities to help
18 them become interested in becoming law
19 enforcement officers at Texas Parks and
20 Wildlife.
21 In '92 he transferred from here to
22 Harris County as a district supervisor. And
23 today he serves in that capacity as district
24 supervisor in Temple.
25 Would you welcome with me, Louis
.0024
1 Washington from the law enforcement division,
2 with 20 years of service.
3 (Photographs were then
4 taken; applause.)
5 MR. SANSOM: Members, as we have
6 discussed in the past few days, we have just
7 completed -- or I should say the Sunset
8 Commission staff has just completed its review of
9 Texas Parks and Wildlife. And Mr. Cooke and
10 Mr. McCarty and I were visiting with the senior
11 person on that staff a couple of days ago and
12 reviewing their work. And this gentleman told us
13 at the end of the interview that the one thing he
14 wanted us to know was that over the past six or
15 seven months, as they have surveyed our
16 department, that he has met some of the most
17 finest and dedicated people that he's ever met in
18 his life and that these employees are very
19 special. And we appreciate you taking the time
20 each time you come to Austin to recognize them.
21 Much of what our agency is able to
22 accomplish is dependent, as we learned last
23 night, on volunteers. Some of these groups go
24 well beyond the normal commitments to help us
25 accomplish our mission. One such group that I
.0025
1 would like to ask you to recognize with Phil
2 Durocher and I this morning is the Lake Ray
3 Roberts Sportsman's Association.
4 The emergence of Lake Roberts as one
5 of the premiere bass fishing lakes in the state,
6 and I should say the nation, is due largely to
7 the efforts of this organization. They've worked
8 with the staff since the reservoir was built,
9 from the very beginning. They've supported our
10 efforts to make Lake Ray Roberts become what it
11 has meant to us and what it is continuing to
12 develop.
13 Their efforts with creel surveys
14 were particularly significant. After the local
15 biologists, who I will introduce to you, Bruce
16 Hysmith told them about the need for creel data
17 to assist with the future management decisions,
18 they took on the task.
19 During a two-year period they worked
20 72 days, a majority of the weekends to collect
21 the data we needed. 26 members of the
22 organization took part and spent over 1800 hours
23 in the effort. They provided their own boots and
24 their own fuel and covered all the costs of the
25 labor. I'd like to ask Phil Durocher and Bruce
.0026
1 Hysmith from Lake Texoma to come up and
2 recognize -- and call Mr. Jim McIlroy, Pete
3 Hollar, Steve Coffey, and Mike Neblitt to be
4 recognized today from the Lake Ray Roberts
5 Sportsman's Association.
6 (Photographs were then
7 taken; applause.)
8 MR. SANSOM: Madam Chairman, that
9 concludes our awards for this morning. Thank you
10 very much.
11 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
12 Mr. Sansom. And, again, congratulations to all
13 of you who were recognized this morning. And we
14 appreciate the hard work of the Lake Ray Roberts
15 association. And thank you for coming to Austin
16 to be recognized.
17 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Our next order
18 of business is the approval of the agenda, which
19 you have before you. The Chair would entertain a
20 motion for approval.
21 COMMISSIONER WATSON: So moved.
22 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: It's been moved
23 by Commissioner Watson. Is there a second?
24 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Second.
25 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Seconded by
.0027
1 Commissioner Avila. Any discussion? All in
2 favor say aye; those opposed, nay. Motion
3 carries.
4 (Motion passed unanimously.)
5 AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: ACTION - CONSENT AGENDA
6 ITEMS.
7 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: The next item
8 is the consent agenda. And the items eligible
9 for the consent agenda are Item 7, the TPRA grant
10 rules; Item 8, the local park funding; Item 10,
11 land transfer in Bexar County; and Item 11, land
12 exchange in Burnet County.
13 The Chair would entertain a motion
14 for approval of the consent agenda.
15 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Moved.
16 COMMISSIONER RYAN: I'll second.
17 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
18 It's been moved by Commissioner Angelo and
19 seconded by Commissioner Ryan. Any discussion?
20 All in favor say aye; those opposed, nay. Motion
21 carries. Thank you.
22 (Motion passed unanimously.)
23 AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: BRIEFING - FISHING
24 PREVIEW.
25 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Our next item
.0028
1 is a briefing on the fishing preview. And I am
2 very eager to hear how it's going to be this
3 year. And I want a guarantee when you finish.
4 (WHEREUPON, a briefing
5 item was presented to the
6 Commissioners after which,
7 the following proceedings
8 were had:)
9 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: I believe that
10 concludes this briefing item.
11 AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: ACTION - 2000-2001
12 STATEWIDE HUNTING AND FISHING PROCLAMATION.
13 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: The next item
14 is an action item, which is the Statewide Hunting
15 and Fishing Proclamation. And we have a number
16 of people who have signed up for public comment.
17 But first, we'll hear from Mr. Durocher.
18 MR. DUROCHER: Madam Chairman,
19 members of the Commission, I'm Phil Durocher, the
20 director of the Inland Fisheries Division. What
21 I'll be presenting today is the proposals for
22 regulation changes for the Inland Fisheries
23 Division for the year 2000 and 2001.
24 All of our regulation changes that
25 we're recommending this year deal with one of the
.0029
1 species with black basses. The first proposal is
2 for spotted and Guadalupe bass. The current
3 statewide limit on those species, a 12 inch
4 minimum length limit, five fish daily bag, in
5 combination. We're recommending to change that
6 to a no minimum length limit and retain the five
7 fish daily bag.
8 On three lakes, Lake Jacksonville,
9 Cleburne State Park, and Meridian State Park, the
10 current bass regulation is a 14-inch minimum,
11 five fish daily bag, which is the statewide
12 limit. We're recommending to change that to an
13 18-inch minimum length limit and retain the five
14 fish daily bag.
15 On two lakes, Town Lake and Buescher
16 State Park Lake, the current large mouth bass
17 limit, again, is the statewide minimum and daily
18 bag limit, and we're recommending to change this
19 to a 14- to 21-inch slot limit, five fish daily
20 bag, only one bass 21 inches or greater.
21 We held public hearings and received
22 public comments from other sources, such as on
23 our web site and letters. And for all of these
24 recommendations, they ran about three to one in
25 favor of these proposals.
.0030
1 The only proposal that we had
2 negative comments of, we had a proposal to change
3 the limit on Lake Austin. And because of the
4 concerns, we felt like some of these concerns
5 were legitimate, we decided to drop the proposal
6 on Lake Austin and we will continue to monitor
7 that situation to see if what our biologist
8 predicts is going to happen will happen. But
9 those are the proposed changes we have for
10 2000-2001. Any questions?
11 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Questions?
12 Thank you, Mr. Durocher. Mr. Osburn?
13 MR. OSBURN: Thank you, Madam
14 Chairman, commissioners. Let me brief you on the
15 coastal fisheries portion. I'm Hal Osburn,
16 coastal fisheries division director. Our first
17 proposals deal with moderate increases in the
18 size limits on billfish, sailfish, white marlin,
19 blue marlin. These changes will help
20 conservation and also will provide compatibility
21 with the rules in federal waters.
22 Public opinion was overwhelming in
23 favor of these. I think it kind of demonstrates
24 that catch and release ethic, that there was very
25 few anglers that felt like they shouldn't
.0031
1 continue to release these fish.
2 Staff also proposes some shark
3 regulations, decreasing the daily bag limit from
4 five to one per person, establish a 24-inch
5 minimum size limit, and establish a commercial
6 season compatible with the federal waters.
7 Many of our shark species in the
8 Gulf have become overfished, primarily due to the
9 long -- commercial long line fishing that's
10 promulgated in federal waters. These proposals
11 will compliment the conservation efforts that are
12 being proposed in some areas of the federal
13 waters.
14 Once again, we had very good
15 favorable response on this. A good majority in
16 favor of the proposals that -- those that opposed
17 generally wanted a two-fish bag limit, which for
18 our anglers would not allow for very much of a
19 reduction in harvest, actually.
20 So we continue to support the
21 adoption of the original set of proposals with no
22 modifications. Thank you. I'd be happy to
23 answer any questions.
24 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Any questions?
25 Thank you, Mr. Osburn.
.0032
1 MR. HEATH: Madam Chair?
2 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Oh, yes.
3 Mr. Heath?
4 MR. HEATH: I just wanted to make a
5 comment for the record that my daughter,
6 Brittany, who recently caught a 180 pound -- ten
7 pound --
8 MR. OSBURN: How much does she
9 weigh?
10 MR. HEATH: Brittany weighs 80
11 pounds. Thank you. We need that there. But she
12 wanted it to be known that she comments very
13 positively in support of staff's recommendation
14 for billfish. And I just wanted to get that into
15 the record.
16 MR. OSBURN: Thank you.
17 MR. HEATH: That's Brittany, 180
18 pound ten-foot blue stripe marlin. She weighs 80
19 pounds.
20 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: I'm sure the
21 marlin and Brittany both appreciate your
22 publicity on their behalf.
23 MR. HEATH: Thank you. And excuse
24 me, Mr. Gilleland, anything you could do to
25 publish this far and wide would be very much
.0033
1 appreciated.
2 (Applause.)
3 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
4 Mr. Osburn. Doctor Cooke?
5 DR. COOKE: Madam Chairman and
6 members, my name is Jerry Cooke, program director
7 for Upland Wildlife Ecology, and I'll be
8 presenting to you the wildlife division's
9 proposed changes to the 2000-2001 hunting and
10 fishing proclamation.
11 We're proposing to add Camp,
12 Franklin, Hunt, Morris, Panola, Rains, and
13 Shelby, and Titus Counties to the currently open
14 eastern spring turkey season in East Texas. They
15 have the same seasons, bag limits, and other
16 particulars as exist in those other counties.
17 In Cass, Marion, and Harrison County
18 we proposed to create four doe days. This will
19 open on Thanksgiving Day through the Sunday
20 following Thanksgiving. And this map shows the
21 relationship of those counties to those currently
22 having that season.
23 In a portion of East Texas they
24 currently have 23 doe days. We would propose to
25 redefine those doe days as being the days from
.0034
1 the opening day of the season through the Sunday
2 following Thanksgiving because 23 days doesn't
3 always include the Thanksgiving holidays.
4 And we would also propose to add San
5 Jacinto, Trinity, and Walker Counties to that
6 compartment.
7 In the 11 counties that currently
8 have the 23 doe days, we would propose to open a
9 muzzleloader-only season. This would be opening
10 the first Saturday following the close of the
11 general season, and continue for nine days. And
12 the bag limit would be two antlerless and/or two
13 spike deer during that season.
14 This map shows the distribution of
15 whitetail deer in Texas. We're basically -- over
16 a third of the whitetails in Texas exist in less
17 than a fifth of the state, which is used to
18 justify the proposed -- proposal that we have for
19 the Edwards Plateau Counties, 25 counties, and
20 I've added Bexar County for you, Mr. Watson.
21 It would include a portion of
22 Kinney, Uvalde, and Val Verde Counties, all of
23 Bexar County, and half of Travis, Hays, and Comal
24 County where we would propose to go to five deer,
25 no more than two bucks during that season and
.0035
1 include a 14-day antlerless and spike season
2 following the close of the general season.
3 We went to the public with a
4 proposal to increase the mule deer season in a
5 portion of the Panhandle, western portion of the
6 Panhandle. With discussions with the regulations
7 committee yesterday, staff recommends that that
8 extension be for nine days from the five day
9 current in those counties, and add Cochran County
10 to that regulation compartment.
11 In a portion of Henderson County
12 currently game can be hunted only with a shotgun
13 or archery, lawful archery equipment. We would
14 propose to delete that restriction in that
15 portion of the county. We've had favorable
16 comments from the public on that proposal.
17 We had a proposal to change the
18 regulations related to the MLD program and it's
19 my understanding the regulations committee,
20 yesterday, would recommend that we not include
21 those proposed changes in the adoption of the
22 coming proclamation.
23 For all of our presentations,
24 coastal and freshwater fisheries and wildlife, we
25 recommend the following motion, that the Parks
.0036
1 and Wildlife Commission adopt 2000-2001 statewide
2 hunting and fishing proclamation located in
3 Exhibit A of your booklets, with changes to the
4 proposal as they were published.
5 And I will be happy to answer any
6 questions you may have at this time.
7 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
8 Doctor Cooke. Any questions by any of the
9 Commissioners?
10 Thank you. And we did, indeed, pass
11 for the consideration by the full Commission this
12 morning the proposed regulations without the
13 changes to the MLD program.
14 We will now take public comment.
15 The first speaker is Rene Barrientos. And next
16 will be Dave Richards.
17 Rene Barrientos? Yes, thank you.
18 MR. BARRIENTOS: Good morning, Madam
19 Chair, Commissioners. I did not quite understand
20 that there will be no changes to the MLD
21 program? Or is it completely deleted?
22 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: There will be
23 no changes. It will be left as it is.
24 MR. BARRIENTOS: Essentially three
25 things I would like to address in support as
.0037
1 the -- I'm a landowner from La Salle County. I'm
2 also the volunteer county attorney. With
3 reference to the enforcement, it is -- the
4 changing of the regulations and upgrading of the
5 penalties has had a significant effect on -- in
6 the deterrence factor. The enforcement is
7 there. You have a tremendous game warden group.
8 But there has to be prosecution.
9 We've seen other counties in
10 surrounding areas begin maximizing the fines and
11 we're actually incarcerating the violators on the
12 serious offenses. I have been able to take
13 advantage of the TTT program and those deer
14 permits and the managed land deer permits. I
15 believe wholeheartedly that they should be
16 continued to be based solely on the biology of
17 the deer in the natural habitat; that it should
18 not be geared to anything other than that.
19 With the assistance of the
20 technicians, the biologists, we've seen a
21 dramatic increase in body weights and quality of
22 deer. And certainly that's been assisted by your
23 allowing the MLD permits. And thank you.
24 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Appreciate your
25 comments, Mr. Barrientos.
.0038
1 And Dave Richards? Next up, if you
2 would be prepared, please, is Doctor James
3 Kroll.
4 MR. RICHARDS: Good morning. My
5 name is Dave Richards. I'm a citizen of the
6 state of Texas and I'm a manufacturers
7 representative in the sporting goods industry.
8 And over a year ago, myself and several other
9 private citizens and people from different
10 interest groups stood before this commission and
11 asked that you would legalize crossbows during
12 the general archery season. And at that time it
13 was brought to our attention and we knew that the
14 legislature was in session, and Mr. Bass said
15 that because the legislature was in session, that
16 we would allow that to go over and let them rule
17 on it and see where it stood after that took
18 place.
19 In the meantime, as I'm sure most of
20 y'all are aware, what happened was, it got caught
21 in committee. Just like hundreds of thousands of
22 bills do, ours got caught in committee and it
23 never saw the light of day. And so I'm back
24 before you today to ask that y'all would consider
25 legalizing crossbows for the general archery
.0039
1 season. I'm not going to go into a long
2 dissertation about crossbows and how they are a
3 short-range weapon. I'd be happy to answer any
4 of those kind of questions.
5 What I will say, though, is in the
6 beginning, the reason we wanted to go through the
7 legislature is so that we could be fit under the
8 archery stamp, so it could generate more dollars
9 for hunting in the state of Texas, and also for
10 Robertson Pittman funds and all those things.
11 It has come to -- and as we've
12 looked at it, more of the information that we've
13 gotten is, when you look at the stamps that are
14 actually purchased, more people buy a super combo
15 license which encompasses all the stamps. And so
16 we want to relook at that and say, are we missing
17 the forest for the trees or whatever? If people
18 are all buying super combos, which a huge percent
19 of them are, we're not going to -- we're going to
20 lose revenue from the loss of hunter opportunity
21 of the women and the kids and the people that
22 want to hunt with a crossbow during our only
23 short-range weapon season.
24 The other issue that I'd just bring
25 up before you, you know, and everybody knows in
.0040
1 this room, we live in a state that's 98 percent
2 private property owned. Even if they were legal
3 on private property, what difference does it make
4 in a 30-day season whether my dad in Leon County
5 wants to hunt, in his mid 70s, with a crossbow to
6 the guy who is on the next lease over on his
7 ranch over? We just wanted to bring it back
8 before you and hope that y'all would reconsider
9 to legalize crossbows for the general season.
10 And thank for you the opportunity to come before
11 you this morning.
12 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
13 Mr. Richards. Doctor Kroll?
14 DR. KROLL: Good morning. Ladies
15 and gentlemen of the Commission, I'm Doctor James
16 Kroll. And I'm here to speak for the members of
17 the Texas Deer Association concerning recent
18 application of managed land and deer permits.
19 Before I get going, though, I'd like to extend
20 our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Chairman
21 Bass. He's very important to us.
22 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: We'll be sure
23 he gets those good wishes. Thank you.
24 DR. KROLL: Thank you very much.
25 About 20 years ago many of us in
.0041
1 this room worked hard to pass the Uniform
2 Regulatory Authority legislation, resting away
3 from the county road commissioners, the authority
4 to manage wildlife. Texas was a patchwork quilt
5 of regulations numbering in the dozens. Under
6 this law we simplified wildlife management in our
7 state.
8 Some 20 years later the private
9 landowner is again faced with an ever increasing
10 complexity of laws and regulations. To
11 exacerbate the situation, local biologists now
12 are given the authority to make significant
13 policy decisions. The MLD program, we feel, is a
14 wonderful tool in which we can manage our deer.
15 Unfortunately, however, the interpretation of the
16 program by a local biologist is not. The program
17 is now being applied -- is not being applied
18 uniformly and objectively. As one who has
19 observed in the field an objective habitat
20 evaluation firsthand, and as one who, for 20
21 years, has directed one of the largest whitetail
22 deer research facilities in the nation, I did not
23 see anything objective nor scientific about it.
24 We want to modernize deer management
25 in our state. One important way is to give
.0042
1 landowners who want to intensively manage deer
2 the tools and freedom to do so. Why is there
3 always the assumption high fences and intensive
4 management is bad? Where is the bad? Is what's
5 going on outside of fences good?
6 There's a growing number of
7 landowners, large and small, who are willing to
8 put everything they have on the line to save
9 their little piece of Texas. Saving habitat is
10 not about browse surveys. It's about making
11 decisions whether or not to sell out and move to
12 the city.
13 Texas agriculture is hurting, ladies
14 and gentlemen. In the near future we will see
15 the end of what we all think is Texas. Wildlife
16 in the marketplace is the salvation of wild
17 places, not regulations. Please give us the
18 tools to operate. I have given my friend and
19 colleague, Mr. Sansom, my word, we will work to
20 resolve these issues, and I give you my word,
21 also. But please take some temporary action
22 today to assure landowners who are waiting to
23 make decisions about leases and hunts, they will
24 be in business this fall. For now restore MLD
25 policy to its original intent. Together we can
.0043
1 work to assure all Texans have access to quality
2 hunting and quality wildlife experiences. Thank
3 you.
4 (Applause.)
5 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
6 Doctor Kroll.
7 Next up is Margie Raborn. And next
8 after that is Gene Riser. Ms. Raborn?
9 MS. RABORN: This was a learning
10 experience. We have had -- we sent some
11 petitions forward from the Texas Sportsman
12 Association. And so I pass. It seems that most
13 of what you're doing now, we're a little late to
14 get in the process. But hopefully next time
15 we'll do better. Thank you for the opportunity.
16 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
17 Ms. Raborn.
18 Gene Riser? And next up will be
19 Jerry Johnston.
20 MR. RISER: Thank you, ma'am. I'm
21 very proud to be here with you this morning, and
22 appreciate the opportunity to address you and be
23 in the company of all these people that are
24 interested in wildlife.
25 And I come to you as a landowner in
.0044
1 South Texas, a deer manager that's interested in
2 modern deer management, and a member of Texas
3 Deer Association. And I want to say that I agree
4 with and appreciate the comments that you just
5 heard from Doctor Kroll. I agree with all the
6 things he said. And I would add a couple of
7 things as my own observations.
8 First of all, I would like to
9 generally ask the Commission to instruct the
10 policy of the wildlife division about whitetail
11 deer, that you should change the overall thrust
12 of the policy from one of protection of a
13 threatened resource, to the management and
14 utilization of a mature and abundant herd.
15 Because that's what we have now. And as long as
16 there is an economic value recognized in those
17 deer, they will not be threatened anymore. And
18 that's proven itself out all over the United
19 States and all over the world.
20 In so many parts of the world where
21 there are a lot of people, there is no wildlife.
22 That's not the case here, and largely it's
23 because there is an economic value appreciated
24 and assigned to wildlife in the United States.
25 And when sportsmen have the animals -- we have
.0045
1 lots of animals. When sportsmen take care of the
2 turkey, we have lots of turkeys. Whenever the
3 government takes care of the bald eagle, it's a
4 threatened species. That's just sort of a
5 synopsis of the way we see it playing out over
6 and over again.
7 Another thing I would like for the
8 Commission to do is instruct the policy of the
9 staff to change their overall attitude from one
10 of what seems to a lot of us to be coercion,
11 change it to one of cooperation. I think
12 together, we can get a whole lot more done in the
13 new age of modern trophy management and deer
14 management all the way around.
15 A couple of specific issues are --
16 I'm just going to leave the specific issues out
17 for right now. But I'm looking forward to being
18 a part of this committee that will go over some
19 of these things with you and just say that we
20 look forward to cooperating with you-all in the
21 future because we think there is a great future
22 for whitetail deer and management right ahead of
23 us. Thank you very much.
24 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
25 Mr. Riser. And we appreciate your comments and
.0046
1 your offer to help.
2 Jerry Johnston? And next up will be
3 Larry Grimland.
4 MR. JOHNSTON: I'm Jerry Johnston.
5 Good morning, Commission, director.
6 I had a pretty good thing written
7 down but I don't even think I want to mess with
8 it. I just want to talk to the Commission a
9 little bit, try to maybe put this thing in
10 perspective the way I see it.
11 Commissioners, the landowner of
12 today is a different landowner than he was -- I'm
13 talking about a man that raises deer and loves
14 his deer and he loves his country. Is a
15 different person than he was 15 years ago or 20
16 years ago. And what I mean by that is that these
17 folks that put these fences up, they basically
18 are in love with deer. I mean, they -- it's
19 their passion in life. And there probably -- the
20 last guy in the world that would want to do
21 anything that would be detrimental to the habitat
22 or his deer herd, I wish some attention could be
23 brought to that. It's all on a voluntary basis
24 and it's because he loves that part of his life.
25 Folks like that and me -- you know,
.0047
1 we'd like to just maybe be able to break even,
2 you know. You know, some of us didn't inherit
3 property, we went out and bought it. And, you
4 know, when you clamp down on these regulations so
5 tight to where there's no flexibility, you know,
6 in some cases it might end up that you're going
7 to lose it. And then what happens is, you've got
8 to sell it off or fragment it, cut it into
9 pieces. And I just think that the answer to this
10 is to recognize that probably Texas would be
11 among the leaders in terms of how landowners
12 voluntarily manage the wildlife.
13 And I think Andy has got a great
14 idea in the perspective of maybe we need to study
15 this. Because it's a big industry and it's not
16 getting smaller. It's getting bigger. So I'd
17 just like to say that on behalf of the Texas
18 trophy hunters and TDA, I would really like to
19 see his plan go forward. Thank you.
20 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
21 Mr. Johnston.
22 (Applause.)
23 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Larry
24 Grimland. And next up will be Ellis Gilleland.
25 MR. GRIMLAND: Good morning. I
.0048
1 would just like to read a statement to you. My
2 name is Larry Grimland. I live in Dallas,
3 Texas. I own a whitetail ranch in Bosque County
4 which is 35 miles west of Waco. I high fenced
5 the 400-acre ranch in 1984 for the sole purpose
6 of producing trophy whiletail bucks. My ranch
7 was the first to be high fenced north of
8 San Antonio exclusively for whitetail deer. I
9 tried to get a managed land deer permit in 1998
10 but was turned down because I had too many deer.
11 The local biologist said I have to agree to shoot
12 the herd down to where I have one deer per 20
13 acres. I have 150 deer on 400 acres. So TP&W's
14 plan was to kill 130 deer.
15 I fertilize the pastures each
16 spring, plant food plots, feed protein and corn,
17 but this does not matter to TP&W. I could go by
18 their management plan and shoot two mature bucks
19 each year or my plan and shoot 20 mature bucks
20 each year.
21 The same biologist goes ten miles
22 north in the same county and tells another high
23 fenced landowner he can run a deer per five acres
24 and he gets his MLD. My question: Is this fair?
25 TP&W needs to do away with carrying
.0049
1 capacity on high fence ranches. Let the
2 landowner run as many deer as they want. TP&W
3 needs to give an MLD to all high fenced ranches,
4 period. If TP&W will not give every high fenced
5 ranch an MLD, at least create a special permit
6 where landowners can buy tags from TP&W. The
7 landowner will give the tags to the hunters.
8 This would solve a huge problem of not being able
9 to shoot low-end bucks in October before the rut
10 with a rifle and solve the other major problem of
11 trying to run a trophy deer operation in a
12 one-buck county, where many hunters fly in from
13 all over the U.S. and can only shoot one buck.
14 TP&W's refusal to give MLD permits
15 is costing landowners millions of dollars each
16 year. I talked to Andy Sansom in October of 1998
17 about the MLD problem. He said, Larry, when we
18 set up the MLD permit, we did not take into
19 consideration a ranch like yours. There are
20 hundreds of miles of high fence being built in
21 Texas each year and almost all these ranches
22 north of San Antonio are 1,000 acres or less.
23 It's time to do something in a positive way for
24 these ranches.
25 Please approve a set of regulations
.0050
1 that is fair for everyone, regardless of your
2 last name, who you know, or how large or small
3 your ranch is. My three minutes are up. What I
4 need is three hours to tell you everything I have
5 uncovered in the past two years concerning MLD
6 and TTT permits.
7 MR. SANSOM: Thank you.
8 MR. GRIMLIND: Again, as long as
9 carrying capacity is in the mix, permitting will
10 never be done fairly. It is time for a change.
11 MR. SANSOM: Thank you, Mr.
12 Grimlind, your time is up.
13 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
14 Mr. Grimlind.
15 Mr. Gilleland? And next up will be
16 Walt Glasscock.
17 MR. GILLELAND: My name is Ellis
18 Gilleland. I'm a private citizen and speaking
19 for Texas Animals, which is an animal rights
20 organization on the Internet. I'm not an
21 authority on deer but I want to present to you
22 two people that you recognize as authority. The
23 first is Ray Sasser, who you have been given a
24 copy of what he published in the Dallas Morning
25 News on the 11th of March 1999. And I agree with
.0051
1 him wholeheartedly when he says, "Bonus tag
2 proposal means more bucks for the rich." In
3 other words, our millionaires and billionaires
4 and those of you that in that category will
5 understand what I'm talking about. I refer you
6 to the part I've underlined in yellow at the
7 bottom in the middle.
8 The other authority was your own
9 authority. And he's sitting here with us now,
10 gray-headed gentleman over there, Graham, Gary
11 Graham said, "Less than two percent of Texas
12 hunters now use the five deer tags on their
13 license."
14 So that being the case, Gary is an
15 expert and you pay his check. And we assume he
16 knows what he's talking about. That means 98
17 percent of the folks get along just fine. I
18 understand this to be a democracy. So I beseech
19 you to take care of the 98 percent which seem to
20 be well taken care of. I don't see special
21 legislation for two percent of the population.
22 And I'm sure your chairman can quote you
23 something on that, whereby you cannot enact
24 legislations or laws for one specific person.
25 Laws are enacted for the general coverage of the
.0052
1 entire population.
2 So I think Sasser is right. The
3 bonus tags proposal would mean more bucks for the
4 rich. In other words, these people bellyaching
5 about what they do behind the high fence. Behind
6 the high fence, from what I've seen, is their own
7 kingdom. They do anything they want. There's
8 nobody telling them how many deer this and how
9 many deer that. They've got their own little
10 fiefdom. You've added a month at the beginning,
11 you've added October to them. You're now --
12 you've added 14 days on the other end. You now
13 want to add some more days, modify the MLD. You
14 want to make four bucks instead of -- you want to
15 make five. Well, you're already getting eight.
16 The man shooting his wife's four bucks and his
17 four, that's eight. Now you want to give them
18 one more. That makes ten. That's absolutely
19 ridiculous. So I don't see these people hurting
20 behind the high fence. The --
21 MR. SANSOM: Thank you,
22 Mr. Gilleland. Your time is up.
23 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
24 Mr. Gilleland.
25 Next up is Walt Glasscock. And
.0053
1 following Mr. Glasscock will be Jack
2 Brittingham.
3 MR. GLASSCOCK: Commissioners, I
4 sincerely appreciate this opportunity to share
5 the concerns of the Texas Sportsman Association.
6 We have membership out of the state, in the
7 state. And the largest part of our membership is
8 in a three-county area, Colorado County, Fayette
9 County, and Austin, Lavaca.
10 I note in -- on page 74 of your
11 little document, that Austin, Bastrop, Bell,
12 Caldwell, Colorado, and Comal all fall together,
13 with a list of other counties.
14 We seem to have a one rule fits all
15 when it comes to deer regulation. And where
16 we're living, it's not working too well. We have
17 a lot of people that have decided to move from
18 Houston out into our area and they're buying five
19 acres, ten acres, a little here, a little there.
20 And they may park next to the gentleman that has
21 500 or a thousand acres, and he's been working
22 his deer herd diligently, building it up, and
23 this fellow with the smaller acreage comes along
24 and he sets up deer feeders all over the place
25 and he brings in his three sons from college and
.0054
1 their 17 buddies and four uncles and the guy's
2 boss from work and they all kill a deer apiece
3 and cripple ten.
4 But the people around him with the
5 larger acreages, many of them this year didn't
6 even see a deer. Without trampling on property
7 rights, which I think we all hold dear, we
8 propose that deer not be killed with less than
9 four points on an antlered side, one side because
10 somebody might see what he thinks is an eight
11 point buck, shoot it and find out it's only a
12 seven. So four points on an antlered side is the
13 proposal. That would increase the number of
14 bucks, it would increase the number of bucks that
15 are able to breed does, and the hunters would
16 have to exercise a little more caution in
17 shooting their deer.
18 Now, I understand that such
19 proposals are not real popular. But we have a
20 unique situation. And I know the deer running
21 all over the country in Comal County. You can't
22 get rid of them. We can't build our herd up. In
23 fact, I understand the only way to get a deer in
24 Colorado County is to go out and buy a new car.
25 Then you'll probably find one just before you hit
.0055
1 it.
2 So those are our concerns and we
3 appreciate the opportunity to share that with
4 you. We feel like this advent of the smaller
5 acreages has produced a real problem, and the
6 only way to address it is to increase the antler
7 size and improving, then, the number of shootable
8 deer. I can't tell you how many people we've run
9 into who this last year didn't even see a buck
10 they could shoot. And they've been there for
11 years. And I think they know what they're
12 talking about. Thank you so much.
13 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
14 Mr. Glasscock. Jack Brittingham? And next up
15 will be Marty Berry.
16 MR. BRITTINGHAM: Good morning,
17 Commissioners. Thank you for allowing me to
18 speak. I've chosen to speak on only one topic in
19 hopes that the commissioners will focus on what I
20 have to say.
21 For 20 years, Texas Parks and
22 Wildlife has told landowners that supplemental
23 feeding and supplemental food plots were a
24 habitat improvement that was beneficial to
25 wildlife. A little over a year ago they suddenly
.0056
1 changed their mind and now they say food plots
2 don't count. On my 1700-acre ranch where I live
3 in East Texas, I maintain over a hundred acres of
4 year-round food plots. In the spring I plant
5 alfalfa, iron and clay cow peas, clover, and
6 ceratro.
7 In the fall I plant rye grass; albon
8 rye, a cereal grain much like wheat; crimson
9 clover; rose clover; Louisiana S-1 clover;
10 Cherokee red clover; and alfalfa. This
11 overlapping system of food plots provides enough
12 high quality forage to support more than 300 deer
13 without any of them ever taking vitamin naturally
14 existing forage species native to my ranch.
15 Yet Texas Parks and Wildlife now
16 says food plots don't count. My annual plantings
17 are no small undertaking in terms of labor or
18 expense. By providing these food plots I have
19 raised the nutritional plain of my habitat by
20 over 200 percent.
21 At the same time I have provided
22 important nesting and escape habitat for a
23 variety of game and nongame species. I have
24 reduced the incidence of predation for many
25 species of ground nesting birds, rodents,
.0057
1 whitetail fawns by greatly increasing the amount
2 of ground cover available in the spring for their
3 utilization.
4 Of course, Texas Parks and Wildlife
5 says food plots don't count. For them to
6 maintain this position -- they expect the
7 landowners and private wildlife managers to
8 accept this -- is an insult to the intelligence
9 of everyone involved. Many years ago the cattle
10 ranchers in the rolling plains area of Texas
11 began the practice of planting winter wheat to
12 increase the carrying capacity of their land for
13 cattle. As a result of this successful
14 supplemental feeding program, they not only
15 increased the number of cattle they could
16 support, they also provided a new home for over
17 half a million wintering waterfowl.
18 At the same time the deer herd in
19 this region has likewise expanded and has
20 increased as a direct result of this supplemental
21 feeding practice.
22 Further south along the Texas coast
23 millions of wintering waterfowl are supported by
24 the farming and ranching practices of private
25 landowners. Our ranch next to the McFadden
.0058
1 National Wildlife Refuge, we plant approximately
2 a thousand acres of rye grass for our cattle,
3 which also supports 10 to 20 thousand geese of
4 various species along with heavy usage by the
5 local whitetail herd. If tomorrow all
6 agricultural practices cease in the rolling
7 plains and Texas coastal regions and all of our
8 wintering waterfowl relocated to Louisiana and
9 Mexico, would Texas Parks and Wildlife still say
10 food plots don't count?
11 The fact is, all agricultural
12 practices are nothing more than supplemental food
13 plots for our wildlife. These practices,
14 combined with a maintenance of a percentage of
15 quality habitat is exactly what has allowed our
16 states and our nation's wildlife to prosper so
17 greatly. In closing, I would like to thank you
18 for allowing me to speak.
19 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
20 Mr. Brittingham.
21 Next is Marty Berry. And after
22 Mr. Berry is Bill Grace.
23 MR. BERRY: Good morning,
24 Commissioners, I'm Marty Berry. I'm from Corpus
25 Christi, Texas. I'm a landowner in the state and
.0059
1 have a couple of issues I want to address this
2 morning. First of all, Jack did a great job on
3 his research and I follow that exactly. I feel
4 like in any business you're in, in any industry
5 you're in, end results is exactly what counts.
6 Not how you get there.
7 And when the State sets forth our
8 habitat and how our habitat should look and how
9 it should be and how strong the plants should be
10 versus looking at the animals and saying how much
11 pelvic kidney fat are on them? How heavy are
12 they? What's your fawn crop? Antler sizes,
13 other criteria that mean much more to landowners
14 than the habitat. What the department is trying
15 to do is use these permits, which modern wildlife
16 managers need every day to manage their herds, to
17 control the habitat in the state.
18 And the only control of this habitat
19 in the state is going to be what its highest and
20 best use is. Go to the valley. It used to be
21 citrus. It's now houses. The same thing will
22 happen to that brush country when the deer or the
23 cattle are no longer the highest and best use. I
24 think that it should be changed to an end result,
25 set their criteria, give us some levels or
.0060
1 weights you want to see on our animals and don't
2 tell us how to take care of the brush. We know
3 how to take care of our brush way better than any
4 biologist that can walk across my country and
5 look at it. I've been with one. I've used many
6 of your permits. I go through it just like
7 everybody else, to get the permit. I think it's
8 ridiculous but I do go through it. I'm not going
9 to destroy my habitat. I love it more than
10 anybody.
11 The second thing I want to address
12 this morning is, I'm in a business and I'm in a
13 service industry business where I have to react
14 or I lose my customers. I feel like the Texas
15 Parks and Wildlife is a service to the State. It
16 does a great job. And I don't want to hound any
17 of the people but I want to point out that when I
18 have to go to a biologist and I have to wait two
19 to three months to get one to look at my
20 paperwork for one of these permits, it slows me
21 down.
22 Time is money, as you're well aware
23 of. I hear from the State, we don't have any
24 appropriations for hiring new biologists. That's
25 no excuse. I pay good money. $1,000 for one of
.0061
1 these permits. His time is not worth $1,000 a
2 day. God knows he's probably worth it. Y'all
3 aren't paying him that much.
4 Why don't y'all open it up to
5 accredited, private biologists to review these
6 permits, let them sign off on it. Make them have
7 a master's degree, a doctor's degree? It makes
8 no difference. Set the criteria for them. Let
9 the private industry take care of it. They will
10 do a better job. Because you don't have the
11 money to hire them and we're suffering because of
12 it. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
13 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you, Mr.
14 Berry.
15 Bill Grace and then Don Casey.
16 MR. GRACE: Hello, Commissioners, my
17 name is Bill Grace and I'm a landowner in Salado,
18 Texas, also a member of TDA. And I just want to
19 mention a few quick, short things here.
20 We just need some short-term
21 assurances that we will continue to receive our
22 MLD permits, TTT, things of that nature. It
23 helps us to have consistency so we can rely on
24 the permits which we have received for the past
25 three years in my case.
.0062
1 We have been booking hunts based on
2 our ability to utilize these MLDs. These permits
3 help us to effectively manage our resources and
4 modernize our whitetail deer management. Thank
5 you very much.
6 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
7 Mr. Grace.
8 Don Casey and then David Hayward.
9 MR. CASEY: I would like to thank
10 you for giving me the opportunity to take a few
11 minutes of your time. I'm Don Casey, I'm with
12 the Blanco County Farm Bureau. I was here last
13 year and I left licking my wounds and I had time
14 to try to reflect on what I did wrong in trying
15 to pursue my interests.
16 And I realized from your point of
17 view that you're dealing with five groups.
18 You've got the hunters, you've got the people
19 like the gentleman here selling the crossbows.
20 And then within our landowners, which I'm one of
21 the landowners, there are three groups. There
22 are the new, small fragmentation divisions. I
23 represent the open range group of no high
24 fences. Really, it's more like the old-time
25 situation. And then we have the high fence
.0063
1 group.
2 I think that us open range people
3 are still the majority. One of my big
4 concerns -- and I asked Mr. Macdonald if he would
5 be willing to put his job on the line and come
6 tell you what he heard in Gillespie County.
7 There was a group that wouldn't even come close
8 to fitting in this room, and they were 98 percent
9 against extending the season. And we don't feel
10 like our voices are being heard.
11 Now, there may be some other data
12 that came in in e-mails and however that's
13 proliferated. But I realize that in the future,
14 the biggest thing facing you folks is going to be
15 the conflict between us open range people and the
16 new ten acres next to us, as the gentleman from
17 Columbus so adequately explained.
18 I would just plead with you to hold
19 off on extending that season and let's maybe have
20 a group, and I'd volunteer to serve on the
21 commission, representing the open range people.
22 And see if we can find -- identify the conflicts
23 between these five groups, the hunters, the
24 hardware salesmen, the small groups, the high
25 fence, and the open range.
.0064
1 I can assure you that the open range
2 people, with all due respect, now, think a lot of
3 you folks about like the people in Miami think of
4 Cuba, they just don't feel like their voice is
5 being heard whatsoever. So, please, maybe just
6 hold off two weeks -- a year. And let's see if
7 we can understand the conflicts between these
8 groups, and maybe there's a compromise. Thank
9 you very much.
10 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
11 Mr. Hayward and then David Langford.
12 MR. HAYWARD: Ladies and gentlemen
13 of the Commission, I appreciate your time here.
14 I just wanted to make a few comments on what's
15 been said. In response to the gentleman that was
16 just up here about extended seasons, extended
17 seasons help those of us with high fences manage
18 our deer with inside the fence. We can harvest
19 does before the breeding season so the bucks
20 don't waste their energy on that. We can harvest
21 lower end, lower genetic quality deer before the
22 breeding season so that we can help to increase
23 the genetic quality of the herd.
24 Three years ago the Texas Parks and
25 Wildlife Department awarded Que Pasa Ranch of the
.0065
1 Post Oaks Savannah area the Lone Star Land
2 Steward Award. Now, according to your MLDP
3 programs, we should go through and kill out 50
4 percent of the deer which we carry on that
5 property, yet you awarded us one of your most
6 prestigious awards.
7 Now, my point is, the MLDP program
8 is a good program but there needs to be some
9 changes made. The biologist came in and said
10 that we have a deer per seven acres, and we
11 should only have a deer per 14 acres. But on the
12 other hand, when it came up for the award, he
13 backed us wholeheartedly.
14 A gentleman down the road has the
15 same situation, plants all the food plots, yet he
16 was turned down for him as an MLDPs.
17 Mr. Brittingham made the point about
18 food plots. And that was all part of the reason
19 we received the award from Parks and Wildlife, is
20 because in 2200 acres inside that game fence,
21 which I have managed for seven years, I put in 15
22 percent of that property, planted every summer
23 and every winter in food plots. I manage the
24 entire forested areas so that those deer have
25 everything they need to eat, which, in turn, has
.0066
1 helped all the other populations of wildlife
2 found within that area.
3 One of the other things I would like
4 to comment on, the -- Mr. Gilleland, the bonus
5 tags for the rich. It's all part of supply and
6 demand. If you supply us with more tags, we can
7 supply hunters with more deer, which will, in
8 turn, bring the cost of hunting for deer down.
9 He said two percent of the
10 population uses the tag, but he does not mention
11 what percentage of the population benefits from
12 those tags.
13 And last but not least, I agree with
14 Mr. Glasscock that --
15 MR. SANSOM: Thank you, sir. Your
16 time is up.
17 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
18 Mr. Hayward. David Langford and then Tomme
19 Actkinson.
20 MR. LANGFORD: Good morning, members
21 of the Commission. I'm David Langford,
22 representing my family's two ranches and the
23 Texas Wildlife Association. I guess I fit
24 probably into four of those five categories that
25 were described here a minute ago. I support what
.0067
1 Dave Richards came to say about crossbows. One
2 of our ranches in South Texas is a high fence
3 ranch, has been high fenced since the early
4 '70s. And there probably weren't more than a
5 dozen high fence ranches in the whole state when
6 we built ours. We're four generations on that
7 ranch. We're seven generations on the ranch in
8 the Hill Country, which is in Kendall County,
9 which is a low fence ranch. So I've got all
10 kinds of hats I can wear.
11 Before I finalize my comments, I
12 would like to make, again, one of the comments
13 that I made at the public hearing. I know it's
14 registered somewhere, floating around. But I
15 think we should consider a lifetime nonresident
16 hunting and fishing license. We have them for
17 residents. We should also consider them for
18 nonresidents.
19 We have a lot of members from out of
20 state who own ranches in Texas and it's quite
21 expensive to maintain the ranch and then pay --
22 depending on how many family members hunt,
23 another, 15 to 18, 21, 24 hundred dollars to come
24 down and hunt on a ranch that they own.
25 I would like to address the managed
.0068
1 lands deer permit and the TTT permit and make
2 sure that Mr. Sansom and the Commission, that you
3 all know that we're willing to serve on the
4 committee to address a lot of the problems. Many
5 have been eloquently brought forward here this
6 morning. And hope that TWA will be represented
7 on that committee.
8 Also, Doctor Kroll made a very, very
9 important point about -- as did a couple of the
10 others, about being in business and trying to
11 hold it all together by being in the hunting
12 business and being able to make decisions for
13 next fall. We've got to do this with a degree of
14 urgency. As I understand how the process works,
15 we've got until June to fix it so that it can go
16 out for public comment and then be addressed in
17 August; otherwise it's too late to put into
18 operation next fall, where people need to depend
19 on and make their business decisions.
20 I'd also like to address one thing
21 Mr. Gilleland said. It's not a democracy. The
22 very first thing that most of us memorized in
23 school was, I pledge allegiance to the flag of
24 the United States of America and to the
25 Republic. This is a Republic. It is a
.0069
1 representative democracy, not a democracy. We
2 expect to come before you and help present the
3 issues and have you make the decision, as do our
4 congressmen and senators.
5 The last thing I'd like to say is,
6 what a great event last night. Thank you very
7 much. It's the only time in my life I've ever
8 had any fun on the TU campus.
9 (Applause.)
10 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Let me just say
11 that all that applause was out of order.
12 Mr. Actkinson? And next up will be
13 Mr. Hilbig.
14 MR. ACTKINSON: My name is Tomme
15 Actkinson, and I'm the president of the Lone Star
16 Bow Hunters Association. LSBA opposes use of
17 nonarchery equipment in the special archery
18 season. I will show why attempts to do this
19 cause dissension and why they're not needed. I
20 would also like to offer alternative solutions.
21 In the last two years I've heard bow
22 hunters called ignorant, selfish, greedy,
23 misinformed, elitist, conservative, and stupid.
24 One writer went further when he said the bow
25 hunters who oppose crossbows and draw locks are
.0070
1 giving support to the anti-hunting movement.
2 Hunter dissension is harmful, especially when
3 much of it is based on myth and misinformation.
4 One myth that has been exploited is
5 that crossbows are needed to give women and
6 children the opportunity to hunt. I say
7 exploited because this argument has been repeated
8 over and over as if sheer repetition would make
9 it factual. It's not factual.
10 My five-foot two-inch wife took up
11 bow hunting in 1976. Her compound bow allowed
12 only a 30 percent let off. She was holding 31
13 pounds. With modern bows she would only have to
14 hold eight pounds to hunt. At LSBA tournaments
15 and in the field there are many women and
16 children shooting a bow and hunting. The LSBA
17 brochure shows an 11-year-old boy and his trophy
18 buck. He had the opportunity to hunt.
19 In his book, No Hunting, Truths Lies
20 and Myths, Doctor David Samuels pointed out that
21 while the number of rifle hunters has declined
22 there's been an increase in the number of bow
23 hunters and an increase in the number of female
24 hunters.
25 Connie Balusek was the LSBA youth
.0071
1 essay contest winner this year. At age 11 Connie
2 wrote of harvesting her first whitetail with a
3 bow. The argument that crossbows are needed to
4 give women and children the opportunity to hunt
5 is a myth.
6 Another argument is since that we
7 are all hunters, bow hunters should allow
8 nonarchery equipment during archery season.
9 Suggestions have ranged from crossbows to
10 muzzleloaders. One writer even argued that since
11 he was a better shot with his muzzleloader than
12 his bow, then he should be allowed its use in the
13 archery season. Bow hunters are not against any
14 other group of hunters but we've long supported
15 hunting in Texas and the special archery. Our
16 season should be respected.
17 Solutions: Consider a primitive
18 arms season the first week in November. This
19 would allow manufacturers a chance to sell their
20 products, ranchers a chance to help control their
21 deer herds, and Parks & Wildlife an opportunity
22 to sell a primitive arms stamp. It would also
23 allow a logical progression from the most
24 primitive weaponry of bow and arrow through
25 muzzleloaders and crossbows to finally rifles.
.0072
1 If you decide to go this route,
2 please don't take away the last weekend in
3 October from bow hunters. We already hunt the
4 hottest part of the season. Sometimes we get
5 lucky and get a cool front the last October
6 weekend.
7 Do we need a bow hunting season? I
8 think so. Dedicated hunters are close to
9 nature. As a group, I think this is especially
10 true of bow hunters. For success with archery
11 equipment, you have to become a student of
12 nature. As you practice with your bow and learn
13 about wildlife you become a more dedicated
14 sportsperson. We need to encourage more
15 dedicated sportspersons, we need to encourage
16 more bow hunters. Please keep the archery only
17 season archery only. Thank you very much.
18 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
19 Mr. Actkinson.
20 Mr. Hilbig?
21 MR. HILBIG: Yes, ma'am. I'm Kevin
22 Hilbig, vice-president of the Lone Star Bow
23 Hunters Association.
24 Your honorable commissioners, in
25 '50s, '60s, and '70s, Bow Hunters United worked
.0073
1 hard for bow hunting opportunities and seasons.
2 The Lone Star Bow Hunters Association worked
3 together with Texas Parks and Wildlife to
4 establish an archery only season funded by the
5 archery stamp. To be a bow hunter was accepting
6 the challenge of taking game with a bow and
7 arrow.
8 Archery seasons in most all of the
9 lower 48 states occur before general firearms
10 season. This structure allowed the opportunity
11 to hunt game that was still undisturbed. I say
12 opportunity because bow hunting is not instant
13 success when attempting to take wild game with
14 bow and arrow. It takes accurate shooting
15 skills, getting close to the animal pursued, and
16 drawing the arrow in the most silent and
17 unobscured manner. Even with early seasons bow
18 hunter harvest a game remains at a very low
19 percentage rate. The success is measured in the
20 challenge of the hunt.
21 Many bow hunters, including myself,
22 consider hunting with the crossbow far easier
23 than that of the modern day bow. That actual bow
24 and arrow is taken away with the crossbow. Two
25 things can happen when a bow hunter attempts to
.0074
1 draw a bow. One is movement, the other is
2 sound.
3 I'm sure that most of you know the
4 keen sense the whitetail deer and a vast majority
5 of other game have for detecting movement and
6 hearing strange, unnatural noises. It would be a
7 rare statement if a bow hunter told you that they
8 never had spooked an animal by drawing their
9 bow.
10 Well-known Texas bow hunter ranches
11 will not even allow the crossbow for use during
12 the general season when crossbows are legal. Why
13 is this? Simple. An outfitter cannot afford to
14 overharvest his deer herd, especially for prices
15 far cheaper than the cost of other package
16 hunts. The low success rate of bow hunting
17 ensures this. The outfitter can bring in a
18 larger volume of bow hunters and not overharvest
19 their operation. At the same time they generate
20 increased revenues through larger volume.
21 With obvious differences, crossbow
22 manufacturers still claim that the crossbow is no
23 different than the compound bow. Crossbow
24 enthusiasts are still pushing to have them
25 legalized in the special Texas archery season.
.0075
1 Statements have been made that we
2 are all hunters. That is correct. We are all
3 hunters, and should stick together instead of
4 creating division amongst ourselves.
5 Crossbow manufacturers and
6 proponents certainly know that every time they
7 push for legalizing the crossbow during special
8 archery season, they are creating division among
9 the hunting fraternity. One can read the
10 August/December '99 issue of Bow Hunter Magazine,
11 Talk Between Bow Hunters section to get an idea
12 of how bow hunters feel about having a crossbow
13 in the archery season. One reader responded by
14 saying that a bow is not a crossbow, it's more
15 similar to a rifle.
16 Bow Hunter Magazine editor M.R.
17 James did an editorial in '85 at a magazine
18 stance against the use of the crossbows in
19 archery season. The magazine reaffirmed their
20 belief against the use of crossbow and a new
21 editor, Dwight Shoe, printed an editorial in the
22 August/September '99 issue of Bow Hunter
23 Magazine.
24 The State of Texas has a lengthy
25 general season where a hunter can choose the
.0076
1 weapon of his choice. As I mentioned earlier,
2 crossbows are legal. Why, then, are crossbow
3 manufacturers and advertisers continue to push to
4 legalize crossbows in the archery season? Do
5 they not care about the division they are going
6 to create between bow hunters and crossbow
7 users. Division will happen.
8 MR. SANSOM: Thank you, sir. Your
9 time is up.
10 MR. HILBIG: Okay. Just one more.
11 The reason the crossbow died in committee last
12 year was lack of interest in opposition against
13 it. Thank you, ma'am.
14 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
15 Mr. Hilbig.
16 Any further comment by staff? Any
17 questions or comments by members of the
18 Commission?
19 Hearing none, the Chair would
20 entertain a motion for approval of the
21 recommendation of staff.
22 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: So moved.
23 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: It's been moved
24 by Commissioner Idsal. A second, please?
25 COMMISSIONER WATSON: Second.
.0077
1 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Commissioner
2 Watson. Thank you. Any further discussion? All
3 in favor say aye; those opposed nay. Motion
4 carries.
5 (Motion passed unanimously.)
6 "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
7 adopts the 2000-2001 Statewide Hunting and
8 Fishing Proclamation (located in Exhibit A)
9 with changes to published in the March 3, 2000
10 issue of the Texas Register (25 TexReg 1840)."
11 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: And I did want
12 to welcome the members of the Texas A&M class who
13 are joining us today. It's very good to have you
14 here. And notwithstanding the applause, which
15 was out of order, I hope that you will return and
16 the Commission wishes you much success in your
17 studies. And we hope you'll come back when
18 you're through with school, too
19 AGENDA ITEM NO. 4: ACTION - PROPOSED
20 FINFISH LICENSE LIMITATION PROGRAM.
21 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: The next item
22 is the proposed finfish license limitation
23 program. And Paul Hammerschmidt will address the
24 Commission on this.
25 MR. HAMMERSCHMIDT: Madam Chairman,
.0078
1 Committee, my name is Paul Hammerschmidt, program
2 director for the Coastal Fisheries Division. My
3 presentation today will review staff's proposals
4 to fulfill the legislative mandate to implement a
5 licensed management program for the commercial
6 finfish fishery in Texas.
7 The 76th Legislature under Senate
8 Bill 1303 granted the Parks and Wildlife
9 Commission this authority. The various proposals
10 that were put together were implementation of a
11 license management program through the new
12 finfish fishery proclamation. Within this
13 delegates administrative authority to the
14 Executive Director, establishes rules for the the
15 display of a license plate on a vessel, sets the
16 date for transferability of the licenses to any
17 time beginning September 1, 2000, and lays out
18 the framework of a licensed buyback process.
19 In addition, it sets commercial
20 finfish fishermen license and transfer fees in
21 the -- in the finance proclamation of $300 for a
22 resident and $1200 for a nonresident.
23 Finally under the statewide hunting
24 and fishing proclamation, it sets the total
25 number of trotlines and crab traps that a
.0079
1 commercial finfish fisherman may use, and
2 establishes marking requirements for those gear.
3 From the round of public hearings
4 and via e-mail and other sources of public input,
5 staff received 53 responses, of which 83 percent
6 were favorable toward adoption of the proposals.
7 In addition to this, during the
8 public hearing process, members of the commercial
9 fishing industry asked the Commission to consider
10 new, less restrictive criteria which are used to
11 determine whether fishermen can leave trotlines
12 in the water during the weekend trotline ban.
13 Currently trotlines must be removed
14 from the water no later than 1:00 p.m. on Friday,
15 unless the National Weather Service has issued a
16 small craft advisory or wind speeds of 20 knots
17 or greater.
18 The industry asks that the criteria
19 be lowered to a newly adopted advisory category
20 called small craft take caution where wind speeds
21 are 15 to 20 knots.
22 Staff obtained weather data from the
23 National Weather Service and found that the
24 number of Fridays eligible for the new advisory
25 would increase from ten percent for the year to
.0080
1 50 percent of the Fridays for the year. Due to
2 this significant increase in potential fishing
3 effort, staff felt no action should be taken at
4 this time. However, staff would like to continue
5 to evaluate the proposal. As part of this
6 evaluation, we will solicit more input from the
7 general public, we will look at the potential
8 effects of this change from a resource
9 perspective, and we would like to assess how the
10 new license management program, pending the
11 Commission's adoption, may affect future
12 commercial fishing activities. Now, if you have
13 any questions, I'd be happy to answer them now.
14 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Any questions
15 from any of the members? Thank you,
16 Mr. Hammerschmidt.
17 MR. HAMMERSCHMIDT: Hearing none,
18 then staff recommends the following motion, and I
19 just knocked it off the screen. Bring it back.
20 "Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopts
21 new Finfish Fishery Proclamation, Chapter
22 58.301 through 58.304, and changes to Chapters
23 53.6 Finance, 65.72 Fish and 65.78 Crabs and
24 Ghost Shrimp as published in the
25 March 3rd issue of the Texas Register."
.0081
1 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
2 There are no members of the public signed up to
3 speak on this item. Are there any other comments
4 by members of the Commission?
5 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Move approval
6 of the recommendation.
7 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
8 It's been moved by Commissioner Angelo.
9 COMMISSIONER RYAN: Second.
10 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Seconded by
11 Commissioner Ryan. Any discussion? Hearing
12 none, those in favor say aye; those opposed nay.
13 Motion carries. Thank you.
14 (Motion passed unanimously.)
15 "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
16 adopts new Finfish Fishery Proclamation 31
17 TAC Chapter 58.301 through Chapter 58.304,
18 and amendments to 31 TAC Chapter 53.6
19 Finance, Chapter 65.72 Fish, and Chapter 65.78
20 Crabs and Ghost Shrimp, with changes to the
21 proposed text (located at Exhibit A) as
22 published in the March 3, 200 issue of the
23 Texas Register (25 TexReg 1813-1912.)"
24
25
.0082
1 AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: BRIEFING - STATE PARKS
2 PREVIEW.
3 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Our next item
4 is a briefing item. And that is a preview of the
5 State Parks.
6 (WHEREUPON, a briefing
7 item was presented to the
8 Commissioners, after which,
9 the following proceedings
10 were had:)
11 AGENDA ITEM NO. 6: ACTION - PUBLIC HUNTING
12 LANDS PROCLAMATION AND PROPOSED STATE PARK
13 HUNTS.
14 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Our next item
15 is an action item, the Public Hunting Lands
16 Proclamation and Proposed State Park Hunts. Herb
17 Kothmann, please.
18 MR. KOTHMANN: Madam Chairman,
19 members of the Commission, my name is Herb
20 Kothmann. I'm the director of public hunts.
21 This presentation deals with the proposed changes
22 to the Public Lands Proclamation and the proposed
23 2000-2001 public hunts on state park lands. The
24 first portion of the presentation deals with
25 changes to the public lands proclamation.
.0083
1 One proposal -- proposed change
2 would promote youth participation hunting by
3 lowering from 21 to 18 the minimum age at which
4 young adults could supervise youth in hunting
5 activities.
6 Another staff proposal would be that
7 we would authorize holders of an annual public
8 hunting permit, a limited public use permit, or
9 either the silver or gold PCP to access public
10 hunting lands for the purpose of getting to
11 adjacent public waters. And they could fish from
12 the bank of those public hunting lands in those
13 adjacent public hunting waters. This would be a
14 relaxing of the current requirement that there's
15 a $40 permit required to enter those lands for
16 the purpose of hunting or a $10 permit for all
17 nonconsumptive use.
18 We do not anticipate this would
19 impact the current 38,000 of these $40 that are
20 being sold for hunting activity. That
21 requirement would not change. But it hopefully
22 would improve the access to our public waters in
23 the state.
24 Another proposal would eliminate the
25 current provisions applicable only to U.S. forest
.0084
1 service lands within the Parks and Wildlife
2 public hunting program that allows hunting of
3 small game and feral hogs under a $10 limited
4 public use permit. Where everywhere else this
5 serves simply as a nonconsumptive access permit.
6 Staff has requested now that that
7 proposal be withdrawn, that request of the forest
8 service which would like additional time to
9 evaluate the impact on their users.
10 Another proposal on dealing with the
11 U.S. forest service lands within our public
12 hunting program would establish a special
13 antlerless deer permit to regulate the harvest of
14 antlerless deer on those lands during the general
15 deer season. This permit, if authorized, would
16 be issued by the forest service to people who
17 have the $40 permit. It would not be at an
18 additional cost to the department to administer
19 and we do not recommend charging a fee to the
20 sportsmen for the permit.
21 Another proposal would waive the
22 applicable regular permit fees for activities
23 other than hunting. These are nonconsumptive
24 visitors to our wildlife management areas. We
25 currently waive these fees for our hunters. If
.0085
1 there's a regular fee and they have the annual
2 permit, we don't require them to again pay that.
3 This would give equity to the nonconsumptive
4 user, to what we currently allow for the hunter
5 out there.
6 Another proposal would prohibit the
7 distribution or removal, primarily we're
8 concerned about the theft, of rock, gravel, sand,
9 soil, or shell from our public hunting lands,
10 except as authorized by the department. This has
11 become a recently identified problem in some of
12 our units in the lower Rio Grande Valley
13 specifically.
14 On our proposals that were published
15 in the Texas Register, we had received no
16 comments on the proposed changes in regulations.
17 Of course, we did receive extensive input from
18 the U.S. Forest Service, and that is why we have
19 recommended withdrawal of that one proposal.
20 The second portion of the
21 presentation deals with the proposals for the
22 State Park hunts. We're proposing, again,
23 hunting on 42 units of the State Park system.
24 This is the same number that were hunted this
25 past season. 41 of the 42 recommended are the
.0086
1 same parks.
2 There's one change. That is
3 Dinosaur Valley has dropped out for this proposal
4 and South Llano River has been added. I have a
5 list of three slides or three slides that show
6 the 42 by name. I will not read these but I will
7 go through them slowly so that the audience has a
8 chance to look at them.
9 Inks Lake and Longhorn Cavern are
10 shown as a joint area because although they are
11 two parks in close proximity they are hunted as
12 one combined public hunt area.
13 And South Llano River Bend
14 highlighted is the new addition that was not on
15 the list last year. Although we have hunted it
16 prior to that time.
17 We did have the proposals of State
18 Park hunts aired at public hearings around the
19 state. They have been posted on our Internet
20 home page, distributed through the news media.
21 We did receive only one comment to those
22 published proposals. That was favorable,
23 supporting the proposal for hunts.
24 The staff makes a recommendation to
25 three motions and I would like to read those.
.0087
1 Motion Number 1 says that the Texas Parks and
2 Wildlife Commission adopts the amendments to
3 Sections 65.191 to 65.193 and Section 65.199
4 concerning the public hunting land -- or Public
5 Lands Proclamation with changes to the proposed
6 text as published in the March 3, 2000, issue of
7 Texas Register. And this is important.
8 Withdraws the proposal to establish uniform
9 requirement of an annual public hunting permit to
10 enter public hunting lands for the purpose of
11 hunting.
12 This motion is slightly different
13 than the one in your agenda book.
14 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Could you put
15 that on the screen for a moment, please? I think
16 we have Motion 2 up there.
17 MR. KOTHMANN: Okay.
18 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
19 MR. KOTHMANN: This is Motion 1.
20 And the bottom portion is that withdrawal of that
21 elimination of the $10 permit, which we're asking
22 the withdrawal of.
23 Motion Number 2, the Texas Parks and
24 Wildlife Commission authorizes the hunting
25 activities designated in Exhibit B to be
.0088
1 conducted on the 42 listed units of the State
2 Park system.
3 And Motion Number 3, states that the
4 Parks and Wildlife Commission authorizes an open
5 hunting season on public hunting lands to run
6 from September 1 of 2000, to August 31 of 2001.
7 This is an action that's required in order to
8 hold hunts on any of our State Parks or wildlife
9 management areas.
10 But there are three motions that I
11 am presenting for consideration. Madam Chairman,
12 are there any questions?
13 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you. Any
14 questions by any of the members? Thank you.
15 We have two people signed up for
16 comment. The first is Ellis Gilleland. And the
17 other is David Langford. Mr. Gilleland?
18 MR. GILLELAND: My name is Ellis
19 Gilleland. I'm speaking for Texas Animals which
20 is an animal rights organization on the
21 Internet. I would like to ask the Commission if
22 I could show this three-minute clip, video clip
23 to the Commission in lieu of my three minutes of
24 speaking. I asked when I came in if I could show
25 this. I brought my own VCR to show this, or we
.0089
1 could show it on yours.
2 MR. SANSOM: Mr. Gilleland, I
3 appreciate you bringing the video. And as I
4 mentioned to the crowd this morning, if you would
5 like to give it to Ms. Estrada, we will
6 distribute it to the Commission at a later time.
7 Thank you very much.
8 MR. GILLELAND: I wanted to show it
9 and be here to narrate what's happening in it.
10 There's no audio with it, so it will not be
11 meaningful if you just look at it like it is.
12 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Mr. Gilleland,
13 thank you, but that won't appear in the minutes.
14 And so if you would provide a copy, that copy of
15 the video to Ms. Estrada and then make your
16 remarks, we'll be glad to receive those.
17 MR. GILLELAND: You cannot silence
18 the truth. And so I will just inform you that if
19 you do not allow me to present it to you, the
20 tame animals which exist in Choke Canyon State
21 Park, and I suspect that the tame animals exist
22 in probably all -- nearly all the parks, the tame
23 animals, I wanted you to see these tame animals
24 that you're authorizing people to kill, then make
25 your decision based on that.
.0090
1 I suspected you would not let me
2 show this because it's the truth. So I have made
3 arrangements, I will just put it on the Internet
4 and we'll just let the whole world evaluate it.
5 We'll do it that way. We'll rachet up one. I
6 want the whole world to see the tame, and I
7 emphasize, t-a-m-e, tame animals that you people
8 are killing. The world will see it on the
9 Internet. Thank you.
10 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
11 Mr. Gilleland.
12 Mr. Langford?
13 MR. LANGFORD: Thank you,
14 Commissioners. I'm David Langford, Texas
15 Wildlife Association. And we would urge you to
16 support the staff recommendations and vote
17 positive on those three motions.
18 And I would also like to say, I
19 guess that's one more example of you can't
20 believe what you see on the Internet.
21 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
22 Mr. Langford.
23 Any comments or questions by any of
24 the members?
25 Hearing none, the Chair would
.0091
1 entertain a motion for approval of the
2 recommendations by staff.
3 COMMISSIONER AVILA: So moved.
4 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Second.
5 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
6 It's been moved by Commissioner Avila and
7 seconded by Commissioner Henry that the three
8 recommendations that were presented by
9 Mr. Kothmann be approved. Is there any further
10 discussion?
11 All in favor say aye; those opposed
12 nay. Motion carries. Thank you.
13 (Motion passed unanimously.)
14 1) "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
15 adopts an amendment to 31 TAC 65.191, 65.193,
16 and 65.199, concerning the Public Lands
17 Proclamation, with changes to the proposed
18 text as published in the March 3, 2000, issue
19 of the Texas Register (25 (TexReg 1848), and
20 withdraws the proposal to establish uniform
21 requirement of an APH Permit to enter public
22 hunting lands for the purpose of hunting."
23
24 2) "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
25 authorizes the hunting activities designated
.0092
1 in Exhibit B to be conducted on the 42 listed
2 units of the state park system."
3
4 3) "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
5 authorizes an open hunting season on public
6 hunting lands to run from September 1, 2000 to
7 August 31, 2001."
8 AGENDA ITEM NO. 9: BRIEFING - TEXAS BIRDING.
9 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Our next item
10 is a briefing on Texas birding. John Herron and
11 Vernon Bevill, I believe, are our presenters.
12 (WHEREUPON, a briefing
13 item was presented to the
14 Commissioners, after which,
15 the following proceedings
16 were had:)
17 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
18 The next item is an action item, land transfer,
19 Bexar County, Mike Herring.
20 MR. HERRING: Actually, I believe we
21 had those two on the consent.
22 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: I'm sorry.
23 I've got the wrong one, I think.
24 MR. HERRING: It's Bexar County.
25 It's land acquisition.
.0093
1 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Yes. Items 10
2 and 11 were on consent. And Item 12.
3 MR. HERRING: Yes.
4 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
5 Sorry, I crossed out the wrong ones.
6 AGENDA ITEM NO. 12: ACTION - LAND
7 ACQUISITION - BEXAR COUNTY (GOVERNMENT
8 CANYON).
9 MR. HERRING: My name is Mike
10 Herring. I'm director of the Parks Land
11 Conservation Program. The original 4,717 acres
12 comprising the Government Canyon State Natural
13 Area were acquired in 1993 with an additional
14 1100 acres acquired in 1995. The trust for
15 public land, a nonprofit land conservation group,
16 was instrumental in facilitating the acquisition
17 of both tracts.
18 In January 1999 TPL negotiated a
19 contract for the 805-acre Davis Ranch, upland
20 tract, adjacent to the park, and successfully
21 secured funding for its purchase and subsequently
22 donated the property to the department.
23 TPL, in coordination with the
24 department staff, has continued to monitor
25 adjacent lands for potential conservation
.0094
1 options. The approximately 4,000-acre Gallagher
2 Ranch has been identified as a desirable addition
3 to the park and the trust has negotiated an
4 option to purchase it.
5 Through independent fund raising
6 efforts TPL is securing funds to cover all but
7 $500,000 of the total contract price. TPL is
8 requesting the department to fund the remaining
9 500,000. Staff recommends the adoption of the
10 motion shown in your agenda item. And I might
11 add that Valarie Bristol, the Texas director for
12 TPL is also available here today should you have
13 any questions.
14 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
15 Mr. Herring. Any questions or comments by any of
16 the Commissioners? Hearing none, the Chair would
17 entertain a motion for approval of the
18 recommendation.
19 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: So moved.
20 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Second.
21 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you.
22 MR. SANSOM: Madam Chairman, before
23 you vote I would just like to say that this
24 represents an extraordinary effort on the part of
25 the trust for public land. All the way from the
.0095
1 beginning, this has been one of the most creative
2 transactions that has been brought before you in
3 this decade, and one in which, I would guess the
4 overall cost of the property there has probably
5 been somewhere around 15 to 20 cents on the
6 dollar over the life of the project.
7 And in addition to that, one of the
8 things that I think is most significant is that
9 when the original project was turned over to the
10 department, the trust created endowments for
11 friends organizations and natural history groups
12 on the site. So we made a commitment beyond just
13 the acquisition itself but to the ongoing
14 operation and stewardship, as well.
15 Ms. Bristol is a former County
16 Commissioner here in Travis County who has
17 recently been named to State director. Anjali
18 Kaul is with her and also I see Deirdre Hisler,
19 who is manager of the park. And so they're all
20 doing a terrific job down there. And we
21 appreciate them.
22 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
23 Mr. Sansom. And welcome to all of you. We
24 really appreciate the hard work and the good
25 results from the Trust for Public Lands. And
.0096
1 it's been a great partnership. I'm looking
2 forward to being on that property. It will be
3 great.
4 We have a motion pending, motion by
5 Commissioner Idsal. Was the second by
6 Commissioner Henry? Thank you.
7 Any further discussion? All in
8 favor say aye; those opposed nay. Motion
9 carries. Thank you.
10 (Motion passed unanimously.)
11 "The Executive Director is authorized to take
12 all necessary steps to consummate the
13 acquisition of the 400 acre Gallagher Ranch as
14 an addition to the Government Canyon State
15 Natural Area."
16 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Mr. Herring, do
17 you have the other item?
18 AGENDA ITEM NO. 13: ACTION - LAND
19 ACQUISITION - PRESIDIO COUNTY.
20 MR. HERRING: Yes. The La Mota
21 Ranch comprising of approximately 31,000 acres is
22 located adjacent to the north boundary of Big
23 Bend Ranch State Park in Presidio County. The
24 ranch was owned by the late John W. Rice who died
25 unexpectedly in September 1999. In his will,
.0097
1 Mr. Rice left a legal life estate to his
2 son-in-law, James Donnell, with title then
3 passing to Texas Parks and Wildlife. For various
4 reasons Mr. Donnell does not wish to hold his
5 portion of the property as a life estate.
6 Therefore, he has requested that the ranch be
7 divided in such a way, that he obtains a fee
8 title ownership to a portion of the ranch equal
9 in value to his remainder life estate, with the
10 department receiving fee title to the remaining
11 acreage.
12 Based upon Mr. Donnell's current age
13 and the applicable treasury tables for valuation
14 of life estates and remainders, the value
15 attributable to the life tenant is 65 percent of
16 the value of the property.
17 The department staff, working with
18 Mr. Donnell has developed a division of the ranch
19 whereby Mr. Donnell would receive approximately
20 18,000 acres and the department would receive
21 12,747 acres.
22 The difference between the appraised
23 value of the 12,000 acres and the department's
24 entitlement will be paid to Mr. Donnell. The
25 12,000 acres is in the southern portion of the
.0098
1 ranch adjacent to Big Bend Ranch and includes the
2 more scenic portions of Terneros Creek and the
3 associated canyon lands. The upland portion of
4 the 12,000 acres is in good condition and similar
5 to comparable parts of Big Bend Ranch.
6 An excellent example of a cottonwood
7 gallery forest is also included in the 4.7 miles
8 of Terneros Creek. The 12,747 acres is a logical
9 addition of Big Bend Ranch adding significant
10 habitat and recreational opportunity while not
11 incurring additional operating expenses. Staff
12 recommends the adoption of the motion as shown in
13 your agenda item.
14 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
15 Mr. Herring. Are there any questions of the
16 members? Did you want to add something,
17 Mr. Sansom?
18 MR. SANSOM: Yes. I would like to
19 just say, members, that Mr. Rice and his wife
20 were wonderful friends of our department and
21 long-time neighbors. Mrs. Rice was an artist
22 whose works are displayed in Marfa. Mr. Rice was
23 a close associate with our employees out there.
24 In fact, Luis Armendariz was a very close friend
25 of Mr. Rice.
.0099
1 I believe that this transaction will
2 honor his wishes, but at the same time create an
3 additional opportunity to be good neighbors with
4 Mr. Donnell, who is also named in the estate.
5 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Well, it's a
6 very special gift that Mr. Rice has made to the
7 people of Texas and one that I think we all
8 greatly appreciate.
9 And I think Mr. Donnell has achieved
10 a good result in his work with the department
11 here. And I think that many, if not all of the
12 commissioners, have been to Big Bend Ranch State
13 Park and we can appreciate that this will be a
14 great addition. Thank you.
15 Hearing no questions, the Chair
16 would entertain a motion for approval of this
17 recommendation of staff.
18 COMMISSIONER WATSON: So moved.
19 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Motion by
20 Commissioner Watson. Is there a second?
21 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Second.
22 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Second by
23 Commissioner Angelo. Any further discussion?
24 All in favor say aye; those opposed
25 nay. Motion carries. Thank you.
.0100
1 (Motion passed unanimously.)
2 "The Executive Director is authorized to take
3 all steps to consummate the acceptance and
4 purchase of approximately 12,747 acres of the
5 La Mota Ranch, Presidio County, as an addition
6 to Big Bend Ranch State Park."
7 AGENDA ITEM NO. 14: ACTION - LAND
8 ACQUISITION - CAMERON COUNTY (LAS PALOMAS
9 WMA).
10 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: And our last
11 item is an action item. Land acquisition in
12 Cameron County. Mr. Bauer.
13 MR. BAUER: Good morning, my name is
14 Jack Bauer with the Land Conservation Program.
15 Wildlife division staff of the Las Palomas
16 Wildlife Management Area manage Resaca de la
17 Palma State Park and the Brasil Unit near
18 Brownsville as native brush habitat and
19 cropland.
20 A 25-acre adjacent cropland tract
21 has become available and is recommended as a
22 white-winged dove habitat addition. Staff
23 recommends the Commission consider the motion
24 before you to acquire the tract as an addition to
25 the Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area using
.0101
1 white-winged dove stamp revenue.
2 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
3 Mr. Bauer. Any questions? I think a number of
4 us have seen that tract. And it's an exciting
5 prospect for management for the white-winged
6 dove.
7 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Move approval.
8 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
9 Commissioner Angelo.
10 COMMISSIONER RYAN: Second.
11 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: And second by
12 Commissioner Ryan. Any further discussion? All
13 in favor say aye; those opposed nay. Motion
14 carries. Thank you, Mr. Bauer.
15 MR. BAUER: Thank you.
16 (Motion passed unanimously.)
17 "The Executive Director is authorized to take
18 all steps necessary to acquire approximately
19 25 acres in Cameron County as an addition to
20 the Brasil Unit of the Las Palomas Wildlife
21 Management Area using white-winged dove stamp
22 revenue."
23 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: With that, we
24 conclude the business of the Commission at this
25 public hearing.
.0102
1 And the Commission yesterday stood
2 in recess from its committee meetings. And I
3 would like to announce that pursuant to the
4 requirements of Chapter 551 of the Government
5 Code, referred to as the Open Meetings Law, an
6 executive session will be held at this time for
7 the purpose of consideration of land
8 transactions.
9 Mr. Sansom, as parliamentarian, is
10 it appropriate for us now to adjourn the
11 hearing?
12 MR. SANSOM: We would essentially
13 recess and go into executive session. And once
14 you're complete, you will need to come back down
15 here and adjourn.
16 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you. I
17 wanted to be sure we did it in the right order.
18 We appreciate all of you being here
19 today. Thank you.
20 (Whereupon, an executive
21 session was held, after
22 which, the following
23 proceedings were had:)
24 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: We'll resume
25 the Commission Meeting, and unless there is an
.0103
1 objection, we'll stand adjourned. Thank you very
2 much.
3 (HEARING ADJOURNED.)
4 *-*-*-*-*
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.0104
1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
2 STATE OF TEXAS )
3 COUNTY OF TRAVIS )
4
5 I, MELODY RENEE DeYOUNG, a Certified Court
6 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, do hereby
7 certify that the above and foregoing 45 pages
8 constitute a full, true and correct transcript of
9 the minutes of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
10 Commission on APRIL 6, 2000, in the Commission
11 hearing room of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
12 Headquarters Complex, Austin, Travis County,
13 Texas.
14 I FURTHER CERTIFY that a stenographic record
15 was made by me a the time of the public meeting
16 and said stenographic notes were thereafter
17 reduced to computerized transcription under my
18 supervision and control.
19 WITNESS MY HAND this the 10TH day of MAY
20 2000.
21
22 MELODY RENEE DeYOUNG, RPR, CSR NO. 3226
Expiration Date: 12-31-00
23 3101 Bee Caves Road
Centre II, Suite 220
24 Austin, Texas 78746
(512) 328-5557
25
EBS NO. 40482
.0105
1
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Carol E. Dinkins, Vice Chair
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6 Dick W. Heath
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Nolan Ryan
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11 Ernest Angelo, Jr.
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John Avila, Jr.
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16 Alvin L. Henry
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Katharine Armstrong Idsal
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21 Mark E. Watson, Jr.
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