Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Conservation Committee
August 29, 2001
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
1
5 BE IT REMEMBERED, that heretofore on the 29th day
6 of August, 2001, there came to be heard matters under the
7 regulatory authority of the Parks and Wildlife Commission of
8 Texas, in the Commission Hearing Room of the Texas Parks and
9 Wildlife Headquarters Complex, Austin, Texas, beginning at
10 11:45 a.m., to wit:
11
12 APPEARANCES:
THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
13
CONSERVATION COMMITTEE:
14 CHAIR: Carol E. Dinkins, Houston, Texas
Donato D. Ramos, Laredo, Texas
15 Philip Montgomery, Dallas, Texas
Ernest Angelo, Jr., Midland, Texas
16 John Avila, Jr., Fort Worth, Texas, Absent
Alvin L. Henry, Houston, Texas
17 Katharine Armstrong Idsal, San Antonio, Texas
Mark E. Watson, Jr., San Antonio, Texas
18 Joseph Fitzsimons, San Antonio, Texas
19
20
21 THE TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
Andrew H. Sansom, Executive Director, and other personnel of
22 the Parks and Wildlife Department
23
24
25
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1 CHAIR IDSAL: We will now take on the business
2 of the Conservation Committee. Carol Dinkins.
3 CHAIRMAN DINKINS: Thank you, Madame Chair.
4 Our first order of business is approval of the minutes of the
5 last meeting. Are there any additions or deletions to those
6 minutes or revisions?
7 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Move approval.
8 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: Second.
9 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Thank you. All in favor
10 say aye.
11 ("Aye").
12 CHAIRMAN DINKINS: Those opposed nay. The
13 motion carries. Next is the Chairman's Charges.
14 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Madame Chairman,
15 the mission of the Conservation Committee is to promote the
16 natural and cultural resources of Texas, using private land
17 conservation and education initiatives, conservation easements
18 and trusts, and strategic land acquisitions.
19 There are a number of items relative to the
20 implementation of the Sunset Bill, Senate Bill No. 305,
21 including advise, consult and support local governments with
22 aquatic vegetation management and control as a part of the
23 aquatic vegetation plan. Second, to develop a statewide land
24 and water resources conservation and recreation plan which
25 Mr. Montgomery might well include in inventory of trail
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1 resources such as you have mentioned. I will let you-all know
2 that Carter Burgess has been selected as our outsource partner
3 on this project. Third, to plan and coordinate the
4 development of historical sites and to negotiate with the
5 Texas Department of Transportation for the use of obsolete
6 bridges, tunnels and causeways for the artificial reef
7 program.
8 With respect to other actions of the 77th
9 session, principally there is a new provision in Senate Bill 2
10 which requires our department to participate in the Texas
11 Water Advisory Council which is a new statewide water planning
12 institution. Through that effort we will continue to advocate
13 fish and wildlife resource needs, to complete all bay and
14 estuary studies, to emphasize the importance of protected
15 stream segments and regional water planning and assure that
16 regional plans and associated water development strategies
17 consider the impact of those strategies on fish and wildlife
18 resources to minimize adverse impacts. That completes the
19 charges, Madame Chairman.
20 CHAIRMAN DINKINS: Thank you, Mr. Sansom. All
21 of you have a copy before you. Any questions? Then we'll
22 move to Item 2, which is the nomination for oil and gas lease
23 that Gus Engeling WMA. Kathy Boydston, welcome.
24 MS. BOYDSTON: Madame Chairman, Members of the
25 Commission, my name is Kathy Boydston, I'm program leader for
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1 the Wildlife Habitat Assessment Program. The item I'm
2 presenting is an oil and gas nomination on the Gus Engeling
3 Wildlife Management Area. It's located in Anderson County.
4 It's a 10,000-acre tract. The department owns 50 percent of
5 the mineral interest in this tract. This proposal follows the
6 Commission policy of requiring a minimum bonus bid of $150 per
7 acre with a 25 percent fixed royalty and a $10 per acre delay
8 fee in rental for a term of three years.
9 We also propose that the lease be subject to
10 the restrictions in Exhibit A. And the first restriction
11 would require the oil and gas operator to locate on an
12 existing drilling pad and use existing -- an existing access
13 road and existing pipeline easements. This would result in
14 the least amount of surface disturbance to the area and also
15 the least amount of disturbance to the normal operations of
16 the WMA. The second restriction would just cover any concerns
17 that the department has that are not included in the normal
18 oil and gas lease. Thank you. Are there any questions?
19 CHAIRMAN DINKINS: Mr. Angelo.
20 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: The $150 an acre minimum
21 bonus, is that something that we've established as a constant,
22 or do we -- do you-all look at that to see what's going on in
23 the area and what the circumstances are?
24 MS. BOYDSTON: What we will do is we'll send
25 this as soon as you approve this tomorrow, we will send it
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1 over to the GLO and let them know what we're going to require
2 and they will research it and make sure that that's applicable
3 for the area and then let us know if it needs to be more.
4 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Okay.
5 MS. BOYDSTON: They will hardly ever ask us to
6 reduce it unless there's a complaint from a nominator, but --
7 that it's too high, but normally they will only ask us to
8 increase it.
9 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: I was -- it's
10 particularly important at this time but considerably better
11 now and prices are -- prices for such things are up so I
12 wasn't sure what our process was for making sure that we were
13 competitive.
14 MS. BOYDSTON: They're very good about letting
15 us know if we need to increase it.
16 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Okay.
17 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Any other comments or
18 questions? If there is no further discussion or any other
19 questions, then without objection, we'll move this item to the
20 Thursday Commission meeting agenda for public comment and
21 action. Thank you.
22 MS. BOYDSTON: Thank you.
23 CHAIRMAN DINKINS: Our next agenda item is a
24 briefing by Bob Cook on Less-than-Fee Conservation
25 Alternatives for Private Landowners and, Jeff Francell,
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1 welcome.
2 MR. COOK: Thank you very much.
3 CHAIRMAN DINKINS: Welcome.
4 MR. COOK: My name is Bob Cook. I'm chief
5 operating officer and I've asked Carolyn Vogel and Jeff
6 Francell, Carolyn is with the wildlife division and Jeff is in
7 our land conservation division to -- to assist me with this.
8 Our purpose here today is to have a discussion and this is
9 just a briefing item for your consideration and any -- any
10 other information that we can provide.
11 Less-than-fee conservation alternatives for
12 private landowners potentially provide them -- provide a
13 permanent conservation benefit while allowing lands to remain
14 in private hands. Our purpose here today is to highlight some
15 of the applications of this conservation tool and discuss the
16 department's role and -- as a facilitator and/or a potential
17 holder of those easements and/or development rights. I
18 think -- I think each of these as -- as we get into them are
19 going to be a case-by-case, you know, situation that we'll
20 have to discuss and review and -- and work on individually.
21 We -- we got started into this many years ago, but in April of
22 1996 we sponsored a conference here in Austin of which there
23 were about 300 people participating. Our chairman, Lee Bass
24 at the time, kind of set the tone of the meeting by talking
25 about the direction of the TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION
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1 program being one to educate and facilitate -- helping people,
2 helping landowners understand and -- and learn about the
3 various conservation alternatives that are out there and to
4 facilitate work with the Texas land trust groups that were
5 around at the time. And that's where Carolyn has come in and
6 done us a great service and it's very much appreciated.
7 In fact, in April of 1999, TPWD created the
8 Texas Land Trust Council program which Carolyn heads up to
9 provide services to the state's 35 nonprofit land trusts. In
10 October of 2000 the Governor's Conservation Task Force, which
11 was chaired by Commissioner Dinkins and included members of
12 our current Commission and past Commission, Lee Bass,
13 Mr. Henry, and Joe Fitzsimons, recommended that Texas should
14 create a statewide purchase of development rights program;
15 reform tax laws to support conservation; and expand incentives
16 for habitat management and outdoor recreation on private land.
17 Those are three of the principal recommendations that came out
18 of that group for the governor's office, the legislature, and
19 those folks to consider.
20 Given that, I would like to -- I would like to
21 turn the program over at this time to -- to these folks and
22 let them proceed with you and talk about some of the
23 definitions, some of what we're doing now and what we're --
24 what we're being faced with.
25 MR. FRANCELL: Commissioners, I'm Jeff Francell
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1 and I'm just going to run through a few things very quickly
2 and hopefully leave lots of times for questions. The first
3 thing we'll talk about are definitions as well as conservation
4 benefits of these kinds of agreements; landowner benefits,
5 these kinds of agreements, and the responsibilities of an
6 entity that holds an easement or purchases a development
7 right. Carolyn will talk about the current role of Texas
8 Parks and Wildlife.
9 A conservation easement is a voluntary legal
10 agreement that a landowner places on its property to protect
11 natural, cultural or historic features of their property.
12 Purchase of development rights is when a landowner is actually
13 paid for the limiting of future development or subdivision of
14 their property. An easement holder is a legally -- a legally
15 empowered agency, government agency or nonprofit private land
16 trust, that's the groups that Carolyn works with, who's
17 allowed to hold the conservation easement and who is
18 responsible for monitoring and enforcing the conservation
19 easement.
20 Some of the land uses that are restricted or
21 limited with these kinds of agreements -- I'm not going to
22 read all these on the list, but the top two are generally in
23 almost all of these kinds of agreements which involve
24 commercial, industrial, residential development, or
25 subdivision. There are a number of benefits, conservation
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1 benefits to doing these kinds of agreements including reducing
2 fragmentation and habitat loss. This is an issue that Parks
3 and Wildlife deals with all the time with private landowners.
4 These kinds of agreements also give the -- would give the
5 entity that holds the easement, the ability to influence
6 resource management on private property, much like Parks and
7 Wildlife does with its wildlife management plans. These kinds
8 of agreements can preserve open space and protect scenic
9 views. They can also protect and enhance water quality and
10 also, in historic and cultural sites, easements can be placed
11 on buildings to make sure buildings aren't changed in the
12 future or to protect, say, Indian rock art sites, or something
13 like that.
14 There's some landowner benefits to doing these
15 kinds of agreements. I would say the first benefit is that
16 these agreements generally meet the goals of the private
17 landowner since they're voluntarily placed. Usually a
18 landowner seeks out an entity to hold these kinds of
19 agreements. They're looking for somebody to work with them --
20 and for the future. There are tax deductions, Federal IRS
21 income tax deduction advantages to doing conservation
22 easements or purchase of development rights. Agreements like
23 purchase of development rights or conservation agreements can
24 help landowners with estate planning. And then the last one,
25 specific to purchase of development rights, is when a
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1 landowner is paid for limiting future development. They can
2 actually realize some of the capital that they sit on and
3 don't use. And they can do things with that, with those
4 funds, for the property in the future, or to help with estate
5 planning.
6 The responsibilities of the easement holder are
7 fairly simple, but they're very important. Monitoring the
8 conservation easement or purchase of development rights is
9 something that they're required to do, either once or
10 sometimes more a year. And also if there is ever a violation,
11 the easement holder is responsible for going in and making
12 sure that the landowner comes back into compliance, and we
13 mention those because whenever you consider this kind of
14 project, it's something that you don't want to overlook. And
15 I'll turn it over to Carolyn, she'll talk about her current
16 role.
17 MS. VOGEL: Thank you. Madame Chairman,
18 Commissioners, I'm Carolyn Vogel. As Bob stated in his
19 introduction, the role that I play at Parks and Wildlife is in
20 the facilitation and education role about this conservation --
21 long-term conservation approaches to conservation. And as Bob
22 stated, the Texas Land Trust Council was initiated -- it was
23 started here at Texas Parks and Wildlife in 1999 I'm the
24 administrator of that program today. The role of the Texas
25 Land Council is to promote and sustain the conservation
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1 efforts of the 35 nonprofit land trusts that operate in Texas
2 today. And our program acts as the service center. I work
3 directly with these 35 nonprofits in their efforts to -- to
4 sustain themselves and to help grow healthy organizations in
5 Texas. And to meet their objectives, acting as a service
6 center and aiding them in meeting their organizational and
7 stewardship development objectives of the land trust. The
8 Texas Land Trust Council has a 15-member board. Carter Smith
9 of The Nature Conservatory is the current president of the
10 organization. This board also represents many of the land
11 trusts throughout the State. A couple of our board members --
12 different board members represent different land trusts and
13 also the professional advisement of the community.
14 We have a board member from Counemava
15 Conservancy which services the Dallas/Fort Worth area, from
16 Bexar Land Trust which is in San Antonio; from Katy Prairie
17 Conservancy west of Houston. And again, a 15-member board --
18 and I work very closely with them again in this effort to
19 sustain and grow healthy organizations. Another one of my
20 major jobs is to work with our biologists and technical
21 guidance folks who are working directly with landowners and
22 talking to landowners about the different conservation choices
23 and options they have in the short-term and long-term
24 protection of their properties. And my job is to train the
25 staff, and also not just in the wildlife division, but I work
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1 with other divisions of the agency also. And another part of
2 my job is to work directly with landowners. I get numerous
3 calls from landowners who are inquiring about these approaches
4 to conservation and concern about, you know, how do I protect
5 my habitat or concern about the fragmentation issues, that
6 they are experiencing in their own families.
7 In the education role that we provide, we've
8 had a number of statewide conferences. We've had -- this year
9 we've had regional workshops in which we got needs assessments
10 and the land assessments. We need to be trained in these
11 technical skills. We've had regional land trust workshops and
12 trained staff of land trusts and board and volunteers along,
13 again, with the staff of other agencies that are involved in
14 conservation. We also in these workshops have included CEU
15 opportunities for the professional community. It's avery
16 important role to -- to help the professional community, the
17 attorneys, the appraisers and the accountants who are advising
18 the landowners, so that's part of our role here in the Land
19 Trust Council program. Thank you.
20 MR. COOK: I think it's important -- in this
21 discussion -- I believe -- where we are today in this program
22 is one of -- our first question is always, "What is the goal
23 of that private landowner and his family?" When we go to
24 people now and talk to them about wildlife management plans,
25 typically they have asked us to come, number one, and the
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1 first thing that our people do when they sit down at the table
2 with them, they say, "What are your needs?" That's just in
3 the voluntary wildlife management planning -- "How do you want
4 to do this? What works for you and your family and what you
5 want to accomplish here?" I see a real similarity in this
6 program and how we might be involved in it like that. Our
7 number one issue here is conservation and that's what we, I
8 think -- it is important that we focus on. I think we are
9 going to get more and more and more people -- private
10 landowners in Texas coming to us. They trust TPWD. They
11 believe in TPWD. They know our people, they know our wardens,
12 they know our biologists, they know our staff and our field --
13 our parks people. They trust us and they ask for this kind of
14 information from us. So depending -- I think, depending on
15 how deep we want to get into it we can get pretty deep.
16 And I think Mr. Fitzsimons made a -- made a
17 suggestion, made a comment the other day that I thought was --
18 was very important. We should always -- we should always try
19 to direct, try to help put the land trust organizations in the
20 state together with landowners. It's not necessary that we
21 be, you know, the holder of any or all of these -- these
22 programs. But there are groups out there who are there for
23 that purpose and who -- we can help put the two together. So
24 that's kind of where I think we are right now. And I
25 really -- I really appreciate Carolyn's efforts in this and
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1 the staff's. Just in those few years we've -- we've -- this
2 is -- this is a -- this is a beginning. We're just getting
3 started and it's relatively new to Texas; not too many people
4 are comfortable with it. Some people are very uncomfortable
5 with it.
6 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Bob, how many
7 conservation easements does the department hold or manage
8 presently?
9 MR. COOK: Carolyn can answer that, I believe.
10 MS. VOGEL: I think we have, let's see, I think
11 we hold about eight right now.
12 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: And you are the
13 holder and obviously manage it.
14 MS. VOGEL: Yes. We have a couple at the San
15 Jacinto Battleground, a couple at Caddo Lake and one playa
16 lake in the Panhandle.
17 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Those were donated or
18 acquired?
19 MS. VOGEL: Donated.
20 COMMISIONER FITZSIMONS: All donated. Are
21 there any purchased development rights similar to the program
22 we looked at in Colorado on the Conservation Task Force in
23 Texas? I know that Nature Conservancy has --
24 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Here in the -- as a
25 part of the Barton Creek, you know, watershed protection there
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1 are purchased development rights. That would be the only
2 situation that I would be familiar with.
3 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Is it Proposition 2?
4 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: On that scale.
5 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Proposition 2 here?
6 MS. VOGEL: Right. And there's a 6,000-acre
7 ranch in Hays County that's under option right now, the Hill
8 Country Conservancy which is a local land trust that Andy's
9 referring to in Barton Creek. And they have an option now to
10 buy the development rights on 6,000 acres in the neighboring
11 county. It's a water protection.
12 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: The bond issue
13 recently passed in San Antonio for the purpose of watershed
14 protection, I believe, also envisions the purchase of
15 development rights over the aquifer -- in western Bexar
16 County.
17 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: It does, it includes
18 it. What's intriguing about that is that the people who are
19 benefitting are actually paying.
20 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Sure.
21 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Which -- well, that's
22 not always the case in public policy and that's a unique
23 program.
24 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: What is our policy on
25 the acceptance of easements just --
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1 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: It has been the
2 same as the policy on acceptance of any other asset and that
3 is that it's viewed not only as an opportunity but as a
4 liability and that's why, in Jeff's presentation, he made it
5 real clear that in each one of these cases there's a, you
6 know, there is a direct cost. And so that's part of the
7 consideration.
8 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: Right.
9 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: We intended to
10 be -- in terms of our own role as a holder, more interested
11 in -- in situations where an easement could be used, or a
12 purchase of development right could be used, to protect an
13 existing area. For example, an area adjacent to a park that's
14 threatened by some adverse use that would allow us to protect
15 the watershed, a viewshed or some other value without having
16 to take ownership of the property. In addition, our
17 management costs would be less there because we have a staff
18 on-site.
19 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: You leverage a great
20 deal more with those dollars than just buying the development.
21 You mentioned that -- there's some precedent, I guess, in some
22 of the properties around.
23 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Yes. And we're
24 going to -- we're going to brief you further on that.
25 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Okay.
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1 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: Is there a policy
2 that when we accept one we have a management plan attached to
3 it then?
4 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Yes. That's a
5 part --
6 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: For monitoring.
7 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Generally that
8 would be part of the easement, yes. And it's a legal
9 requirement.
10 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: Well, I mean the
11 monitoring of the compliance is our responsibility when we're
12 the holder?
13 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Some of these things are
14 required so that you can comply with the tax laws to get the
15 benefit.
16 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: That's what I'm
17 wondering.
18 COMMISIONER FITZSIMONS: That's an important
19 distinction because some people do it for the tax benefit in a
20 donation. Others, like in Colorado, actually sell it.
21 Different requirements.
22 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Yes.
23 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: And so even the
24 nomenclature, if the -- if the -- if the -- if the device is
25 being instituted potentially for Federal Income Tax purposes,
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1 then even the nomenclature is described by Federal law. So
2 there's some real tight -- so there's some parameters there
3 which are in the Federal statutes.
4 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: Well, that's where I
5 was going with the whole line of questioning is, are we in
6 effect monitoring on behalf of the Federal -- do we have any
7 obligations to the Federal government or IRS or anybody else
8 in any of this that we're doing?
9 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: No.
10 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: That's all
11 separately --
12 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: It comes to the
13 question of value for the taxpayer who takes the deduction.
14 That's their issue.
15 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: One other comment
16 here that -- that I think is real important not to pass over
17 and that is the tremendous importance of these local land
18 trusts. What the local land trusts represent is the
19 opportunity for peers in regions to form nonprofits. And so
20 the potential sellers or donors of easements are dealing with
21 people whom they trust and in fact are their peers, and that's
22 the -- what has made this program really catch fire in places
23 like the Gunnison Valley in Colorado and other places where
24 rural owners have -- have formed institutions themselves to
25 take advantage of both the tax laws of, in the case of
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1 Colorado, fairly substantial grant opportunities to cause
2 these conservation benefits to occur and to allow them to have
3 some monitorization of value that they otherwise would never
4 achieve. Did I say that right?
5 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: The key in the
6 Colorado example that I have some experience with, is that the
7 cattlemen formed the land trust. Now, they had an advantage
8 in Colorado or have that we don't have yet in Texas and they
9 had a source of funding -- okay the open space funding from a
10 portion of the lottery. They call it gold cup. And -- but
11 there's also some matching money and in that case developers
12 were actually paying into the pot to buy development rights to
13 protect the view sheds around their own developments. So what
14 intrigues me is that there really is a free market element
15 here that can be fostered but it has to start with people
16 being comfortable first with --
17 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: Joe, are most of these
18 easements perpetual or do you have like a term easement to
19 where they say --
20 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: That's the question
21 for the -- I mean, if you're doing it for tax purposes --
22 CHAIRMAN DINKINS: You can do it either way.
23 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: Right. But what I'm
24 saying is -- is -- I mean, we'll take it either way so as long
25 as it's long-term enough to where our investment in managing
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1 it, you know, would make sense, obviously.
2 CHAIRMAN FITZSIMONS: You can take it either
3 way, but at some point it doesn't have much value. If it's
4 so -- so --
5 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Tenuated.
6 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: Short-term.
7 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Tenuated. I'm no tax
8 lawyer, but that -- that goes to the issue of value. If
9 you're donating it and trying to take it for estate tax
10 purposes. But, you know, what intrigued me about the Colorado
11 program, especially with the issue of the developers, what
12 intrigues me about Proposition 2, as they said before, the
13 people actually benefitting are paying. In other words, if
14 you're using that water and you're protecting my water by not
15 developing that open space, I should pay you for that
16 development. And it keeps those people on the land and in
17 agriculture and they're really selling something they didn't
18 want to do anyway.
19 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Well, to carry that
20 analogy further it's an alternative investment to a dam or
21 some other means of providing water.
22 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Exactly.
23 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: So I've got it right.
24 Our practice in that is to encourage the local land trusts and
25 sort of be a --
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1 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Where possible.
2 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: Where possible and to
3 refer inquiries to them and that we're only accepting
4 easements where there's a very special reason for us to hold
5 it. But we're really not trying to accumulate them ourselves.
6 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: The donor won't have
7 it any other way. Now, is there any way -- does it make any
8 sense -- I've seen this before where you divide management and
9 holding. You similarly -- you do in the commercial real
10 estate business, is that you have one party could hold it and
11 have a management contract with another party.
12 MS. VOGEL: County governments often use that
13 where -- where -- because often -- because municipalities
14 can --
15 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Outsource and
16 monitoring.
17 MS. VOGEL: Yeah. And contract to the local
18 land trust even though the county might hold the easement.
19 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Any other questions or
20 comments? Then the remainder of our agenda items are to be
21 addressed in executive session.
22 CHAIR IDSAL: Before we go into executive
23 session, I wanted to make a comment about the Chairman's
24 Charges. You-all may be relieved to hear that we're not going
25 to read all the Chairman's Charges in their entirety at every
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1 meeting, but I think since we've just come out of Sunset and
2 whatnot and I'm the new chairman that it would be appropriate
3 to read the entire charge of each committee. And while we're
4 doing that, even though we're not meeting today on
5 Infrastructure or Education and Outreach, I would like
6 Mr. Sansom to read the charges for those two committees as
7 well.
8 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANSOM: Thank you, Madame
9 Chairman. First for the Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee, the
10 mission would be to ensure the long-term integrity of Parks
11 and Wildlife's infrastructure resources through an effective
12 and efficient capitol development and repair program.
13 Specifically the Sunset Bill calls for us to
14 perform cost benefit analyses for contracting with private
15 entities to manage proposed projects. We are to successfully
16 complete our $60 million bond issue and to prepare and --
17 for -- and execute hopefully the successful passage of
18 Proposition 8 which will complete our critical infrastructure
19 repairs and then to track and appropriately manage projects
20 that we are in partnership with the -- the Texas -- the Parks
21 and Wildlife Foundation of Texas through Lone Star Legacy.
22 As the chairman has mentioned, the Outreach and
23 Education Committee has been established as a permanent
24 standing committee. Its mission will be to ensure
25 effectiveness and efficiency of department efforts to provide
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1 education, public awareness, and increased acceptance of
2 conservation and outdoor recreation opportunities.
3 Specifically, Senate Bill 305, the Sunset Bill,
4 calls for us to study and prepare a report on all department
5 outreach and education programs, evaluating consistency and
6 recommending termination where appropriate. And finally to
7 create a plan for the oversight of department-wide outreach
8 and education programs.
9 Secondly to initiate, encourage, and support
10 all other departmental programs and projects designed to
11 promote conservation in outdoor recreation.
12 Madame Chairman and members, we have had the
13 pleasure today of having with us our first natural leaders
14 class whom you were introduced to last night. And I would
15 like to point out for the record that the assignments of the
16 natural leaders for the year 2001 will be the specific
17 implementation projects that I have outlined for you this
18 morning for Sunset.
19 Thank you very much.
20 CHAIR IDSAL: I would like to announce that
21 pursuant to the requirements of Chapter 551 Government Code
22 referred to as the Open Meetings Law, an executive session
23 will be held at this time for the purpose of consideration of
24 land transactions.
25
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1 THE STATE OF TEXAS )
2 COUNTY OF TRAVIS )
3 I, KIM SEIBERT, a Certified Court Reporter in and for
4 the State of Texas, do hereby certify that the above and
5 foregoing pages constitute a full, true, and correct
6 transcript of the minutes of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
7 Commission on August 29, 2001, in the Commission hearing room
8 of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters Complex, Austin,
9 Travis County, Texas.
10 I FURTHER CERTIFY that a stenographic record was made by
11 meat the time of the public meeting and said stenographic
12 notes were thereafter reduced to computerized transcription
13 under my supervision and control.
14 WITNESS MY HAND this ____ day of ____________________,
15 2001.
16
17
18 ___________________________
KIM SEIBERT, Texas CSR 4589
19 Expiration Date: 12/2002
3101 Bee Caves Road
20 Suite 220, Centre II
Austin, Texas 78701
21 (512) 328-5557
22
23
24
25
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