Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Public Hearing
November 9, 2000
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
1
5 BE IT REMEMBERED THAT heretofore on the
6 9th day of November 2000, there came on to be heard
7 matters under the regulatory authority of the Parks
8 and Wildlife Commission of Texas in the Commission
9 hearing room of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
10 Headquarters Complex, Austin, Travis County, Texas,
11 beginning at 9:20 a.m., to wit:
12
13 APPEARANCES:
14
15 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
16 Lee M. Bass, Fort Worth, Texas, Chairman
17 John Avila, Jr., Forth Worth, Texas
18 Nolan Ryan, Alvin, Texas (absent)
19 Alvin L. Henry, Houston, Texas
20 Carol E. Dinkins, Houston, Texas, Vice-Chair
21 Ernest Angelo, Jr., Midland, Texas
22 Katharine Armstrong Idsal, Dallas, Texas
23 Mark E. Watson, Jr., San Antonio, Texas (absent)
24 Richard W. (Dick) Heath, Carrollton, Texas (absent)
25
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1 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
2
3 Andrew H. Sansom, Executive Director and other
4 personnel of the Parks and Wildlife Department
5
6 OTHER APPEARANCES:
7
8 Mr. Ellis Gilleland, representing Texas Animals
9 Mr. David Langford, representing Texas Wildlife
10 Association
11 Mr. David Stewart, representing SMART
12 Mr. Sparky Anderson, representing Clean Water Action
13
14 *****
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1 NOVEMBER 9, 2000
2 *****
3 PUBLIC HEARING
4 *****
5 9:20 a.m.
6
7 CHAIRMAN BASS: Good morning. I'd like
8 to call this meeting of the Parks and Wildlife
9 Commission to order and, Mr. Sansom, would you read
10 our public notice.
11 MR. SANSOM: Mr. Chairman, the public
12 notice of the meeting containing all items on the
13 proposed agenda has been filed in the office of
14 Secretary of State as required by chapter 551 of the
15 government code. This is referred to as the open
16 meetings law and I would like for the action to be
17 noted in the official record of the meeting.
18 Ladies and Gentlemen, we welcome you
19 here this morning and as always, I will be helping
20 the Chair today as a kind of Sergeant at Arms. He is
21 in charge of the meeting. And when we begin the
22 agenda, we've got cards for everyone who would like
23 to speak so be sure that if you want to speak that
24 you sign the card because he will call your name from
25 the cards one at a time.
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1 Everyone who would like to speak will
2 be asked to come up here to the podium in front of me
3 one at a time. And when your name is called, come to
4 the podium, state your name and who you represent, if
5 anyone other than yourself. The Chairman may choose
6 to call the second person in line so if you could
7 come to the back of the room, that would speed the
8 process.
9 Everyone will have three minutes to
10 speak and I will keep track of the time using this
11 traffic light here and notify you when the three
12 minutes are up. Your time can be extended if a
13 commissioner has a question for you or if they talk
14 among themselves then that will not be counted
15 against your three minutes.
16 As always, I will ask you to show
17 respect for the other members of the audience and the
18 commissioners and if you have materials that you'd
19 like to submit, hand them to Ms. Estrada here on my
20 right and we will distribute them to the
21 commissioners.
22 So welcome again and thank you very
23 much.
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you Mr. Sansom.
25 The first order of business will be
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1 approval of minutes from our previous meeting.
2 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Mr. Chairman, I
3 have given to Ms. Estrada a list of corrections and I
4 would ask that the minutes of both of the meetings in
5 August, the public hearing and the public meeting, be
6 approved with those corrections and I so move.
7 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Second.
8 CHAIRMAN BASS: Motion has a second.
9 All in favor?
10 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
11 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any opposed? Motion
12 carries. Thank you.
13 (Motion carries unanimously.)
14 CHAIRMAN BASS: Acceptance of gifts
15 through those that have been distributed, and the
16 Chair would entertain a motion for approval.
17 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Approve the list
18 as presented.
19 CHAIRMAN BASS: Chair has a motion.
20 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Second.
21 CHAIRMAN BASS: And a second. All in
22 favor?
23 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: Oppose? Thank you.
25 (Motion carries unanimously.)
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1 LIST OF DONATIONS
2
3 1) DONOR: Highland Industries, Inc.
4 DESCRIPTION: Vests
5 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Hunter Education Program
6
7 2) DONOR: Walls Industries, Inc.
8 DESCRIPTION: Vests
9 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Hunter Education Program
10
11 3) DONOR: Big John's Soft Plastics
12 DESCRIPTION: Soft Plastic Fishing Lures
13 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Angler Education
14
15 4) DONOR: DowAgroScience
16 DESCRIPTION: Herbicides
17 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Bison Herd, Caprock Canyon
18 S.P.
19
20 5) DONOR: Friends of Lake McQueeney
21 DESCRIPTION: Mobile Phone and Service
22 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Patrol Communications
23
24 6) DONOR: Polaris Industries, Inc.
25 DESCRIPTION: 1999 Polaris Genesis personal
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1 watercraft
2 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Law Enforcement patrol,
3 search & rescue and water safety education
4
5 7) DONOR: South Plains Gun Club
6 DESCRIPTION: CASH
7 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Youth Shooting Sports
8
9 8) DONOR: Temple Inland Forest Products Corporation
10 DESCRIPTION: Food and Lodging
11 PURPOSE OF DONATION: May meeting of Texas Rivers
12 Conservation Advisory Board
13
14 9) DONOR: Western Governors Conference
15 DESCRIPTION: CASH
16 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Lesser Prairie Chicken
17 Research Project
18
19 10) DONOR: American Heart Assn. Texas Affiliate,
20 Inc. DESCRIPTION: CASH
21 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Youth Shooting Sports
22
23 11) DONOR: Sportsmen's Club of Ft. Worth
24 DESCRIPTION: CASH
25 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Expo Whiz-Bang
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1 12) DONOR: NSSA & NSCA
2 DESCRIPTION: CASH
3 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Youth Shooting Sports
4
5 13) DONOR: Bar Walker Taxidermy
6 DESCRIPTION: Mounted Rio Grande Turkey
7 PURPOSE OF DONATION: Youth Education
8
9 TOTAL OF DONATIONS: $47,259.20
10
11 *********************
12
13 CHAIRMAN BASS: Mr. Sansom, retirement
14 certificates and service awards.
15 MR. SANSOM: Mr. Chairman, if you could
16 join me at the podium at this time.
17 It does give me a great deal of
18 pleasure to present to you all, and to our audience,
19 those Parks and Wildlife employees who are retiring
20 or have served for many years in the service of the
21 resources and the people of Texas.
22 The first person that I have the great
23 privilege of introducing to you this morning, I first
24 met when he was a fireman in Lubbock, Texas.
25 Dick Frisbie joined Parks and Wildlife
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1 as the landscape architect 28 years ago and
2 throughout those 28 years, he has traveled to
3 virtually every small town in Texas, that is those
4 counties under 28,000 in population and cities under
5 17,000 and helped them put their parks together.
6 There are places in Texas where, when Dick Frisbie
7 comes to town, they roll out the red carpet because,
8 because of him, they have parks and recreation
9 facilities for their children.
10 Retiring today with 28 years of service
11 to Texas Parks and Wildlife, my friend and college
12 class mate, Richard J. Frisbie from State Parks.
13 (Applause.)
14 MR. SANSOM: From Inland Fisheries,
15 Glen Alexander started as a technician at the
16 Huntsville Hatchery in 1973, that's 27 years ago.
17 While he was there, he stocked eight different
18 species of fish, from catfish to Northern pike. In
19 1983, he was promoted to hatchery manager at Possum
20 Kingdom. He's been responsible for stocking and
21 producing over 22 million fish in the Texas waters.
22 He has developed new fish culture techniques for
23 species from black bass to striped bass and he
24 actually initiated a new culture program for rainbow
25 trout, raising them from eggs produced from Colorado
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1 to fingerlings for stocking into the Guadalupe
2 river.
3 Please recognize retiring at Graford,
4 Texas with 27 years of service, Glen A. Alexander
5 from Inland Fisheries.
6 (Applause.)
7 MR. SANSOM: We had the best retirement
8 party here a while back for Sylvia Mojica, it was
9 wonderful. Sylvia has been in administrative
10 resources here in the building for 23 years. She
11 started in Inland Fisheries as a branch secretary and
12 has worked steadily up through the ranks in
13 purchasing and contracting in the finance division.
14 In 1990, she became a purchasing assistant and
15 progressed through the ranks til she entered the
16 professional ranks as a professional purchaser in
17 1994 and now holds the highest rank for purchasers in
18 state government until her retirement in August of
19 2000.
20 Please recognize today, with 23 years,
21 Sylvia Mojica.
22 (Applause.)
23 MR. SANSOM: She told me that -- she
24 said that when it rains, she just rolls back over and
25 stays in the house.
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1 The following recipients are thankfully
2 not retiring but have served for many, many years.
3 Amazingly, the first recipient is a person who we all
4 recognized recently as one of the department's most
5 outstanding employees.
6 David Campbell started at the
7 Lewisville Fish Hatchery as a hatchery assistant in
8 1965. He moved to Tyler in 1968 and was promoted to
9 superintendent in '72. He was one the originators of
10 the ShareLunker program. He was the person who began
11 the initiative to create what is now the Texas Fresh
12 Water Fishery Center in Athens. He received the
13 department's award for special achievement in 1999
14 primarily for the ShareLunker program. His name is
15 synonymous with big bass and he is one of the persons
16 who is responsible for making Texas the best place to
17 fish for large mouth bass in the world.
18 Please recognize David Campbell with 35
19 years of service in Inland Fisheries.
20 (Applause.)
21 MR. SANSOM: During our recent Lone
22 Star Legacy weekend, which I know many of you
23 attended and participated in, one of the most
24 spectacular series of events was at the Gene Howe
25 Wildlife Management Area up on the Canadian River.
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1 For 30 years David Dvorak has worked in
2 the Panhandle. He started as a biologist at Wheeler
3 and he's lived in Dalhart and Clarendon and Canyon
4 and some of the most beautiful and, frankly, least
5 appreciated parts of Texas. He was promoted to
6 district leader at one time and until his transfer in
7 1990 to Matador Wildlife Management Area where he now
8 is the area manager for both Matador and Gene Howe.
9 He also has responsibility for all of our Playa Lakes
10 Wildlife Management Areas in the Panhandle as well.
11 Please welcome David Dvorak with 30
12 years of service in the Wildlife division.
13 (Applause.)
14 MR. SANSOM: Majorie Martinez, we call
15 her "Sue". She started to work in the department in
16 1970 at Stephen F. Austin State Historical Park and
17 she's been there ever since. She knows every
18 customer that comes in, she enjoys them, she has met
19 customers from all over the world and has made lots
20 of friends. She has created a wild scape in her own
21 yard and when she retires, she's going to be a camp
22 host so she can visit all the state parks. Texas
23 Parks and Wildlife is a special part of her life and
24 she is a special part of our family.
25 Please recognize Sue Martinez with 30
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1 years of service from State Parks.
2 (Applause.)
3 MR. SANSOM: Good job.
4 Congratulations.
5 MS. MARTINEZ: See you in four more
6 years.
7 MR. SANSOM: I look forward to it.
8 One of the most challenging issues that
9 I think we face these days is the potential transfer
10 of some our facilities, all of which are important
11 and beloved to other institutions. The forefront of
12 that has been John Garbutt. He's worked in State
13 Parks for 25 years. He started at Caprock Canyons as
14 a park ranger. He was assistant superintendent at
15 Lake Whitney through 1980. And currently, he is
16 supervising the transition of Jim Hogg State
17 Historical Park. He's handling it professionally,
18 he's a valued employee and we recognize him today
19 with 25 years of service.
20 John Garbutt from State Parks.
21 (Applause.)
22 MR. SANSOM: Well, I'm glad that we're
23 recognizing the next recipient here, rather than some
24 locations along the Texas Coast. Hal Osburn is
25 working for Coastal Fisheries for 25 years and I
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1 think all of us witnessed this year what stress can
2 bring to a true professional who is truly committed
3 to science and to preserving the natural resources of
4 Texas.
5 Hal's been with Coastal Fisheries, he's
6 been a scientist and manager. He's done extensive
7 field research throughout the bays and the Gulf of
8 Mexico. He's authored dozens of fisheries-related
9 scientific journal articles and technical
10 manuscripts. He assisted in the creation of such
11 programs as the department's Artificial Reef Program
12 which is renowned throughout the United States. He
13 helped create our Limited Entry System and License
14 Buyback Programs for the commercial shrimp, crab and
15 finfish fisheries in Texas.
16 Because of him, our commercial
17 fisheries in Texas will continue to thrive and the
18 recreational fishery will grow as well. But most
19 importantly, we will have marine resources in future
20 generations.
21 Please recognize the director of
22 Coastal Fisheries today, Hal Osburn with 25 years of
23 service to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
24 (Applause.)
25 MR. SANSOM: One of the most important
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1 contributors in our system to the economy of Texas is
2 the Texas State Railroad, it's extraordinary, we've
3 struggled with problems associated with it but it is
4 a true institution in Texas for tourism.
5 Everett Byrd began his employment with
6 the department in 1980 as a ranger at the Railroad
7 Maintenance Department. And if you've never gone
8 through those shops over there, that is one of the
9 most sophisticated maintenance operations of any kind
10 of facility of its kind in the country. He was
11 promoted to a Ranger III and reclassified as a
12 supervisor in 1981. He's been a maintenance mechanic
13 there and he is now the supervisor or shop foreman in
14 the Rusk Maintenance Shop, where he takes care of one
15 of the most complicated devices that we have to
16 manage in our system.
17 Please recognize Everett Byrd from
18 State Parks with 20 years of service.
19 (Applause.)
20 MR. SANSOM: Marvin Hill, we call him
21 "M.L.", he works in Infrastructure and he has been
22 in the department for 20 years. You all participated
23 with us in recognizing M.L. recently, where he was
24 named Employee of the Year for Natural Quality
25 Service. He started as an assistant crew
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1 superintendent back in 1980 and he's worked on
2 projects as diverse as Guadalupe River State Park,
3 Brazos Bend, Martin Creek, South Llano and the
4 expansion of Garner. He was promoted to a crew
5 superintendent where he has become increasingly
6 involved in planning and management, a very high
7 priority construction project. He is known
8 throughout the department for his ability to break
9 down the kind of organizational barriers between
10 divisions and among diverse groups of people within
11 the department, improving the construction process
12 and creating new methods and procedures for handling
13 construction projects.
14 Please recognize with 20 years of
15 service from the Infrastructure Division, Marvin L.
16 "M.L." Hill.
17 (Applause.)
18 MR. SANSOM: If you want to see some
19 state employees working hard, you need to go down to
20 the South Houston District Office of Law Enforcement.
21 It's one of the busiest facilities that we manage,
22 it's fraught with problems, it's people from
23 throughout the Galveston Bay System come to register
24 their boats or complain about this and that and it's
25 one of the most challenging supervisory positions in
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1 the system because of the tremendous volume of money
2 that goes through there. And I believe that the
3 person I'm going to introduce to you next, Dick
4 Herzog, is one of the best supervisors in our
5 system.
6 His first duty assignment in 1980 was
7 in El Campo. He was promoted in 1997 to the
8 Captain's position in Harris County. Today, he
9 supervises Harris and Chambers County Wardens but he
10 also runs that South Houston District Office where
11 everyone should at least stop by once in their tenure
12 with Parks and Wildlife to see what it's really like
13 on the front lines.
14 Please recognize Dick Herzog, 20 years
15 of service as a captain, Houston, Texas.
16 (Applause.)
17 MR. SANSOM: Congratulations.
18 These guys today, most of them
19 graduated from the 35th Game Warden Academy,
20 including Robert Levens now in Burnet. Robert
21 started at Cameron County which is a coastal
22 assignment and he led the district during the time he
23 was there in both the number of cases that he filed
24 and the confiscations of illegal gill nets and
25 trotlines in the Lower Laguna Madre. He transferred
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1 to Burnet County in 1987 and today he is right in the
2 middle of the special emphasis that we place in the
3 Highland Lakes on water safety in and around all of
4 the beautiful lakes in Central Texas.
5 Please recognize from Burnet County,
6 Game Warden V, Robert Levens with 20 years of
7 service.
8 (Applause.)
9 MR. SANSOM: Tom Lyons, a park ranger
10 from Livingston. He began to work there in 1980 at
11 Lake Livingston State Park. He has been consistently
12 promoted through the ranger ranks and he was
13 commissioned a Park Peace Officer or Ranger III in
14 1997. He's been there all those years and is
15 responsible for helping maintain one of the most
16 popular parks in this system at Lake Livingston.
17 Please recognize Thomas C. Lyons with
18 20 years of service in State Parks.
19 (Applause.)
20 MR. SANSOM: From Fredericksburg,
21 Texas, another graduate of that 35th Academy,
22 Forester Mills, Jr., he's been there 20 years. He
23 started, actually, in Colorado County at Eagle Lake
24 but he moved, he was transferred to Gillespie County
25 and today he is the Game Warden V for that region.
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1 He is located in Fredericksburg and celebrating 20
2 years of service to the Parks and Wildlife.
3 Please recognize Forester Mills from
4 Law Enforcement Division.
5 (Applause.)
6 MR. SANSOM: We call him "Buddy".
7 I tell you, the North Houston Regional
8 Law Enforcement Office is pretty busy, too, and
9 George Etta Pickett started there in 1980 as a
10 front-line accounting clerk. She's moved up the
11 ladder steadily to administrative technician and
12 other duties and she's worked under the duration,
13 which means really she's trained four different
14 commanders in the North Houston office. The special
15 awards she says that she has received has been the
16 support of all of the commanders, captains, clerks,
17 game wardens, boat mates and technicians in the law
18 enforcement division.
19 Please recognize George Etta Pickett,
20 20 years of services to Law Enforcement, Houston
21 Texas.
22 (Applause.)
23 MR. SANSOM: Hilda Sanchez from Saint
24 Hedwig, Texas was the first Hispanic female named
25 game warden in Texas and probably in the United
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1 States. She was signed to San Antonio when she
2 graduated from the Academy 20 years ago and she
3 remains there today. She has recently been commended
4 by this department for saving a citizen's life
5 through Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation.
6 Please recognize Hilda Sanchez of Game
7 Warden V with 20 years of service to Law Enforcement.
8 (Applause.)
9 MR. SANSOM: Another graduate of that
10 class first went to Van Horn, then he worked in
11 Harlingen and Seguin where he is today. Jose Vega
12 received a special commendation in recognition of his
13 heroic efforts going above and beyond the call of
14 duty to save lives in the floods along the Guadalupe
15 in 1998.
16 From Seguin, Texas, Jose Vega with 20
17 years of service.
18 (Applause.)
19 MR. SANSOM: Finally members, I present
20 to you Danny Villalobos from Law Enforcement. Danny
21 started in Calhoun County, he worked in Port Lavaca
22 and today he's in San Antonio. He's known by wardens
23 throughout Texas and was recognized by the
24 San Antonio Police Department's Meritorious Award for
25 action during a traffic accident which resulted in
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1 his saving the life of a nine year-old girl.
2 Of special interest to me, and I know
3 each of you, is that he has been inducted into the
4 Harlandale Independent School District Hall of Fame
5 for his community involvement providing outdoor
6 recreation and involvement for kids involving hunting
7 and fishing trips.
8 Please recognize Game Warden V, Daniel
9 Villalobos from Helotes, 20 years of service.
10 (Applause.)
11 MR. SANSOM: Well, I see that my good
12 friend, mentor, conservationist, former member of
13 this commission, Mr. Louis Stumberg, has arrived.
14 And so along with Mr. Andy Phillips of the
15 Shikar-Safari International, Mr. Fausto Yturria,
16 Danny Butler, Mike and Kay Breedlove and
17 Mrs. Phillips is here as well, I would like to
18 introduce to you this year's Shikar-Safari officer of
19 the year.
20 This year's award recipient, and this
21 is one of the most prestigious awards for
22 conservation law enforcement in the United States, is
23 a 12 year veteran of our department, Game Warden
24 Randy Bullard.
25 Randy has averaged 220 apprehensions
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1 per year during the 12 years that he has served as a
2 game warden. He works very closely with the other
3 wardens as well as employees of other law enforcement
4 entities including the county sheriff, troopers from
5 the Department of Public Safety and staff from the
6 state park system. As a result of that cooperation,
7 Randy has been the recipient of the Officer of the
8 Year award, as well as Member of the Year from the
9 Mitchell County Peace Officers Association and Game
10 Warden of the Year from the Abilene VFW.
11 He is especially involved in youth
12 activities. During the first eight months of this
13 fiscal year alone, he gave 20 youth programs,
14 sponsored a dove hunt for one youth group of
15 underprivileged children and a deer hunt for
16 another. And on top of that, a two-day wildlife
17 identification outing for three different schools.
18 Due to Randy Bullard's enthusiasm for
19 his job, his willingness to accept whatever
20 assignment is given him, his unselfish efforts for
21 youth and his self-motivation and the motivation of
22 others and the respect that he has earned from the
23 people of his community in Mitchell County, I was
24 very proud to recommend him for his award.
25 Mr. Phillips is President of
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1 Shikar-Safari and, along with his group, I would like
2 to introduce to you Warden Randy Bullard and the
3 leadership of Shikar-Safari International.
4 (Standing ovation and applause.)
5 MR. SANSOM: Herb Stumberg is also
6 here.
7 MR. PHILLIPS: Mr. Chairman, commission
8 members, it's a real honor for us to be here today.
9 My name is Andy Phillips, I'm past president of
10 Shikar-Safari Club and the current president is
11 Fausto Yturria, South Texas rancher and businessman
12 and basically a pretty good guy.
13 MR. YTURRIA: Sometimes.
14 MR. PHILLIPS: Sometimes. Fausto's
15 going to make the presentation for us today to Warden
16 Bullard.
17 Just a few words about our
18 organization: We were founded in 1952. About 25
19 years ago, the foundations of Shikar-Safari Club
20 International recognized the need to recognize the
21 wildlife officers around our United States and Canada
22 who have done so much for the preservation and
23 conservation of wildlife.
24 We founded a program at that point in
25 time where each year the members of that winner's
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1 coworkers, his own coworkers, would select by
2 recommendation the person that they thought was the
3 most outstanding among themselves. Those
4 recommendations would be passed on to the directors
5 of each of the departments and we're proud to say
6 that over these last 25 years we've enjoyed
7 presenting this award to those fine men and women who
8 have won in 49 of the 50 states and all of the
9 Canadian Provinces.
10 I received an e-mail yesterday from
11 Mike Fain who all of you know as a wonderful member
12 of this organization, a great man, an outstanding
13 former recipient of this award who is battling cancer
14 right now in Houston. And he said for me to
15 congratulate Warden Bullard and to say how proud he
16 was of him because the proudest moment in his career
17 was the winning of this award. And I'm happy to give
18 that message to you this morning. And I'll turn the
19 floor over to Fausto.
20 MR. YTURRIA: Thank you very much,
21 Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Andy, we're delighted
22 to be here today. This is always a special moment
23 for Shikar-Safari Club.
24 If you will, I'd just like to read a
25 few things here, if I may: Wildlife conservation is
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1 one of the primary concerns of our worldwide
2 membership. A principle purpose for which the club
3 was organized involves the protection enhancement and
4 preservation of wildlife species with particular
5 emphasis on the endangered and threatened species by
6 encouraging and promoting the enforcement of
7 conservation laws and regulations and by other
8 appropriate means.
9 Being selected for this prestigious
10 award places Randy in a very distinguished group of
11 officers who have achieved that recognition by their
12 outstanding performance and dedication to duty.
13 All too seldom do the fine wildlife
14 officers receive the recognition and encouragement
15 they so richly deserve for protecting and preserving
16 our wildlife. We in Shikar-Safari Club International
17 hope that by presenting this award each year, we can,
18 in some small way, make a worthy contribution.
19 Randy, let me read the certificate:
20 The Shikar-Safari Club International Annual Award
21 presented to the Wildlife Officer of the Year, Randy
22 Bullard, in the State of Texas. This award is
23 presented by the Shikar-Safari Club International in
24 recognition of meritorious service in the field of
25 wildlife conservation and law enforcement for the
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1 year 2000.
2 Congratulations.
3 (Applause.)
4 MR. YTURRIA: One of the other items
5 that will be presented is very special. It is a
6 Shikar-Safari Wildlife Officer of the Pin which has
7 been authorized by the Commission to be worn by the
8 Officer of the Year for the Texas Parks and Wildlife
9 Department. And Mrs. Phillips will pin the pin on
10 him without inflicting any damage, I hope.
11 If you'll turn around here.
12 So here is your certificate. We
13 also -- Andy, come on. No, no, no, go ahead. You do
14 that.
15 MR. PHILLIPS: Randy, this is a pewter
16 plate in commemoration of your award which you can
17 take home to your wife and give her something out of
18 this deal.
19 Congratulations.
20 (Applause and group photograph.)
21 MR. YTURRIA: Tame another one, Jim.
22 Thank you.
23 MR. STUMBERG: Can I just say one
24 word?
25 MR. SANSOM: Yes, sir.
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1 MR. STUMBERG: Mr. Chairman and
2 Honorable Members of the Commission, yesterday
3 evening I visited a good friend of mine and yours,
4 Mark Watson. And he said one of the most touching
5 things that happened with one of the first people to
6 be there yesterday morning was Andy. And I
7 appreciate it and he did. Thank you.
8 (Applause.)
9 MR. SANSOM: That concludes our awards
10 but I would like to call attention to the fact that
11 we are fortunate this morning to have Mr. Larry Hodge
12 who is the executive editor of Parks and Wildlife
13 Press, Elaine Robbins who is the new executive
14 director of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, Susan
15 Ebert, the publisher of our magazine, to announce to
16 you that we have now on the stands the Official Guide
17 to Texas Wildlife Management Areas. This is the
18 companion to The Official Guide to Texas State Parks
19 and will be available and is a beautiful, beautiful
20 publication. We have one for each of you. And I'd
21 just like to thank you all for producing it and let
22 you all know today that is a very important cog in
23 our efforts to familiarize people with the wonderful
24 opportunities available on WMA's throughout our
25 state.
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1 Thank you very much.
2 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you, Mr. Sansom.
3 AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: ACTION- CONSENT AGENDA
4 CHAIRMAN BASS: The next order of
5 business is the approval of our agenda. We have one
6 item eligible for the consent agenda which is Item 7,
7 it's artwork for the stamps. And the Chair would
8 entertain a motion to move that consent agenda and
9 proceed with the agenda as published with one other
10 alteration, Item 11 is to be removed from the agenda
11 of today's meeting.
12 So actually, those two items, the Chair
13 would entertain a motion.
14 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: So moved.
15 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Second.
16 CHAIRMAN BASS: We have a motion and a
17 second. All in favor?
18 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
19 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any opposed? Okay.
20 (Motion carries unanimously.)
21 And that brings us to the approval of
22 the consent agenda. All in favor -- a motion?
23 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Move approval.
24 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Second.
25 CHAIRMAN BASS: Motion and a second.
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1 All in favor?
2 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
3 CHAIRMAN BASS: Opposed?
4 (Motion carries unanimously.)
5 We have several people here that have
6 come to join us from Ducks Unlimited and they're
7 going to do a briefing or announcement for us here
8 today. And the Chair would like to ask them to be
9 our next order of business, please.
10 (WHEREUPON a briefing item was
11 presented to the Commission, after which the
12 following proceedings were had:)
13 AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: BRIEFING - EXPO IX WRAP-UP
14 CHAIRMAN BASS: Next order of business
15 let's do a wrap-up briefing from Expo. Ernie.
16 (WHEREUPON a briefing item was
17 presented to the Commission, after which the
18 following proceedings were had:)
19 AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: ACTION - RULE REVIEW
20 CHAIRMAN BASS: Item 3, action item
21 rule review, please.
22 MR. McCARTY: Mr. Chairman,
23 Commissioners. For the record, my name is Gene
24 McCarty I'm chief of staff for the agency.
25 I would like to present for you for
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1 your consideration the departments's review of
2 existing regulations: House Bill 1 of the 75th
3 Legislature and Senate Bill 178 of the 76th
4 Legislature directed all state agencies to review
5 existing regulations no later than every four years
6 after the Rule becomes final.
7 This review is an assessment of whether
8 the reasons for initially adopting the regulations
9 continue to exist and is to be conducted in
10 accordance with the administrative procedures act.
11 A little background on regs review: As
12 you know, the department conducted a voluntary review
13 which was completed in January of 1997. In August of
14 '98, we published a plan for our review in
15 accordance with what's outlined in House Bill 1. And
16 in October of 2000, we published a notice of intent
17 to review with the Texas Register with proposed
18 amendments to Chapters 51, The Executive; 52,
19 Wildlife and Fisheries; 55, Law Enforcement and 61,
20 Design and Construction.
21 At this point, we've received no public
22 comment on these proposed changes. As a result of
23 this rule staff proposes the following actions:
24 First, to readopt Chapter 51 with the following
25 amendments: Amend Subchapter A, Petition for
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1 Rulemaking -- and I'll go over that in a little more
2 detail. Repeal Subchapter B, Practices and
3 Procedures in Contested Cases to eliminate redundancy
4 with existing state law. This particular section is
5 already covered in Government Code 2260.
6 Amend subchapter D, Litigation and
7 Other Legal Action to allow the executive director to
8 name a designee to act on his or her behalf.
9 Amend Subchapter G, Closely Related
10 Nonprofit Organizations to eliminate the list of
11 entities designated as closely related.
12 We also had proposed and published a
13 repeal of Subchapter C, Easement Requests, but after
14 further review, we propose to rescind that request.
15 We also propose to readopt Chapter 52,
16 Wildlife and Fisheries; readopt Chapter 55, law
17 enforcement. These chapters are regularly reviewed
18 and the need for these rules continue to exist. And
19 readopt Chapter 61, Design and Construction, with a
20 minor amendment to Subchapter A, soliciting bids to
21 allow the agency to solicit bids through a more
22 wildly disseminated invitation to bid process.
23 Let me -- based on our discussion
24 yesterday in committee, I would propose two
25 additional changes to the procedures for petition for
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1 rulemaking: One would be the staff would -- it's
2 near the bottom of the page here -- it will be that
3 staff will initiate follow-up to ensure all
4 commissioners are aware of the petition.
5 And secondly, we would propose to add a
6 section here again at the bottom of the page that at
7 each commission meeting, staff would provide members
8 with a status report on petitions for rulemaking.
9 These are based on what I believe were your requested
10 changes from yesterday's commission meeting --
11 committee meeting.
12 The staff recommends that Parks and
13 Wildlife Commission adopt the following motion:
14 Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopts with
15 proposed changes to the text, as published in the
16 October 6th, 2000 issue of the Texas Register for
17 Chapter 51, with amendments; Chapter 52; Chapter 55;
18 Chapter 61, with amendments.
19 I would -- any questions of the
20 commission?
21 CHAIRMAN BASS: Mr. Gilleland, would
22 you like to give your public comments at this time?
23 MR. GILLELAND: My name is Ellis
24 Gilleland, a private citizen, speaking for Texas
25 Animals which is an animals rights organization on
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1 the Internet.
2 I can't cover all your rules in three
3 minutes; I can give you one handout which pertains to
4 the last item, Chapter 61, Design and Construction,
5 which I feel the most important because it does not
6 take into account what the actual law is. I'll only
7 give you one copy of the SB which -- 874, which
8 designates that the new law and your rule as proposed
9 does not conform with that SB 874 which says it's for
10 professional services only, it's not for
11 construction. It must conform with Subchapter A,
12 Chapter 2254, the government code, which it does
13 not -- and you have a copy of that -- and it says
14 the Rule must be consistent with applicable state
15 procurement practices for the soliciting and awarding
16 the contract under this section. It does not do that
17 because the -- as you see in the handout -- the
18 applicable law is that you advertise as a minimum in
19 the Texas Register. I call your attention to the
20 fact that all contracts contrary to this can be
21 voided.
22 Moving on to the other items in your
23 rulemaking: On your easement, I would ask you to --
24 this is not true what Judy says in here about all the
25 items are included in the contract because if you
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1 look at your own rule, 51.92, there are four items
2 crucial which should be in the easement application.
3 The person seeking the easement should describe the
4 activity, the easement, minimize adverse impacts on
5 the environment -- and state to use it. There are no
6 feasible or prudent alternatives exist to the
7 easement and discuss the alternative with Judy,
8 with -- and Mr. Sansom. I'll have you eliminate all
9 of those environmental protections for the sake of
10 expediency.
11 So I ask that you reject the rulemaking
12 on the easement. In fact, I would call it fraud.
13 The petition for rulemaking, 51.2, I'd eliminate
14 No. 1 of Section A because you're putting prior
15 restriction on the person seeking the rulemaking.
16 You're saying that -- it's a chicken and egg thing,
17 you must do all these administrative things before
18 you even recognize it being an application. You do
19 not do that with the easement. On the easement, you
20 eliminate all the requirements. Something you want,
21 you eliminate all the prior requirements and when it
22 comes to rulemaking, you stick in these prior
23 requirements so you must jump through all these hoops
24 before we even consider an application.
25 Then the last thing I'd like to beseech
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1 you -- do not eliminate the listing of your
2 nonprofit -- closely related nonprofit organization.
3 When the NRA is closely in bed with you, I think the
4 public should know about that. So do not eliminate
5 listing. You're closely related.
6 MR. SANSOM: Thank you, Mr. Gilleland.
7 MR. GILLELAND: Thank you.
8 MR. SANSOM: Mr. Chairman, I would like
9 for counsel to address Mr. Gilleland's comments.
10 Judy Doran.
11 MS. DORAN: For the record, I'm Judy
12 Doran, the administrative resources division. I
13 agree with Mr. Gilleland on the easement comments.
14 And in fact, we withdrew our request to delete that
15 section. As far as the comment --
16 MR. SANSOM: So the motion as amended
17 deletes those issues?
18 MS. DORAN: That's right.
19 The comments on the Design
20 Construction, I think that the Rule as published was
21 not meant to eliminate the publishing in the Texas
22 Register so -- I think that pretty much takes care of
23 most of the comments.
24 Any questions?
25 CHAIRMAN BASS: Questions or comments
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1 from the Commission for counsel?
2 COMMISSIONER AVILA: I'd just say that
3 we know that in the Infrastructure Division that
4 Construction Management Professional Services'
5 services have to be advertised by state law in the
6 Register and other publications as well. So we're
7 not going to change that.
8 MS. DORAN: That's right.
9 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any other questions or
10 comments? Motion?
11 COMMISSIONER AVILA: So moved.
12 CHAIRMAN BASS: And a second?
13 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: Second.
14 CHAIRMAN BASS: I have a motion to
15 second to approve the item as amended. All in
16 favor?
17 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
18 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any opposed? Motion
19 carries. Thank you.
20 (Motion carries unanimously.)
21 "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopts, with
22 changes to the proposed text as published in the
23 October 6, 2000, issue of the Texas Register (25
24 TexReg 10198):
25 1) Within 31 TAC Chapter 51 (Executive), the
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1 repeal of Subchapter B (Practice and Procedure in
2 Contested Cases), and Subchapter C (Easement Requests
3 and Unauthorized Easement Activity); the repeal of
4 51.1, 51.3 and 51.4, an amendment to 51.2 and new
5 51.3 within Subchapter A (Procedures for Adoption of
6 Rules); an amendment to 51.131 within Subchapter D
7 (Department Litigation); and an amendment to 51.162
8 within Subchapter G (Nonprofit Organizations), and
9 the readoption of all other sections within Chapter
10 51.
11 2) The readoption of the contents of Chapter 52
12 (Wildlife and Fisheries).
13 3) The readoption of the contents of Chapter 55
14 (Law Enforcement).
15 4) Within Chapter 61 (Design and Construction),
16 an amendment to section 61.22 within Subchapter A
17 (Contracts for Public Works) and the readoption of
18 all other sections within Chapter 61."
19 AGENDA ITEM NO. 4: ACTION - PETITION FOR RULEMAKING
20 CHAIRMAN BASS: Item 4, Petition for
21 rulemaking.
22 MR. RIECHERS: Mr. Chairman,
23 Commissioners. For the record, my name is Robin
24 Riechers. I'm the management director of the coastal
25 fisheries division and I'm here to present to you a
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1 petition for rulemaking submitted regarding Sabine
2 Lake.
3 The petition proposed that all spotted
4 seatrout, red drum and flounder landed by anglers in
5 Jefferson and Orange Counties would have to meet the
6 current Texas bag and size limits. As you know,
7 Jefferson and Orange County surround Sabine Lake
8 which is the board of water with the state of
9 Louisiana.
10 Currently on Sabine Lake, there are
11 different bag limits on red drum and spotted seatrout
12 and different size limits for all three species
13 mentioned in the petition.
14 Under the reciprocal licensing
15 agreement with Louisiana, personal license in either
16 state may fish the waters of the other state and land
17 fish according to the bag and size limits of that
18 state. For instance, a Texas angler can fish in
19 Louisiana waters catching land up to 25 spotted
20 seatrout in Texas so long as they were caught on the
21 Louisiana side.
22 Specifically, the petition cited both
23 biological and law enforcement concerns as the
24 rational for the Rule and that, due to the reciprocal
25 licensing agreement, basically that recreational bag
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1 limit was being abused.
2 After reviewing the data that indicates
3 that less than one percent of anglers land greater
4 than the Texas bag limits at the current time and
5 after reviewing the resource abundance data which
6 indicates that for those three species since the
7 early 1990's, those species have been going up in
8 abundance, we would recommend denial of the petition
9 at this time and that you would direct staff to
10 continue to look at the issues regarding that
11 petition, both the data and the public input as we
12 moved forward.
13 I'll be happy to answer any questions.
14 CHAIRMAN BASS: If there are not any
15 questions, Mr. Gilleland, would you please come
16 forward and give us your comments on this agenda
17 item.
18 MR. GILLELAND: My name is Ellis
19 Gilleland. I'm a private citizen speaking for Texas
20 Animals which is an animal rights organization on the
21 internet.
22 We speak very strongly against this
23 organization because it does nothing for animals. I
24 signed up to speak for this -- to speak on this
25 Petition for Rulemaking because there was no subject
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1 given of what the rulemaking is. And I see now the
2 handout had to do with fish and flounder; is that
3 correct? If that's correct then I have nothing to
4 say on that.
5 So my comment overall, generically, is
6 please put on the agenda what the subject of the
7 rulemaking is so Gilleland will not come up here and
8 state that he's advocating animal rights. Thank you.
9 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you,
10 Mr. Gilleland. We'll take that under advisement.
11 CHAIRMAN BASS: No further comment.
12 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Mr. Chairman, I
13 did have a thought or a question. If we're sure
14 that -- or have we considered if the resources are
15 abundant that maybe our license -- I mean our
16 requirements or limits are too restrictive and ought
17 to be revised and more in line with the Louisiana
18 regulations.
19 Is that something that's been
20 considered?
21 MR. RIECHERS: Currently in combination
22 with the Louisiana limits, basically we are seeing
23 increases in abundance trends. Probably what those
24 are due mostly to are the removal of nets from the
25 Louisiana side, commercial netting from the Louisiana
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1 side. So that's probably what has driven those
2 current increases. But we're ongoing and continuing
3 to work with Louisiana to try to develop compatible
4 regulations regarding that particular body of water.
5 CHAIRMAN BASS: Does that answer your
6 question satisfactory?
7 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Yes, I think
8 that's important, that we try to bring them in line
9 with each other -- whichever direction that they need
10 to go.
11 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: When were those
12 nets removed?
13 MR. RIECHERS: They started the removal
14 a little bit in the early 90's but ultimately it was
15 '97 when all netting was removed from that side.
16 Thank you.
17 CHAIRMAN BASS: Other comments? Chair
18 would entertain a motion.
19 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: I move approval.
20 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Second.
21 CHAIRMAN BASS: I have a motion and a
22 second. All in favor?
23 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any oppose? Thank
25 you. The motion carries.
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1 (Motion carries unanimously.)
2 "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission denies the
3 rulemaking petition at this time and directs the
4 staff to continue to evaluate data and review public
5 input with regard to future recommendations."
6 AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: ACTION - STATEWIDE AQUATIC
7 VEGETATION MANAGEMENT RULES
8 CHAIRMAN BASS: Item 5, Statewide
9 Aquatic Vegetation Management Rules.
10 MR. SWEENEY: Good morning, Commission.
11 I'm Bob Sweeney from the Resource Protection
12 Division. I'm here this morning to ask you to adopt
13 rules governing statewide management of aquatic
14 vegetation that will implement House Bill 3079 from
15 the most recent legislature.
16 The rules that we're bringing forward
17 for adoption today were the product of a ten month
18 rulemaking process that included people from all
19 across the spectrum that are concerned with aquatic
20 vegetation issues. And you'll see on the screen a
21 list of the participants in that task force. And I'd
22 like to say that each member of that task force made
23 an important contribution to this effort. And the
24 rules that we're proposing, I think, are greatly
25 improved by the involvement and the good work that
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1 everyone on that task force did. We operated in a
2 cooperative spirit, didn't always agree, but I think
3 we had very constructive discussions and I'm very
4 thankful, personally, for all the members of that
5 task force.
6 Now, the significant changes from the
7 rules that we proposed with this Commission's
8 approval back in May, the Rule of Publication
9 Proposal was actually in July but this Commission
10 approved the publication in May. The significant
11 changes are the inclusion of a "purpose" statement,
12 number one. In that "purpose" statement, we're
13 proposing to make a change from what is in your
14 materials. And here it is: We're proposing to
15 ask -- to add in language directly from the statute
16 that makes it clear that the "purpose" statement
17 controls aquatic herbicide issues as well as the
18 broader range of measures that are taken to control a
19 nuisance aquatic vegetation in the state. This is a
20 change that was requested by the Smart Clean Water
21 Action folks. And since it essentially puts
22 statutory language into the "purpose" statement, we
23 really have no objection.
24 The second significant change from the
25 proposed rules I'd like to point out is that
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1 standards are now in the rules to govern the content
2 of the guidance document. That guidance document is
3 a crucial component of our program to help control
4 nuisance aquatic vegetation statewide.
5 Third, we're defining more carefully
6 the requirements for approval of local plans; that is
7 something that was not done before, we've done it
8 now. TNRCC, among others, asked for that change.
9 And fourth, we are now explaining how
10 the guidance document itself, which is not a rule,
11 but how the guidance document will be modified and
12 we're putting some public notice provisions in there
13 so the folks will know when the guidance document is
14 being changed.
15 We've received a lot of comments on
16 these rules, about 30 written comments. We also had
17 a public hearing, we received comment at that
18 juncture. Four entities commented in favor of all
19 the rules: City of Austin, GBRA, Texas Agriculture
20 Association, Texas Agriculture Industry Association.
21 Only the city of San Angelo commented in opposition
22 to the rules.
23 We had a number of comments relating to
24 Trading House Creek Reservoir; I think we've
25 adequately answered those. We had comments from
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1 Novartis Crop Protection; I think we've adequately
2 addressed those. We had comments from the Sabine
3 River Authority relating to the addition of a
4 liability cap and funding for this program and those
5 are matters that are really not within the scope of
6 this rulemaking, they're not really within our
7 statutory authority to do. And we also had comments
8 from SMART and Clean Water Action which, in large
9 part, are reflected in the rules that we're
10 proposing.
11 The next step we have now is to
12 finalize the guidance document. We have another
13 meeting of the task force in early December. The
14 staff asked today that you adopt the following
15 motion, as shown on your screen.
16 I'm available for questions.
17 CHAIRMAN BASS: If there are no
18 questions at this time, I'd like to move to the
19 public comment. Sparky Anderson from Clean Water
20 Action is here and would like to speak.
21 And David Stewart from SMART, if you'd
22 be prepared to speak after Mr. Anderson's comments.
23 MR. ANDERSON: Thank you Mr. Chairman,
24 Commissioners, Mr. Sansom.
25 Well, we're finally here to get this
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1 rule package approved by the commission. It's taken
2 a considerable amount of time and energy and I want
3 to thank staff as well as all the other stake holders
4 for their very valuable input.
5 Mr. Chairman, as you remember, about
6 three years ago we raised this issue about the use of
7 aquatic herbicides, control nuisance vegetation and
8 the management, in general, of how we're going to
9 deal with this.
10 The scope of this issue is huge. Texas
11 is going to continue to see this problem of aquatic
12 vegetation being in the way of all kinds of
13 progress: The use of our reservoirs, the impacts,
14 the fisheries and the way people want to enjoy our
15 water resources.
16 The issue is controversial in the
17 management techniques. As a matter of fact, last
18 night we spent a considerable amount of time with the
19 City of Austin who is now facing a hydrilla problem
20 on Lake Austin, one of the world's best bass
21 fisheries in the country. That's the reason why it's
22 important to get this rule package out. Our
23 organizations have conceded in a lot and have
24 actually stepped back away from some of our line in
25 the sand positions simply to move this package
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1 forward. The reason why is because the controversies
2 are so great, the decisions that are being made are
3 so great in the way of economics, as well as public
4 perception and need, that there needs to be some
5 guidance before local authorities, like the City of
6 Austin, to have some direction. And it's going to be
7 the job of Texas Parks and Wildlife. This issue has
8 been placed in your lap to manage and guide for the
9 rest of Texas' time. Nuisance vegetation will not go
10 away. It's like the fire ant, it's with us for life.
11 .
12 Therefore the other thing that needed
13 to be added to this action today is your
14 recommendation to staff to move forward on research,
15 more public education and to seek funding.
16 The issue of funding is critical. When
17 we got the legislation passed, it moved us forward, a
18 huge step forward, in helping to solve the debates
19 and the questions about what to do with nuisance
20 vegetation. Unfortunately the legislature didn't
21 bring along a checkbook. And with that, you're
22 leaving this responsibility in the hands of the water
23 authorities who themselves have not planned in
24 budgets and put together resources to deal with this
25 very costly issue.
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1 So I encourage you to keep working with
2 the staff and with the legislature to find ways to
3 improve funding to make this program work better. We
4 will continue to work with staff and this department
5 to make sure that nuisance vegetation is an issue
6 that is addressed, that is taken care of, most
7 importantly that people are assured the public safety
8 and use of our water resources are to their needs and
9 to their desire.
10 Thank you.
11 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you for your
12 comments and we appreciate your participation in
13 working with the group to make this -- to get us
14 where we are.
15 Mr. Stewart, please.
16 MR. STEWART: Thank you, Chairman Bass;
17 Commissioners; my friend, Andy. My name is David
18 Stewart. I am president of SMART. I guess I was one
19 of the ring leaders that caused this thing to be
20 here. It was something that really needed to be done
21 and I'm not going to add to what Sparky said but
22 there were some issues that we felt like should be in
23 the rules that didn't get there but the rules was a
24 good package. We certainly ask for your support in
25 passing these rules.
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1 But I would like to clarify a couple of
2 points that I believe would be some real concern to
3 this Commission if I was on there. One of them in
4 particular, I've heard some rumors of two things:
5 That they want you to support a liability cap and
6 they want the Parks and Wildlife to take over the
7 management of vegetation in the state of Texas. In
8 the sense of the word, that you're the people that
9 physically have to go take care of those statewide
10 basis. Now, you're not doing that now and I
11 certainly don't want you to do that in the future and
12 I will do my best in the next session to make sure
13 that don't happen.
14 CHAIRMAN BASS: We'll appreciate your
15 partnership.
16 MR. STEWART: Believe me, I'll be there
17 anyway. You don't need that job. What you need to
18 be as far as maintenance is concerned -- there's a
19 very interesting article that came in the last Texas
20 Parks and Wildlife News on the conservation task
21 force that some of you Commissioners were on Governor
22 Bush and there was a statement that says,
23 "Incorporate the needs of fish and wildlife into
24 existing water resource management". And to me,
25 that's how to use habitat -- vegetation is only one
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1 part of habitat, okay? But to use habitat both for
2 fisheries and hunting to betterment for the whole --
3 for the State of Texas. That's where you need to be
4 the experts, that's my idea of management for Parks
5 and Wildlife. Not physically out there with sprayers
6 or whatever you're going to talk about doing. You
7 don't need to be in that business. That's my
8 personal feeling. It's very expensive, on top of
9 that.
10 As far as the money issue is concerned,
11 you've already heard our commitment in the next
12 session that we're going to support trying to get
13 money for Parks and Wildlife for this program. And
14 you have my word again that we will do the same
15 dedication to y'all that this Bill had when it got
16 passed in the last session.
17 And I appreciate your time. Thank you
18 very much.
19 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you. And we also
20 appreciate the cooperative spirit and partnership in
21 working with your group and we've come a long way.
22 MR. STEWART: We have. Thank you
23 again.
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you. All right,
25 that's the public comment on this. Are there any
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1 comments from the commission?
2 The Chair would entertain a motion.
3 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: So moved.
4 CHAIRMAN BASS: Motion to approve it as
5 presented. And second?
6 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Second.
7 CHAIRMAN BASS: And all in favor?
8 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
9 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any opposed? The
10 motion carries. Thank you.
11 (Motion carries unanimously.)
12 "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopts new
13 Subchapter K of 31 Texas Administrative Code Chapter
14 57, relating to the statewide aquatic vegetation
15 management plan, as shown in Exhibit A."
16 AGENDA ITEM NO. 6: ACTION- MANAGED LANDS DEER
17 PERMITS
18 CHAIRMAN BASS: All right, Item 6,
19 managed lands deer permits.
20 CHAIRMAN BASS: Mr. Avila, are you in
21 accord with the last motion?
22 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Yes.
23 CHAIRMAN BASS: Okay, thank you.
24 MR. COOKE: Mr. Chairman and Members,
25 my name is Jerry Cooke, Game Branch Chief for the
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1 wildlife division and I'm bringing you a proposed
2 change to the MLD regulations, Managed Land Deer
3 Permits regulations.
4 Because of the wording of the
5 regulations describing Level 2 and Level 3 MLD's were
6 valid, there will be weeks this year in which the
7 South and Central Texas general seasons will be open
8 for hunting but closed on these specifically approved
9 properties. This produces an inadvertent patchwork
10 of closing dates on these properties in these
11 regions.
12 This proposal would change the language
13 so that Level 2 and Level 3 MLDP's would be valid
14 through the current time-frame described in the
15 proclamation or through the closure of the regular
16 season in the county, whichever provides the longest
17 season for those properties.
18 We've received no public comment on
19 this proposal. The recommended motion as it appears
20 in your booklet would read: "The Texas Parks and
21 Wildlife Commission adopts an amendment to 31 TAC
22 65.26 concerning Managed Land Deer Permits with
23 changes to the proposed text (located in Exhibit A)
24 as published in the September 22nd, 2000 issue of the
25 Texas Register."
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1 Do you have any comments or questions
2 of me?
3 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: This would apply
4 to the 2000/2001 season or not?
5 JERRY COOKE: It will. As soon as --
6 depending on adoption. If it were adopted by you, it
7 would go into effect 20 days following our filing
8 with the Secretary of State. So it would affect this
9 hunting season that we're currently in.
10 CHAIRMAN BASS: We have some public
11 comment on this item. David Langford, if you'd come
12 forward.
13 And Mr. Gilleland, if you'd be prepared
14 to speak after Mr. Langford.
15 MR. LANGFORD: Thank you Mr. Chairman,
16 Members of the Commission. I'm David Langford, Texas
17 Wildlife Association and we very much urge that you
18 approve this. We support it and are now giving our
19 public comment and we really thank the staff for
20 finding this and rectifying it and we appreciate it
21 very much.
22 Thank you.
23 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you,
24 Mr. Langford.
25 Mr. Gilleland.
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1 MR. GILLELAND: My name is Ellis
2 Gilleland, speaking for Texas Animals, an animal
3 rights organization on the internet.
4 I'd like to remind you of an article
5 that Mark McDonald of the San Antonio News Express
6 wrote on the 13th of October 1998 when y'all first
7 started this Managed Deer thing behind the high
8 fences. He calls it, your whole program, and I
9 quote, "European even five system", unquote. That's
10 my feeling about your Managed Land Deer behind the
11 high fence of the rich folks that have 5,000 bucks to
12 spend for a deer.
13 I'd like to go back to the March 3rd
14 publication of the Texas Register where you published
15 your management spike and dove criteria with 14
16 consecutive days. Low and behold, we had the hearing
17 and then -- and the 14th of July it's published and
18 the 14 days on the Management vote got thrown out and
19 you put in there from September through January. My,
20 my, 14 days just jumps automatically without
21 publication to four months.
22 The other thing you stuck in on the
23 14th of July of 2000 publication, which was not part
24 of the original 3 March rule, was that under 2 MLD
25 must provide for two habitat management
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1 recommendation. And under Level 3, must provide for
2 four habitat management recommendation. That was not
3 in the original publication. And now we're here at
4 the last iteration -- at the next to the last
5 iteration, 22 September, Texas Register, and now
6 you're going from the four-month deer season behind
7 the high fence from September to January, you're now
8 make it completely open-ended because you're saying
9 in the new rule now that let's do away with the four
10 months and now we're just saying antler's permit is
11 valid from Sunday closing September 30th to the last
12 Sunday in January and during any open deer season on
13 the property for which it is issued. So it's sort of
14 open-ended of what is going to happen behind the high
15 fence.
16 And the last iteration which will come
17 next summer, I predict, is that all -- all bag limits
18 will be removed from you rich folks behind the high
19 fences. You've gone through four steps; I've just
20 delineated it over a two-year period. So at the end
21 of the third year cycle, next year, I'll be back here
22 telling all these rich folks -- Mark's not here, I
23 wish he'd hear this -- that to shoot bucks for 5,000
24 you eliminate all bag limits behind high fences.
25 Please serve champagne and cocktails
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1 and have water for the animal rights activists at the
2 gate trying to get in.
3 Thank you.
4 CHAIRMAN BASS: Dr. Cooke, for
5 clarification, neither the Managed Land Deer Permits
6 in question here nor the antlerless and spike control
7 program that Mr. Gilleland referred to is restricted
8 to high fences.
9 JERRY COOKE: It's unrelated to the
10 fence.
11 CHAIRMAN BASS: Unrelated to the --
12 MR. COOKE: Whether there's a fence or
13 not.
14 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you. I just
15 wanted to clarify that.
16 Any other comments?
17 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Move approval of
18 the recommendation.
19 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: Second.
20 CHAIRMAN BASS: Motion and a second.
21 All in favor?
22 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
23 CHAIRMAN BASS: Opposed? Motion
24 carries. Thank you.
25 (Motion carries unanimously.)
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1 "The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopts an
2 amendment to 31 TAC 65.26, concerning Managed Lands
3 Deer Permits, with changes to the proposed text
4 (located at Exhibit A) as published in the September
5 22, 2000, issue of the Texas Register (25 TexReg
6 9420)."
7 AGENDA ITEM NO. 9: ACTION - LAND SALE- NACOGDOCHES
8 COUNTY (ALAZAN BAYOU WMA)
9 CHAIRMAN BASS: Item 9, Land Sale,
10 Nacogdoches County. Jack Bauer.
11 MR. BAUER: Good morning, Chairman and
12 Commissioners. My name is Jack Bauer with the Land
13 Conservation Program. This item will reflect a
14 summary of the Conservation Committee Executive
15 Session item presented yesterday.
16 Nacogdoches County has proposed to
17 Texas Parks and Wildlife the sale of 12.23 acres
18 associated with the Alazan Bayou Wildlife Management
19 Area, it's for the purpose of widening FM 2782.
20 Improvements to the road are scheduled -- include a
21 scheduled upgrade by the Texas Department of
22 Transportation.
23 The staff recommends the Commission
24 consider the motion before you to sell 12.23 acres at
25 the Alazan Bayou Wildlife Management Area to
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1 Nacogdoches County for the purpose of supplying right
2 of way for road improvements.
3 That's all I have.
4 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any questions? Any
5 motion?
6 COMMISSIONER AVILA: So moved.
7 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: Second.
8 CHAIRMAN BASS: Motion and a second.
9 All in favor?
10 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
11 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any opposed? The
12 motion carries. Thank you.
13 (Motion carries unanimously.)
14 "The Executive Director is authorized to take all
15 steps necessary to sell approximately 12.23 acres at
16 the Alazan Bayou WMA to Nacogdoches County for the
17 purpose of supplying right-of-way for road
18 improvements to FM 2782."
19 AGENDA ITEM NO. 10: ACTION - LAND ACQUISITION -
20 KENDALL COUNTY (OLD TUNNEL WMA)
21 CHAIRMAN BASS: And Kendall County.
22 Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area.
23 Mr. Bauer.
24 MR. BAUER: Chairman and Commissioners,
25 this item also reflects the summary of the
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1 Conservation Committee Executive Session item
2 presented yesterday: Land acquisition of a 5.61 acre
3 rural subdivision lot, located adjacent to the Old
4 Tunnel Wildlife Management Area. It is recommended
5 for the purpose of providing space to construct a
6 parking lot in support of the increased public
7 visitation at Old Tunnel.
8 As directed by the Chairman, staff will
9 evaluate compatible commercial use on this property
10 that may in the future contribute to offsetting
11 operation costs at the facility.
12 The staff recommends the Commission
13 consider the motion before you to acquire 5.61 acres
14 in Kendall County as an addition to the Old Tunnel
15 Wildlife Management Area.
16 CHAIRMAN BASS: Questions or comments?
17 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Mr. Chairman.
18 CHAIRMAN BASS: Yes?
19 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Do I understand
20 that it's not necessary to include in the motion the
21 actions that were directed by the Chairman at the
22 committee meeting concerning looking into the other
23 possibilities for --
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: I believe, as presented
25 by Mr. Bauer, the motion would include staff
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1 examining.
2 COMMISSIONER HENRY: So that would
3 limit it to that effect; is that correct?
4 CHAIRMAN BASS: Yes.
5 MR. BAUER: That's certainly staff's
6 intent, sir.
7 CHAIRMAN BASS: Yes, I believe that's
8 the intent of the motion.
9 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Thank you.
10 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: I move approval of
11 the staff recommendation.
12 COMMISSIONER AVILA: I second.
13 CHAIRMAN BASS: We have a motion and a
14 second. All in favor?
15 COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
16 CHAIRMAN BASS: Any opposed? Motion
17 carries.
18 Thank you very much, Mr. Bauer.
19 (Motion carries unanimously.)
20 "The Executive Director is authorized to take all
21 steps necessary to acquire approximately 5.61 acres
22 in Kendall County as an addition to the Old Tunnel
23 Wildlife Management Area."
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: Mr. Sansom, is there
25 any other business to come before this Commission
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1 today?
2 MR. SANSOM: No, Mr. Chairman, with the
3 exception I would like to point out that we do have a
4 group of students here from the Wildlife Biology
5 Program at the Texas A & M University and their
6 professor, Mr. Lacher and we welcome them today.
7 Thank you very much.
8 CHAIRMAN BASS: Nice to have you all
9 here.
10 MR. SANSOM: And I would like to ask
11 Larry McKinney to give you a brief rundown on the
12 impact of the rainfall in the last few weeks.
13 (WHEREUPON a briefing item was
14 presented to the Commission, after which the
15 following proceedings were had:)
16 CHAIRMAN BASS: Mr. Sansom, does that
17 conclude everything that you have for us today?
18 MR. SANSOM: Yes, sir.
19 CHAIRMAN BASS: We stand adjourned.
20 MR. GILLELAND: I signed up to speak.
21 CHAIRMAN BASS: That was a briefing
22 item. Do you still wish to say something?
23 MR. GILLELAND: I'll just make a
24 comment --
25 MR. SANSOM: Mr. Gilleland, you need to
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1 come forward.
2 MR. GILLELAND: Thank you for making
3 the exception. I did sign up, though.
4 I have no comment, I just would like to
5 say that I'd like to give thanks to the source of the
6 rain.
7 Thank you.
8 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you,
9 Mr. Gilleland.
10 We stand adjourned.
11 (HEARING ADJOURNED)
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1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
2 STATE OF TEXAS )
3 COUNTY OF BEXAR )
4 I, SUSAN DILLON, a Certified Shorthand Reporter
5 in and for the State of Texas, do herby certify that
6 the above and foregoing 62 pages constitute a full,
7 true and correct transcript of the minutes of the
8 Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission on NOVEMBER 9TH,
9 2000, in the Commission
10 hearing room of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
11 Headquarters Complex in Austin, Travis County, Texas
12 I FURTHER CERTIFY that a stenographic record was
13 made by me at the time of the public meeting and said
14 stenographic notes were thereafter reduced to
15 computerized transcripts under my supervision and
16 control.
17 WITNESS MY HAND this the 4th day of January,
18 2001.
19 ___________________________
20 SUSAN DILLON, TEXAS CSR 6064
21 Expiration Date: 12/31/01
22 1700 I.H. 10 West, Suite 100C
23 San Antonio, Texas 78230
24 (210) 377-3027 PHONE
25 (210) 344-6016 FAX
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1
2
3 ____________________________________
Lee M. Bass, Chairman
4
5 ____________________________________
Carol Dinkins, Vice-Chair
6
7 ____________________________________
Ernest Angelo, Jr., Member
8
9 ____________________________________
John Avila, Jr., Member
10
11 ____________________________________
Richard W. (Dick) Heath, Member
12
13 ____________________________________
Alvin L. Henry, Member
14
15 ____________________________________
Katharine Armstrong Idsal, Member
16
17 ____________________________________
Nolan Ryan, Member
18
19 ____________________________________
Mark E. Watson, Jr., Member
20
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