TPW Commission
Public Hearing, November 5, 2015
Transcript
TPW Commission Meetings
TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION
November 5, 2015
TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT
COMMISSION HEARING ROOM
4200 SMITH SCHOOL ROAD
AUSTIN, TEXAS 78744
COMMISSION MEETING
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Good morning,
everyone. Welcome. Nice to see everyone. This meeting
is called to order November 5th, 2015, at 9:22 a.m.
Before proceed with any business, I
believe Mr. Smith has a statement to make.
MR. SMITH: I do, Mr. Chairman,
Commissioners. Thank you.
Public notice of this meeting containing
all items on the proposed agenda has been filed in the
office of the Secretary of State as required by Chapter
551 Government Code, referred to as the Open Meetings
Act. I would like for this fact to be noted in the
official record of the meeting.
Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, I just
want to join all of you in welcoming everybody today.
We've got a standing room only. Folks have found a
place to get out of the rain and so nice to see
everybody. For those of you this is your first Parks
and Wildlife Commission meeting to attend, just a little
bit about kind of the rules of road, if you will. We're
going to kick off this meeting with a series of special
awards and presentations and then recognitions of staff
for their long serving tenure and time with the Agency.
After that is completed, the Chairman will call for a
brief recess. And at that time, those of you who want
to depart can do so and then we'll open it up for the
remainder of the Commission meeting and so that should
happen around 10:00 or so. So please plan on that.
For those of you who have come to stay
with us for the rest of the meeting, we have a number of
action items that the Commission is going to be taking
action on. Some of you may be here to speak on those
items. If so, I would respectfully remind you to make
sure that you've signed up outside. At that appropriate
time when that action item is up for consideration and
it's time for you to speak, the Chairman will call you
up by name. We'll ask you to come to the microphone.
You'll have three minutes. Please state your name and
who you represent and what your formal position is on
that item.
We'll have a very simple green/red light
system to help manage time so we can work through it as
efficiently as possible. Green means go, yellow means
start to wind it down, and red means eject. So help us
honor that system this morning, if you will. Also, if
we happen to have an agenda item for which there are a
lot of speakers and you happen to be sort of late in
line to be called up, if you notice that somebody else
or many other people have really covered all of your
points, please don't hesitate to just come up and share
with the Commission that you're for or against the
proposal, without simply repeating things that have
already been said multiple times to the Commission. And
that way, we'll make sure that the meeting is efficient
as possible. So if y'all will help us with that.
Last but not least, just some minor rules
of decorum. I'll apologize in advance. But it is a
formal Commission meeting and so if you have a
conversation to have, please feel free to step outside
away from the hearing room and also if you don't mind
just silencing your cell phones for the duration of the
morning. We'd appreciate it. Welcome and thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you,
Carter.
Okay. Before proceeding, I want to
announce that Commission Agenda Item No. 9, Grant of
Utility Easement, Brazoria County, Approximately 37
Acres at the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area has
been withdrawn from the agenda.
And next is approval of the minutes from
the previous Commission meeting held August 20th, 2015,
which have already been distributed. Do we have a
motion for approval?
COMMISSIONER JONES: So moved.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Commissioner
Jones. Second -- sorry, Commissioner Scott. Second,
Commissioner Jones.
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Okay. That motion carries.
And the next is acknowledgment of the
list of donations, which have already been distributed.
Do we --
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Move for approval.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: -- have a motion
for approval? Commissioner Duggins.
COMMISSIONER MORIAN: Second.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Second
Commissioner Morian. All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, motion carries.
Now, consideration of contracts, which
has also been distributed. Do we have a motion for
approval? Commissioner Martin. Second, Commissioner
Scott. All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, motion carries.
And now we have special recognitions,
retirement, and service awards. Carter Smith.
MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
Commissioners. For the record, my name is Carter Smith.
As a point of departure, we are very honored and
privileged today to have with us our State's Land
Commissioner, George Bush. And General Land Office and
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, as all of you know,
have enjoyed a very longstanding relationship. We have
a very deep and shared interest in the future and
heritage of our lands and our waters and our coasts and
our natural resources. They have a terrific team over
there. We've really enjoyed the chance to work with the
Commissioner and his leadership team as he's taken over
the helm there on the 2nd of January, I believe,
Commissioner. It probably just seems like yesterday
and -- but we're very honored to have him with us today.
He and his team have a special award in
which they're recognizing one of our game wardens for an
innovating -- innovative project to deal with abandoned
boats up on the upper coast that we hope to extrapolate
down to the lower coast. And with that, let me turn it
over to Commissioner Bush and have him make this special
presentation. So let's welcome him, Commissioners.
(Round of applause)
COMMISSIONER BUSH: Mr. Chairman,
Commissioners, Carter, thank you very much for having me
on behalf of the Texas General Land Office. Privilege
to join y'all this morning to honor Sergeant Robert
Waggett at this November 6 meeting. Just by way of
background, for the last 16 years under a statutory
requirement, the Legislature asked for the General Land
Office to be the first responder to all oil spills up
and down the Texas coast, all 367 miles from the Sabine
Pass to the South Padre Island.
Since that time, we have awarded every
year to individuals, government entities, NGOs,
corporations, and universities an achievement award in
connection with their efforts to enhance these issues
that we deal with on a daily basis, whether they be oil
spill prevention, response, or educating the public, the
good people of Texas.
As Carter had mentioned, abandoned and
derelict vessels present a huge threat to the Texas
coast. The represent a threat to navigation, public
safety, and to our state's environment. On water
removal costs typically run about 200 bucks per linear
foot. So, for example, a 25-foot vessel would cost
upwards of 5,000 bucks, which is a large impact for a
lot of our citizens.
Recognizing these risks that these
vessels present, the Land Office partnered with Parks
and Wildlife and also Galveston County to develop a
proof of concept -- a pilot project, if you will --
which is what we need to see more of in government
candidly, that would address the persistent abandoned
vessel problem in Galveston County, particularly in the
wake of Hurricanes Ike and Dolly. The partnership
resulted in what we know now as the Vessel Turn-In
Program, aka VTIP.
Much like the household hazardous waste
disposal concept, the VTIP Program affords vessel owners
the ability to properly dispose of their derelict
vessels at no cost. Thereby, removing the temptation of
improperly disposing their assets, whether they're
usable or not. Vessels with unknown owners were cleared
through a public process here at the Parks and Wildlife
in order to allow for a disposal. So each of our three
partner entities made substantial contributions to the
program's success, and in just recent time.
Galveston County promoted the event,
utilized their equipment to compact the derelict vessels
and transport these vessels to a landfill. Our agency
would be involved in the proper remediation of hazardous
materials from these assets. And Sergeant Waggett
himself was instrumental in developing the protocols for
this program to help streamline the process to clear
vessels, clear their title, and then delete the relevant
asset from the database in the Parks and Wildlife
registry. So at the first VTIP event earlier this year,
25 vessels were processed for disposal, which resulted
in a cost savings of just over $95,000. The event also
represented an excellent public outreach effort in the
Galveston area and another event is scheduled in the
city of Galveston and another scheduled in Brazoria
County this upcoming spring.
Wherever I travel in the great State of
Texas, whether it be coastal zone or otherwise, people
are excited about this program and want to figure out a
way to get involved. The VTIP Program is a fantastic
example of how government entities can work together to
capitalize on our respective strengths to serve the
people. On behalf of the General Land Office and the
oil spill prevention response team, I'd like to present
Sergeant Waggett with this OSPRA award in recognition of
his important contributions to the VTIP Program.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Thank you, Commissioner.
That's a great award.
And, Sergeant, we're very proud of you.
You know, really that introduction is a
great segue into our next special presentation. The
Commissioner talked about the importance of innovation
and entrepreneurship and partnerships in state
government and how important that is. And one of the
greatest and most long lasting partners for this
Department, of course, has been the Parks and Wildlife
Foundation. And one of their -- really their longest
standing corporate partners has been Anheuser-Busch.
Anheuser-Busch was the first corporate
sponsor of the Parks and Wildlife Foundation. Made
really an extraordinarily generous gift at the urging of
August Busch himself to help support the conservation
and stewardship and outdoor pursuits of this Agency and
that partnership really has just flourished with time.
And really, you can't go to any part of the state
without seeing their footprints in terms of something
that they've helped support and whether it's a hatchery
or a park or a public hunting area or an education or
outreach program, Anheuser-Busch through their
relationship with the Parks and Wildlife Foundation and
then in turn the Department, have really accomplished
some wonderful things.
So it was no surprise this summer when
they reached out to the Parks and Wildlife Foundation
and said that they wanted to launch a new contest to ask
the citizens to vote for your favorite state park and
they launched that this summer. A lot of fanfare, a lot
of interest as you might imagine. You know how beloved
your state parks are. But perhaps it was no surprise
that the little park on the Blanco River quickly rose to
the top, got the vast majority of the votes. And I'll
tell you, I know I can speak for Ethan Belicek, our
superintendent, that the timing couldn't have been
better.
Certainly, Commissioner Scott, as you
well know from Memorial Day and just those horrific
floods that perched right over the Blanco River and
specifically the state park and had very consequential
impacts for the river and the communities and Hays
County and the park itself, this was a real shot in the
arm to see the park recognized that way. We're blessed
to have an extraordinary friends group there at Blanco
that supports Ethan and his team.
And so today, we've got Elliot Sparkman,
who's the on-premises activation manager for
Anheuser-Busch; and he's going to present a check to
Ethan and the team from Blanco State Park and Anne Brown
from the Foundation. And so let's welcome them to come
on up. So, everybody.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: One of the better kept
secrets in Parks and Wildlife and really state
government as a whole and it's a little known fact is
that Parks and Wildlife manages the second largest
number of facilities in the entire state, just behind
the Department of Criminal Justice. And so you know
that. Campgrounds and campsites, marinas and fishing
piers. We've got, you know, hotels. We've got
restaurants. All kind -- German breweries, explains why
State Parks are always in such good spirits. It's a
huge diversity of infrastructure that really we have to
steward.
And one of the important elements of that
stewardship is making sure that our capital assets
reflect our mission, they reflect our conservation
mission, our stewardship; and we want to manage those
assets in ways that not only are good for the
environment, but also in ways that are good for our
bottom line. And today we're very proud to announce a
wonderful partnership with Green Mountain Energy, work
with Andee Chamberlain in our Infrastructure team who
manages a lot of our sustainable -- sustainability
projects and initiatives. And they work together with
our State Parks team at Enchanted Rock and Green
Mountain Energy is donating the solar photovoltaic
system, which will be installed on the headquarter's
building.
We're expecting that to cut our energy
usage in half, save about 50 percent on our energy
bills; and that's real money to the bottom line there at
the park. And so it's a very, very generous donation
and we've got Mark McShane, who's the Vice President of
Green Mountain Energy, with us today to make a
presentation. Let's welcome Mark. Mark.
(Round of applause)
MR. MCSHANE: Good morning. On behalf of
the Green Mountain Sun Club, it's my pleasure to present
40,000 -- $40,000 donation to the Texas Parks and
Wildlife to be used towards the development of a new
solar array at Enchanted Rock State National Area --
Natural Area, excuse me, to build a new solar array at
the headquarters out at Enchanted Rock.
The Green Mountain Sun Club, formed out
of Green Mountain Energy back in 2002 and since that
time, we have made over 84 donations throughout the
state of Texas, totaling $84 million -- excuse me,
totaling $4 million and built out almost one megawatt of
solar energy here in Texas. It's my pleasure to be here
today, and we're excited to work with the Texas Park --
Parks and Wildlife, given both your regional and
national recognition for conserving natural resources.
Thank you.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: For our next presentation,
we've got some -- really, some old friends that have
come in from the Shikar-Safari Club International. You
know this group, a very prominent and distinguished
sportsmen and conservationists and hunters active in
wildlife conservation and our hunting heritage in our
state and our country and really our world and they're
just great ambassadors for the sport of hunting and the
whole model of hunter conservation.
And so the Shikar-Safari Club every year
honors a game warden with their Wildlife Officer of the
Year and this will be the 36th year, I believe, that the
Shikar-Safari Club has honored a wildlife officer of the
year and we could not be more proud of the fact that
this year, it's our very own Benny Richards. Benny has
been with us for two decades, serving proudly as a State
game warden in Northeast Texas. He's based up in Hunt
County, which is a very busy area of the state. It's
got a great mix of agricultural lands, but also that
kind of rural/urban interface as that whole Dallas/Fort
Worth metroplex kind of expands east. And so he stays
awfully busy.
Benny is one of those just consummate
game warden game wardens. Has integrated himself very
well into his community, involved in youth sports and
youth mentoring. He's just a trusted advisor to all of
the community leaders in that county who look to him for
not only his law enforcement acumen, but also his
leadership in the community and just a pillar of the
community.
His captain loves to tell the story that,
you know, Benny can never let his work quite go. He and
his family recently returned home from a trip up to New
York City. Literally the plane landed at DFW, he
stepped off the plane at night, got a phone call about a
poaching case, raced home, put on his uniform, and
before sun up he had five people arrested and on his
road to making a great case on a deer poaching incident
there in Hunt County.
He also had another case that he led
recently that had to do with -- I'll just call them what
they are -- a bunch of rednecks that were riding ATVs up
a little dry creek bed in Hunt County and so they were
using that waterway to ride their four-wheelers and so
forth and then trespassing on farms and ranches and
Benny led a great investigation to catch those and help
shut those down. Benny also recognizes the importance
of communicating the important work of our game wardens
and very actively writes an article in the local
newspapers that they publish called "Furry Tails" about
the adventures of the game warden there and so that's a
very popular series that everybody looks forward to
reading each week.
Last thing I'll say about Benny, I hope
all of you have seen those billboards for our Operation
Game Thief Program and some of them you'll see, you'll
have that game warden scene with the game warden looking
off with the binoculars and the eyes of Texas are upon
you. And Benny was the one that came up with that
moniker about the eyes of Texas are upon you and so our
Operation Game Thief Committee integrated that and put
it on the billboards. Of course, "The Eyes of Texas" is
obviously a proud song. Something that I know that all
the Aggies really enjoy singing. We're going to get
Benny up here. We're going to have the former Chairman
of the Texas A&M Board of Regents, Bill Jones is going
to come up and lead us in singing "The Eyes of Texas"
with Benny to help celebrate that.
And so in all seriousness, we're just
thrilled, the Shikar-Safari Officer of the Year. I saw
the Stumbergs and Danny Butler back there, Marko Barret
are here and so we're going to ask that merry band to
come up and present this award to Benny. Let's give
them all a round of applause, so.
(Round of applause and photographs)
COMMISSIONER JONES: Carter, I would
gladly love to join in on the singing of that song; but
I don't know the words and the words I would substitute,
they probably wouldn't like.
MR. SMITH: I was afraid of that. Good
call, Commissioner. Thank you.
We've got a very special presentation now
in which we're going to honor the inaugural class, the
graduating class of our first Game Warden Citizen
Academy. And yesterday, we had a very robust discussion
with the Commission about the critically important role
that our game wardens have played and we really started
out that discussion talking about the just extraordinary
work they do serving the state as part of the Operation
Strong Safety II related initiative; but as you know, we
talked about a whole lot more than that. We talked
about the extraordinary emergency response and roles as
first responders and their important roles in public
safety and disaster relief with recent floods in Navarro
County and right here in Travis and Hays and Caldwell
Counties and helping to respond to the fires over at
Bastrop and Buescher.
And so we talked about just, again, the
very important role that our game wardens play in terms
of helping to protect our lands, our waters, our fish,
our wildlife, our environment, our property, and
oftentimes our lives. But we also talked about the fact
that, you know, our game wardens quietly do their work
behind the scenes and they get it done and oftentimes
that work that they do for communities throughout all
the state's 254 counties does not go as recognized or
noticed as some of us might otherwise like.
And so thanks to the leadership of
Commissioner Margaret Martin, who really came to us
about two years ago. She had just graduated from the
FBI Citizens Academy and said we really ought to think
about creating a citizens academy for our game wardens
in which we can go out and identify community leaders,
people of influence, to really come and learn through an
in-depth process what our Law Enforcement team does on a
day-to-day basis. And so under her leadership, working
with Craig and Danny and Grahame and others, they put
together the inaugural citizens academy.
And we decided to focus it on really a
hand-picked group of leaders in business and agriculture
and government and conservation to run through the
program. It was a five-month program. Every month they
came together and were introduced to some element or
facet of our Law Enforcement work from going to see the
Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton to going out
with our dive team and learning about the
search-and-rescue operations they perform, watching the
K9 team in operation, riding along with game wardens in
the field as they did their day-to-day responsibilities
out protecting our natural resources and looking out for
the safety of our lands and waters and people and it
just a great experience.
And today, we're going to have a
graduation ceremony to thank those community leaders who
took time out of their very, very busy schedules to go
through the Citizens Academy. We're very proud of that,
and so I want to call each of the proud alums. They all
passed their finals with flying colors, and we have a
little something to say thank you.
Commissioner Martin, we'd like for you to
come forward; and, Vice-Chairman, if you'll come forward
as we call them out and take a picture.
I'll start off with the first one, Robby
Byers. Robby Byers, State Director for the Coastal
Conservation Association. Robby, please come forward.
(Round applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next alum is Bill
Horabin. Bill's a prominent Austin businessman and
rancher, supporter of our K9 team and Operation Game
Thief. Bill. Where are you, Bill? There you are.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Vol Montgomery, businessman
and rancher, Reveille Peak Ranch there in the Hill
Country, works very closely with our Law Enforcement
team. Vol, are you here? Vol? There you are.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: John Nelson, John's in real
estate and ranching and farming here in the Central
Texas area, also chairs our Operation Game Thief
Committee, John Nelson. John, you here? John, yeah.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Craig Rosenstein. Craig is
the CEO of Lewis Energy. And so, Craig, you here with
us? Yeah, there you are, Craig.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Scott Sanderson. Scott is a
local businessman. He's also President of the Austin
Chapter of CCA, serves on their State board. Scott.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our old friend Eric Stumberg.
Eric's here in Austin, rancher and businessman,
longstanding friend of Parks and Wildlife Department and
so Eric Stumberg. Eric.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Bob Starns, local
businessman, proud Texas Aggie. Let me get a -- okay,
all right. Yeah, now we've got that done with for the
morning. Also our -- a proud member of the Parks and
Wildlife Foundation Board. So, Bob.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Ben Stratmann. Ben is the
Chief of Staff for Senator Birdwell and strong
outdoorsman, involved with the Young Men's Business
League here in Austin and great friend of the
Department. So, Ben. Ben, welcome.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: No stranger to this
Commission, Susan Houston from the Parks and Wildlife
Foundation. Works every day to help raise funds for the
Department. You may not know this, as just polite and
demure as she looks, you know, she was world class
basketball star at Texas State. Craig Hunter calls her
the "little dribbler," Susan Houston.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Okay. I've been ordered to
watch my tongue. Jay Kleberg, you're fortunate. Jay
Kleberg for the Parks and Wildlife Foundation, great
friend. Jay, bravo. Thank you.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: And last but not least, it's
our great pleasure to really formally thank Commissioner
Martin. She has just been, you know, again, not only
the intrepid sponsor and leader of this program; but she
served so proudly on the dais as a Commissioner with all
of you. To be fair, you know, we really think of
Commissioner Martin as the great den mother of Texas
Parks and Wildlife. I mean, she makes sure we get up on
time, we've got our lunch packed; and when the bullies
pick on us, she steps in their way. She never misses an
event. She just lives and breathes Parks and Wildlife.
She's just -- it's in her DNA since she grew up on the
family ranch there north of Laredo in Webb County and
certainly that experience at an early age really caused
her to have a very strong and fond and deep connection
with our State's game wardens and as she's served
proudly with all of you on the Commission, she's really
made a couple of things her priorities.
And I love hearing the little baby in the
back. It sounds a lot like home. And getting kids into
the outs of doors and youth related initiatives and
supporting our Law Enforcement team really have just
been at the forefront of her efforts.
And, Margaret, the State's game wardens
and the Parks and Wildlife Foundation wanted to formally
thank you for this. And we've got Robby Robinson, who
is the Vice President of the Game Warden Association,
with us today with the Colonel and they want to present
you with a commemorative duty pistol and an honorary
game warden badge. I feel absolutely compelled to tell
you that that gun and badge will get you into more
problems than it will get you out of. So use that
judiciously, Commissioner, would you? Commissioner,
bravo, bravo.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: And then if I could ask all
of the graduates the first annual Citizens Academy to
come back up, and we're going to do a group picture.
Kevin, don't go far.
Craig.
(Photographs taken)
MR. SMITH: Okay. I think that's it in
terms of our special presentations and what a wonderful
lineup that was, just a great suite of partners who give
so generously of their time and talents to this
wonderful Agency and really all sectors.
The next part of our program this morning
is to really celebrate the extraordinary service of
three colleagues in State Parks and Coastal Fisheries
and Law Enforcement who have retired from the
Department. Collectively between them, these three
colleagues have 104 years of service to the Texas Parks
and Wildlife Department, 104 years of service.
And I think, Vice-Chairman, that is very
emblematic of the kind of commitment and dedication and
loyalty and just love of mission and place that is so
well-embodied by the 3300 professionals that proudly
work for all of you at the Department; and so we have a
chance to celebrate their careers today.
And it's fitting that we'll start off
with the longest serving one of them, Jimmie Rodriquez.
Jimmie literally grew up in state parks. He's a native
of San Antonio. He served with us for 36 years. At the
ripe old age of 23, he started working out at Lost
Maples State Natural Area before that State Natural Area
was even open to the public; and so he was instrumental
in helping to get it ready for opening it up. He moved
on and became our superintendent at Guadalupe River
State Park; the old Kerrville-Schreiner State Park that
some of you know, right there on the Guadalupe River,
which the city now manages; Enchanted Rock State Natural
area, which we had a chance to talk about.
Also served as interim superintendent
back at -- or, well, at the Hill Country State Natural
Area, Blanco State Park, and then back at Lost Maples
State Natural Area. The last part of his career, Jimmie
really served as a project manager serving all of the
Hill Country parks, working with them on infrastructure
needs, minor repairs, putting Humpty Dumpty back
together again when something was broken and just,
again, proudly served those wonderful places. Just
takes a great sense of pride in the state parks. Very
focused on future generations, not only of outdoor
enthusiasts; but also employees for this Department.
He's just led by example.
Jimmie's retired to Bulverde there in the
Hill Country with his wife of 35 years, Cindy; and now
it's time for a little fishing. Jimmie Rodriguez, 36
years of service. Jimmie.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague, Art
Morris from our Coastal Fisheries Division, one of our
biologists. Has been with us for 35 years and Art, like
so many folks, again, I mean, literally grew up inside
the Agency. Art was hired as a technician to work in
Coastal Fisheries Division down in Rockport and so part
of the team that did all of the sampling there in
Aransas and Copano and Saint Charles Bays. Moved down
to the Upper Laguna Madre to work in the hyper-saline
lagoon for a year or two and really just a couple of
years into his career, Coastal Fisheries recognized that
we really needed a formal liaison to work with Coastal
Conservation Association and anglers all up and down the
coast as we launched new initiatives, considered
regulation changes, so that we had somebody that really
was on the front line for getting public input and
feedback on things that the Commission was considering.
And so Art became really our fishery
outreach specialist from the coast. Again, all the way
from Sabine Pass down to Boca Chica, working with both
recreational and commercial fishermen. Many highlights
in his career, but I'll mention a couple just because
they really are signature projects for Coastal Fisheries
and our partners. One, Art was instrumental in starting
the Abandoned Crab Trap Cleanup Program. And so these
are these ghost traps that just get left out in the bays
and those crab traps will catch all kinds of marine
organisms and kill things and every year, Art would
sponsor an abandoned crab cleanup effort and CCA and
other anglers, commercial fishermen, game wardens,
biologists, communities would all pull together to help
clean up those death traps in the bays and just done a
terrific job.
Also, back in the 90s and early 2000s
when folks were really starting to bemoan the absence of
Tarpon along the coast and folks got very interested in
how do we restore Tarpon back to the coast and as all of
you know, is just one of the great pinnacle experiences
of any angler is, you know, catching a Tarpon,
particularly on a fly rod. I assure you if Craig Hunter
ever catches a Tarpon on a fly rod, you'll hear about it
for the rest of your lives.
But Art launched a program to really
engaged anglers all over the coast. Started this Tarpon
observation network where people could record
observation sightings and catches on the internet to
just give a us a better sense of distribution,
abundance, migratory patterns. Just a wonderful citizen
science related project. And then last but not least,
Art was instrumental in helping to launch our license
buyback program, which has bought back bay and bait
shrimp licenses, crab license buyback, and some finfish
licenses along the coast from commercial fishermen as
part of our conservation effort. He's a past President
of the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society,
was named as the outstanding fisheries worker for that
body of professionals. Again, he just knows the coast
backwards and forwards. We're going to miss him dearly.
Art's not going to ride off in the sunset. You'll
probably find him Padre Island National Sea Shore
chasing a fish. Art Morris, 35 years of service. Art.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: All right. You heard it from
Earl. Our next one, Kevin McDonald. Happy, happy,
happy when you get up here. So I want to see a big
smile.
Kevin McDonald, 33 years of service as a
State game warden. Kevin comes from a long line of
public servants. His dad was the proud mayor of Corpus
Christi. Many folks may remember him. His late brother
Chris was a highly respected game warden down in Bee
County where he served for many years, and Kevin really
followed in those footsteps in terms of his career as a
public servant and law enforcement.
Grew up on the coast in South Texas.
That's his home ground. He knows it backwards and
forwards, cares deeply about it. When he got out of the
Game Warden Academy, he was stationed down in
Brownsville for a couple of years in Cameron County and
then he moved up to Mathis in the San Patricio County,
was promoted to lieutenant there in Corpus and then in
1999, Kevin was promoted to our captain game warden down
to really oversee kind of that lower and mid coast area.
I mean, that part of the state which because of the
huge, vast ranches and undeveloped habitat and the Piper
Saline Lagoon and barrier islands and wonderful ranch
country. What many people call the last great habitat,
that area kind of from Petronila Creek all the way down
to El Sals and Kevin has lead his team of game wardens,
proudly serving the State in that area.
An amazing network of friends and
relationships in the ranch country that has served this
Department well. They wrote that Kevin had proudly
served under five different majors. I will warn you,
that is classic Law Enforcement speak for "he outlived
the bastards." Kevin just always kept his head down and
did a great job as a leader. We just couldn't be more
proud of him. One of my -- and I have many stories on
Kevin.
We spent a lot of time together in South
Texas at different points in our careers. But not my
most favorite story, but one of my most memorable ones
of Kevin. Craig's predecessor, Pete Flores, and I had
to go down to Kingsville for a series meetings with
Kevin and when we were done meeting with a group of
ranchers, we were going back up to that Kingsville
Kenedy County Airport and Pete had ridden with another
game warden and gotten there ahead of us. And right as
we were about to turn into the driveway down the FBO,
there was this kind of beat-up car on the side of the
road and there was this husband and wife that were
outside, terrible situation. You know, just screaming
at each other and looked like they were about to come to
blows, just absolutely horrific. The lady was holding a
baby in one arm. And so Kevin quickly turned on the
reds and blues and we jumped out to intercede and stop
something before it got too bad for anybody involved
there and I'll never forget following -- you know,
Kevin's about 6'8 and so you want him in a bar fight,
let me just tell you that.
Kevin steps in and they won't calm down
and they're screaming at one another. It looks like
they're going to go to blows. And I'll never forget
watching this. It was like slow motion as I watched
Kevin reach towards the lady with this motion like this,
like this, and "Here, you take it," which was a baby
with this very ill-fitted diaper that looked like I had
put it on. The baby was very stressed and no sooner had
the baby been passed to me, that was the job Kevin
clearly thought the Executive Director should do, take
care of the baby and get out of way, sir. And the -- it
just came out of both ends all over my shirt. And I
looked down, I'll never forget, and I looked over and
there was Pete Flores with his binoculars watching the
whole thing doubled over in laughter on the Tarmac.
Kevin's been a great friend to this
Agency. Proudly served us. He hadn't ridden off in the
sunset. He's got a wonderful ranch in Jim Wells County.
He's now a captain for the Jim Wells Sheriff's
Department, oversees their reserve deputy program.
Stays involved with law enforcement down at the King
Ranch. Very proud of Kevin. Thirty-three years of
service, Kevin McDonald. Kevin.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: We're going to now go into
our service awards and we have a chance to really honor
some distinguished colleagues, again, who have given so
generously of their talents over the years. And it's
fitting that we start off with Chris Beckcom in State
Parks.
Chris has been with us for three decades.
You may not have had a chance to meet Chris, but I
assure you you've seen his handywork. Chris is our lead
planner for State Parks and so he really is the one that
helps to shape the footprint and design and development
of parks literally from one end of the state to the
next. And throughout his proud career, he's developed
plans for Cooper Lake and Government Canyon, Mustang
Island, Big Bend Ranch, Palo Duro Canyon, the World
Birding Center, Devils River State Natural Area; and, of
course, right now he's working on the Palo Pinto
Mountains State Park west of Fort Worth. And so Chris
just brings a wonderful suite of skills, bringing
stakeholders together to try to identify what people
want in their state parks, what kind of amenities, what
kind of infrastructure, and how best to fit that on the
land and be sensitive to the important natural and
cultural resources that we're charged with serving.
Chris has had a wonderful career with us;
and we honor him today for 30 years of service in State
Parks, Chris Beckcom. Chris.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague, John
Thomas also from State Parks, also been with us for 30
years and really all of that time in deep East Texas.
John's been one of our great leaders over there, very
fortunate to have him on our team. Started off as a
park ranger in 1985 at Caddo Lake State Park. He was
then promoted to a regional interpretive specialist and
John really helped lead this statewide effort to help
enhance our educational interpretive efforts, working
throughout all the parks in the state, working in
concert with our wildlife biologists at some of the
WMAs. Again, helping us develop really the best
educational and outreach programming for the millions of
visitors that come and visit the state parks each year.
In '98, John transferred to the Starr
Family Home Historical Site, where he was superintendent
and proudly led that historic site for a number of
years. And then in 2005, John moved over to
Daingerfield State Park and Daingerfield State Park, of
course, is one of the state parks built by the men of
the Civilian Conservation Corps. And back in 2007 when
we got some significant infrastructure funding, Jessica,
that -- Daingerfield State Park was front and center for
us in terms of helping to remodel and renovate really
all of the facilities on site and John just played a
great role in terms of helping to preserve that historic
infrastructure and make sure that it will continue to
last for future generations and we're proud to honor
John today for 30 years of service, John Thomas. John.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague from
Coastal Fisheries is Dr. Robert Vega. Robert, again,
just this decades' long career with us. Literally grew
up inside Parks and Wildlife, as well. Got his
bachelor's degree in biology from A&M Galveston and then
his master's degree there at what was then Corpus
Christi State University, I guess, prior to being A&M
Corpus Christi. Got his master's degree. Came to work
for us as a technician at the -- what we call the CCA
Hatchery there that we have in partnership with CCA
there in Corpus.
And Robert started working there at the
hatchery. Quickly moved his way up, was promoted to
hatchery manager; and then several years later, Robert
was promoted to his current position, which he's held
since 1992. Robert oversees all of our three coastal
hatcheries, which as I told you yesterday, you know,
produced upwards of 30 million fingerlings last year to
put out back in our bays of Redfish and trout and
Southern flounder. Robert's been on the leading edge of
that.
One of the things I love about his
background is he's never stopped learning; and while
working full time for Parks and Wildlife, overseeing all
of the hatcheries on the coast, Robert went back to
College Station part time and completed his PhD. And
he's a very well-revered scientist in the hatchery
community. He's published over 40 papers and peer
reviewed journals. He's really a go-to guy all across
the world for folks to come to to learn about
cultural -- culture and propagation techniques in
hatchery related settings and you won't meet a nicer
guy. Dr. Robert Vega, 30 years of service. Robert.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague, Monica
Davenport. Monica has been with us for 25 years, and
Monica literally is a colleague that is on the front
lines for us. She works for our Law Enforcement team
out of the -- out in Galveston County there in the La
Marque office. But really for her first 22 years, she
was our office manager there in Freeport, working for
our Law Enforcement team. She was the, I think, the
only one in that office and so for literally 22 years,
dealing with folks that were coming in -- commercial
fishermen, recreational anglers, boaters. She was our
representative in Freeport and just did a terrific job
there representing the Department.
At one point in her career when we had
created the Limited Entry Program for commercial
fishermen, she noticed some mischief going on in that
program and, obviously, worked with the game wardens to
get that stopped and very proud of her for that for
folks that were trying to abuse our -- the license
privileges. In April in 2012, Monica transferred to the
La Marque office where she continues to work in her
administrative role there as an administrative assistant
and, again, front lines for the Department interfacing
with the public, critically important role. Monica
Davenport, 25 years of service. Monica.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague, Merida
Cuellar, budget analyst inside our State Parks System.
Also been with us for 25 years. And Merida had a
distinguished career really with the Air Force and
retired for that -- from the Air Force. Came to work
for the Department in what, at that time, we called the
Planning and Design Section, Jessica. A little trivial
pursuit for you. That's now our Infrastructure
Division.
She then moved over to our Administrative
Resources team, Mike, and worked in contracting and
procurement and administrative related functions.
Worked in accounting, federal grant billing, budgeting,
all of the back office stuff that we just have got to
have to make the ship run. In 2006, Merida transferred
over to our State Parks Division. She's held a variety
of positions there; but she's now our lead budget
analyst, and so critically important role supporting
Brent and his leadership team there in State Parks.
Twenty-five years of service, State Parks, Merida
Cuellar. Merida.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague has also
been with us for 25 years in State Parks, Zeo Corpus.
And Zeo started out his career there at Pedernales Falls
and was there for a couple of years and then moved over
to LBJ State Park and historic site and that's where he
has proudly served for 23 out of the 25 years and he's
had all kinds of jobs there. Working initially as a
seasonal; he was on the maintenance team; worked on the
tour center team working along the National Park
Service, who's obviously our neighbor there at the LBJ
site. He was a lifeguard during the summers there at
the pool. Then became a clerk at the site and, again,
went back to working for the tour center desk. Again,
really is the person that people would go to to get
information about the park, where can they drive, where
can they walk, what can they see. Zeo is really the
one, again, on the front lines that's the face of the
Department at the park that people go to for
information.
We changed his title in 2013 as a
customer service rep, which I think reflects the
important commitment our State Parks Division has each
and every day to give exemplary customer service to the
8 million visitors that come and visit their state
parks. We're proud that he embodies that. Zeo Corpus,
25 years of service. Zeo, please come forward.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague, Cindy
Hobson has also been with us 25 years. One of our
Fisheries biologists. Cindy started out in Inland
Fisheries and -- where she launched her career over in
East Texas.
When Cindy came to work for us, Craig,
she was the first female biologist working on one of our
management teams in the state; and so proud of her for
helping to break that barrier.
She worked over in East Texas with the
Fisheries Management crew for a couple of years and then
she moved to Tyler, working on our kills and spills
teams and so when there were spill related events and
we'd have mortalities of fish and other organisms, Cindy
would work on that on assessing the damage and cleanup
and remediation. In '93, she moved over to San Marcos,
again, with our kills and spills team; but really
focused on water bodies in Central and West Texas. And
then since 1997, she's worked on our Water Quality team
and makes sure that the state water quality standards is
promulgated by the Commission on Environmental Quality,
sufficiently reflect fish and wildlife related concerns
with the development of those standards.
She's been also instrumental in helping
to put in place a seagrass monitoring program. We know
how important and critical that is for our habitats on
the coast. And Cindy has just been a very valuable
biologist for our Coastal Fisheries team. Twenty-five
years of service, Cindy Hobson. Cindy.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague, Annette
Sudyka is with our Inland Fisheries team and she, too,
has been with us for 25 years all at the Heart of the
Hills Research Station there at Mountain Home. Just
that's an old historic hatchery that, Craig, I guess
was -- what -- built in the 30s, late 20s -- 1927.
Yeah, really an amazing aqueduct fed by a
spring. It's just really a fascinating place. She's
been our staff services officer there. Started off as
an administrative assistant there at the Heart of the
Hills. She's, again, constantly working on professional
development. She's a certified Texas procurement
manager.
She's one of only three employees, Craig,
in your division that's a certified procurement manager.
That means she can buy stuff. Be nice to her is my
words to you.
But she does a whole lot more than that.
She works with this little merry band of researchers and
biologists out at the Heart of the Hills and it's this
great team of biologists that are working on things and
they're always needing help with their administration
and managing stuff and finding papers and research and
networking with researchers all around the world and
there's never a task that's too big or small for Annette
and we're proud of her service to our Inland Fisheries
team. Twenty-five years of service, Annette. Bravo.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Our next colleague is in our
Information Technology Division. He's been with us for
20 years, Arnie Montemayor. And Arnie has a great
history. He grew up down in San Diego there in Duval
County. Home of Ballot Box 13 for all you political
junkies. And Arnie's family's been deeply rooted there
for a long time.
Arnie did go off to the University of
Texas. So he actually can sing "The Eyes of Texas are
Upon You." We won't let him get too close to this mic,
though. Arnie graduated from University of Texas, came
to work for the Parks and Wildlife Department. Really
was our first HUB coordinator inside the Agency. Then
was responsible for creating that audit program over our
procurement cards and so did a great job in terms of
setting that up. And then as we were creating our first
automated financial system, hard to imagine that that
just happened in the last 20 years, that Arnie was
really responsible with helping to interface with
clients, help develop that system.
And he moved over, at that time, to our
Information Technology related division and since then,
Arnie's been our manager of customer service. So the
help desk, all the IT support; and so Arnie is really
George's liaison to everyone inside this Agency. If
there's a meeting around the state, Arnie is there.
He's always here to help, always has a smile on his
face. He's just a -- so much embodies the wonderful
spirit of this Agency and just brings a great initiative
and work ethic every single day. Arnie Montemayor, 20
years of service. Arnie.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Okay. Last but not least,
Kelly -- all right, you're out here. Good, good, good.
Kelly Simon, Kelly's been with us for 20 years as one of
our Wildlife biologists and just, again, has a very long
and distinguished career. Started out in our Nongame
and Urban Wildlife Program in which she was the
coordinator of the Texas Wildscapes Program and that
really is working with folks, again, in urban areas to
help them cultivate wildlife habitat in their backyard
and their gardens. You know, we talked about this
yesterday with the Monarchs, that anybody can
participate in that recovery effort. It doesn't matter
how much land you own. And Kelly was on the front lines
of helping to launch that program.
And if you go into Barnes and Noble or
really any bookstore, you can see this wonderful book
that she wrote on Texas Wildscapes as the author. So
it's a great resource for folks that want to have
ecologically appropriate and adaptive plants to plant,
again, to help enhance habitat in urban settings.
She worked for us as an urban wildlife
biologist in the Nongame and Urban Wildlife Program.
Transferred over to Region II over in Bastrop in which
she worked in Bastrop and surrounding counties. Came
back to the Wildlife Diversity Program as, again, one of
our Nongame and Urban biologists. She's a proud alum of
our Natural Leaders class. Worked on a big project on
alternative funding sources that she helped the Agency
with. Kelly is also, at various points of her career,
been on the front lines with us. Like the Lost Pines
Recovery Team after the devastating 2011 fires. She's
worked on Houston toad issues. She's been our
representative on the Texas Invasive Species
Coordinating Council, Lower Colorado River Refuge Board.
She's just been a great ambassador for wildlife to the
people of Texas and proud to call Kelly Simon a
colleague. Twenty years of service, Kelly.
(Round of applause and photographs)
MR. SMITH: Mr. Vice-Chairman and
Commissioners, that concludes my presentation. Thank
you.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Thank you, Carter.
And thanks to all those involved. This is always a
special time for us.
At this time, let's take about a
five-minute recess; and then we'll resume with the
agenda at that time. Let's reconvene in about five
minutes. Thank you.
(Recess taken)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Okay. We'll go
ahead and reconvene at this time. I want to just thank
everyone for waiting through our service awards. I know
we have a lot of folks here today who waited very
patiently. So I just want to convey our appreciate for
that.
Item No. 1 is approval of the agenda. Do
we have a motion for approval?
COMMISSIONER JONES: So moved.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Moved by
Commissioner Jones. Second by Commissioner Scott. All
in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, motion carries.
Item No. 2, Action Item No. 2 is the
Election of a Vice-Chairman. Do we have any discussion
by the Commission?
COMMISSIONER JONES: Mr. Chairman, I
would like to nominate the continuation of Ralph Duggins
as Vice-Chair.
COMMISSIONER MORIAN: I'll second.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: We have a motion
for Ralph Duggins as Vice-Chair. Second by Commissioner
Morian. All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Well, Ralph, motion carries. Looks like
you got through again.
COMMISSIONER SCOTT: Skated again.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: I appreciate all
your service and everything you've done. You've given a
lot to this Commission and this Agency, and we're all
better for it and appreciate it very much.
Item No. 3 is --
COMMISSIONER MARTIN: Did I miss that?
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Yeah, you missed
it.
COMMISSIONER JONES: You can still vote
no if you like, just for the record.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Should we start
over?
COMMISSIONER MARTIN: I vote in absentia.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: There you go.
Item No. 3 is our Youth Hunting Program.
Justin, would you please make your presentation?
MR. DREIBELBIS: Mr. Chairman,
Commissioners, good morning. For the record, my name's
Justin Dreibelbis. I'm the Private Lands and Public
Hunting Program Director.
Since 1996, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department has partnered with Texas Wildlife Association
to offer safe educational hunting opportunities for
youth on private land across the state through the Texas
Youth Hunting Program. It's a partnership that the
Department is very proud of, and we appreciate the
opportunity to highlight the program today.
I would like to welcome the director of
TYHP, Chris Mitchell, and a couple of his special guests
to make a presentation to you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you.
MR. MITCHELL: Chairman and
Commissioners, we really appreciate the opportunity to
give you a little report on the Texas Youth Hunting
Program. I provided each of you each a little card that
has our stats on there, and it also includes a little
thumb drive on there. We had one young man who
participated in our hunt that could not join us today;
but he made a video, and it wasn't of a good audio
quality to show in a big auditorium like this. So I put
it on that thumb drive for you and I would encourage you
to please watch it. Shiv Gosch is from Colorado and he
joined us on one of our hunts and we invited him to come
speak at the TWA convention and made -- he made a
video -- his dad made a video of his presentation. So
we encourage you to watch that.
As far as the statistics from last year,
we conducted 218 hunts, taking over 1600 youth across
the state on safe, educational hunts. And, of course,
we did that with the help of 133 landowners; and those
aren't just private landowners. Those are also federal
and state agencies and nongovernmental organizations.
And, of course, we also could not do that without the
help of our large volunteer base. We have over 1600
trained hunt masters since we began the program in 1996
and collectively, our volunteers and our landowners have
helped us take over 58,000 people on outdoor experiences
all across the state.
What I'd like to do now is introduce you
to our credentials. These numbers are all real nice,
but our credentials are the young people that
participate in our hunts. And to my left, I have Julie
Krebs. She's from Kerrville. In addition to being a
TYHP hunter, she's also participated in Texas Brigades.
And I'll let her speak first, and then I'll introduce
you to our -- to Monica Pena to my right.
MS. KREBS: Hello. My name is Julie
Krebs. I am a sophomore at Harper High School in
Gillespie County, and I am thankful for the opportunity
to be able to speak to you today. I have been grateful
to be a part of Texas Youth Hunting Program and Texas
Brigades for several years. I have gained a lot of
knowledge from these programs about conservation,
preservation, land stewardship, leadership, and
teamwork.
Through these programs, I have learned
that to make a difference in the future, it starts with
my generation and I to make that difference. Even
though I have been a part of Texas Youth Hunting Program
for several years, I only have gone on a youth hunt once
participating as a hunter two years ago. My hunt was an
exotic hunt in Rocksprings on a wonderful and beautiful
property. There, I saw many beautiful animals and I
have made an everlasting bond with one of the hunters.
Even though I did not harvest an animal,
I have gained many friendships from that trip and an
everlasting memory and story with my father. My dad is
a hunter safety instructor and has made a youth hunt in
memory of my brother, the Jacob Krebs Memorial Youth
Hunt for Wounded Warriors. My brother was also a hunter
ed. instructor like my father. He enjoyed the outdoors
and cross-country; but my brother longed to be in the
military, particularly being a Navy Seal. Before my
brother died, he volunteered in numerous youth hunts,
including the Cave Creek Super Hunt.
Since then, my dad has started the youth
hunt to honor our fallen heros by giving their children
and themselves an opportunity to experience the great
outdoors. I have been a part of this youth hunt since
the beginning and I enjoy greatly volunteering wherever
needed and I've seen firsthand the impact that TYHP has
brought upon others and I am beyond grateful for TYHP
and all that they have done. I have even recently been
awarded the Texas Wildlife Association's Youth Volunteer
of the Year because my dedication and volunteer service
to TYHP. I also was nominated because of my willingness
to do any job at my brother's youth hunt and because of
my promotion of the Texas Brigades Program, as well.
John Muir wrote "When one tugs at a
single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest
of the world." I have found out that each program I
have been a part of has tugged on everyone's lives that
they have impacted, including mine. Texas Brigades has
tugged on my ability to become a better leader and
speaker and Texas Youth Hunting Program has tugged my
ability to share the value of enjoying and managing
nature, seeing different wildlife, and creating new
friends.
You have tugged on so many different
people and organizations that, in turn, impacts others
beyond realization. I would like to thank you
personally for your generous and invaluable support
towards TYHP. Thank you for letting me speak to you
today. Do you have any questions? If so, I'd be glad
to answer them.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Julie, thank you.
Any questions for Julie?
MS. KREBS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you very
much.
MR. MITCHELL: And as I mentioned, this
is Monica Pena. She's participated in a couple of our
hunts, and I met her on a spot-and-stalk hunt that we
did in Blanco a couple of years ago and was just really
impressed with her. And so I'd like to give Monica an
opportunity to tell you her experiences.
Thank you, Monica.
MS. PENA: Thank you. Hello. First of
all, I would like to express my appreciation for the
Commission and for the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department for the Texas Youth Hunting Program and the
opportunity that it offers to young people of all ages
to get outside and to have fun and enjoy each other's
company. I'd also like to share my hunting experience
with you.
I met such nice people over the weekend
who made it so much better. The volunteers and the
cooks and the hunt masters and the landowners who were
incredibly generous with us. And I also learned so much
on this -- on the youth hunts. The ethics of
responsible hunting was one of the main points that I
walked away with. I also -- last year in my freshman
year of high school, I took biology and I dissected a
deer and it was really, really -- it was amazing because
it really brought to life the biology course that I took
and it was amazing because we did not waste any of the
deer. And then also, I learned a variety of life
skills, such as making fire, tracking the animals, and
knot making. It also gave me a chance to bond with my
family.
My very first hunt, I went with my
grandfather and it was very special and we both had fun
and we both enjoyed it so much. My second hunt was with
my dad and that was incredibly special, too. Both
experiences were unique and memorable in their own way
and I believe that Texas Youth Hunting Program has made
a positive impact on a lot of kids, including myself.
Personally, I have gained a greater experience --
appreciation for nature because when you're in the blind
and you're listening to the birds singing, you just --
it just takes you to a different place and it just --
it's so special. And it was really cool to see
different people coming together from all over Texas and
we were all learning and we were all bonding with our
parents and grandparents and we were all having fun at
same time. Again, thank you for your time. God bless.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Monica, thank
you. You both exemplify what's great about this
program, and we really appreciate your leadership.
Thank you.
Commissioner Duggins.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: I have a quick
question for you young ladies. Where did you -- or how
did you get your hunter safety course? How did you
accomplish hunter safety? Just out of -- it's just out
of curiosity.
MS. KREBS: My dad taught me on his
property since he's a hunter ed. instructor and I've
been going to many of his camps, so to speak, and I've
listened on his lessons and hunter ed. instructor and
ethnics and everything.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Okay. Ms. Pena?
MS. PENA: And my dad took me to Red's
Shooting Range in Austin, and they have hunter safety
courses there.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: You took it at a
shooting range?
MS. PENA: Yes.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Okay. Well, I
second the Chair's comments. This is just so great to
hear young people get up and tell us those things.
Thank you so much for coming today.
MR. MITCHELL: Thanks again for the
opportunity.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you.
Okay. Action Item 4 is Approval of the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Fiscal Year 2016
Internal Audit Plan, Ms. Cindy Hancock.
MS. HANCOCK: Good morning. For the
record, I'm Cindy Hancock, Director of Internal Audit.
Texas Government Code 2102, also known as the Texas
Internal Audit Act, requires the annual internal audit
plan to be approved by the Commission.
I'm here to request approval for the
fiscal year '16 internal audit plan, as listed in
Exhibit A. Exhibit A shows fiscal year '15 carryover
projects and our new projects for fiscal year '16. This
exhibit also shows the number of hours estimated to
complete these projects, and it has an alternative
project that can be substituted or added if time
permits.
Staff recommends the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Commission adopt the following motion: The
Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approves the TPWD
fiscal year 2016 internal audit plan as listed in
Exhibit A.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any discussion or
questions for Cindy?
COMMISSIONER JONES: Mr. Chairman, I move
for adoption of the audit plan as presented by
Ms. Hancock; and I've reviewed it and talked to Cindy
about it during the interim break.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Moved by
Commissioner Jones. Second by Commissioner Morian. All
in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, motion carries.
Cindy, thank you.
MS. HANCOCK: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Item No. 5 is
Implementation of Legislation During the 84th Texas
Legislative Session, House Bill 721, Relating to Hunting
and Fishing License Waiver for Certain Disabled Veteran,
Justin Halvorsen.
MR. HALVORSEN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
For the record, Justin Halvorsen, Revenue Director.
Commissioners, the action item I'm presenting today is
simply a cleanup/housekeeping issue from the past
Legislative session.
The Agency offers as super combo hunting
and fishing license at no cost to military veterans with
a service connected disability above a certain
threshold. That disability rating prior to fiscal year
'16 was 60 percent or higher. House Bill 721, from this
past Legislative session, dropped that down to
50 percent or higher. That's effective as of 2016. The
Administrative Code currently reflects the old
60 percent rating.
Our proposal is to replace the exact
disability rating in the TAC code and replace it with a
reference to statute. In this case, Parks and Wildlife
42.012. That way in case there are any subsequent
changes to the disability rating, we don't keep having
to bring this issue up as an action item.
The proposed rule was published in the
October 2nd, 2015, issue of the Texas Register. As of
Tuesday, October 27th -- and actually, these numbers
haven't changed as of this morning -- there were 23 in
favor, three opposed. One commenter noted that it
complicated the reading of the law to have it reference
the statute. The other two in opposition either didn't
comment or their comments weren't relevant.
Therefore, staff recommends the approval
of the following motion: The Texas Parks and Wildlife
Commission adopts amendments to 31 TAC 53.3 concerning
combination hunting and fishing license package, with
changes as necessary to the proposed text located at
Exhibit A, as published in the October 2nd, 2015, issue
of the Texas Register, Issue No. 6855. That concludes
my prepared remarks. I'm happy to answer any questions
you might have.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any questions for
Justin?
Commissioner Scott.
COMMISSIONER SCOTT: I'd just like to
move that we approve this. I'll make a motion.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Okay. Motion for
approval Commissioner Scott. Second?
COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Commissioner
Jones. All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, motion carries. Thank you.
MR. HALVORSEN: Thank you, sir.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Action Item
No. 6, Chronic Wasting Disease, Recommended Adoption of
Interim Proposed Rules. And before Clayton makes his
presentation, I believe Mr. Smith has some clarifying
comments to make.
MR. SMITH: I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank
you.
And just, Commissioners, as we discussed
yesterday and I think this is really important that you
have a chance to hear this again from me, as well as all
of the many stakeholders out in the audience, the
proposal that Clayton is going to be laying out in front
of you is not intended to be a permanent rule. This is
an interim rule. One to provide continuity through the
existing hunting season. It's exactly what we told the
stakeholders we would be doing.
We have a proposed sunset date on these
rules of the 31st of August. But I want to explain that
because it is our intention with all of the wealth of
information and data that we have been collecting in
concert with our landowner and hunting partners, both of
captive and free-ranging deer, to utilize that
information along with a much more thorough
epidemiological assessment to be able to come back in
March to this Commission with a proposal on a new set of
rules relating to this subject.
At that time, we'll have a proposal
certainly that everybody will have a chance to see and
comment on through the normal regulatory process. And
then the hope is then in May, we'll come back to you
with a formal proposal for adoption. So at that time,
the Commission can choose to adopt rules. That will
provide clarity and business certainty for all of the
many stakeholders that have an interest in this. So I
want to be abundantly clear about the timeline and the
process that we're laying out in front of you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you.
Thanks, Clayton. Go ahead. Appreciate
it.
MR. WOLF: Mr. Chairman and
Commissioners, for the record, I'm Clayton Wolf. I'm
the Director of the Wildlife Division. And this
morning, we're going to ask you to consider for adoption
these interim rules for breeder deer movement and
liberation. Also, I want to point out again that in the
room, we have some staff from Texas Animal Health
Commission with us.
We have Dr. Andy Schwartz. He's the
Assistant Executive Director, and a State
epidemiologist, and also we have Mary Luedeker. She's
Assistant General Counsel over Governmental and Industry
Relations. And as I indicated yesterday, this -- you
know, this -- these rules and the development on the
short timeframe just would not have been possible
without their partnership. They were -- they were here
and became very familiar faces at this building, as we
were over at the Texas Animal Health Commission. Truly
a partnership that we really appreciate. We appreciate
their expertise, their professionalism and their
dedication and their involvement in the development of
these rules.
As I mentioned yesterday -- and this is
going to be a bit more abbreviated -- the rules that
we're asking you to adopt this morning really establish
three transfer categories or three different levels of
movement qualification status. And then associated with
those, release site requirements that are associated
with the release of deer from these different transfer
category breeding facilities.
I also showed you this graphic here,
which basically demonstrates the model that we adopted
to develop these enhanced testing requirements, wherein
we recognize that someone with a TC 1 status or the
highest level of testing out there, that really helps to
mitigate risk for disease transmission. And so with the
release of a deer from a TC 1 facility, which creates a
Class I release site, the testing requirements on that
release site are the lowest. In fact, in this
particular case or in our rules, there are no testing
requirements at Class I release sites.
So we move forward to the TC 2
facilities. Transfer Category 2 have a moderate testing
performance; and so to compensate for that, the testing
requirements at the Class II release sites are at a
moderate level. And hence, also on TC 3, that is the
lowest testing performance within breeding facilities;
and so to offset that, the testing requirements at the
release sites are their highest.
And so I'll go through that, that -- you
know, information I covered yesterday. For TC 1
Category, those would be certified or fifth-year status
herds. These are herds that are enrolled in a Texas
Animal Health Commission CWD Herd Monitoring Program.
And, of course, these herds must have a reconciled herd
inventory; and they cannot be a Tier 1 site. And you
will recall a Tier 1 site are these sites that received
CWD exposed deer. And Class I release sites have no
additional testing requirements.
The Transfer 2 Category is really the new
category or the new threshold that we established in the
rules. In order to qualify as a TC 2 breeding facility,
you must test 4 and a half percent of the average
population in the facility over the last two years.
These facilities also must have a reconciled herd
inventory and not be a Tier 1 site. Individuals may
choose to voluntarily sacrifice animals if they're not
at that TC 2 level, but wish to be at that level.
The release sites associated with TC 2
then are obligated to Class II release site testing
requirements. If deer are released on a ranch and it
becomes a Class II release site, they must test
50 percent of the hunter harvested deer in that season
or a number equivalent to 50 percent of the breeder deer
that were released that year. Irrespective of those
first two bullets, they must test 50 percent of the
breeder deer liberated and harvested in the same season.
And for a Transfer Category 3, 20 percent
of the eligible mortalities in that facility since
May 23rd, 2006, must be tested and have a result of not
detected. This is a -- those rules were established on
May 23rd, 2006. These were the standards that had been
in place since that time, and so many folks have -- were
operating by these standards and when we were able to
reactivate TWIMS, everyone that met these standards was
at a minimum able to meet the TC 3 status on
September 24th. TC 3 breeding facilities must also have
a reconciled herd inventory; but as opposed to TC 1s and
TC 2s, these Tier 1 sites, these exposed herds, may be
in the TC 3 Category provided that they abide by the
provisions within their Texas Animal Commission Herd
Plan.
And the Class III release sites, as I
said, have the highest testing requirements. The
harvest on these sites, 100 percent of the hunter
harvested deer must be tested or they must test a number
equivalent to the number of breeder deer released that
year, whichever is greater. And in addition, all deer
released on Class III sites must have an RFID tag or a
USDA National Uniform Ear Tagging System clip tag.
Just a few other general provisions, a
deer breeding facility assumes the status of the
originating facility from which it received deer. If
that facility is of lower status, all the release sites
must be high fenced and the Class II and Class III
release sites must maintain a daily harvest log on site.
All those provisions are in the existing emergency rule
that was filed and effective August 18th. Since that
time, there have been several questions come up in
discussions; and one of those questions was about new
breeding facilities. We had -- during that exercise, we
had been assigning folks a category or a status level
and sharing that information with them; but the question
was asked "What about new breeders that do not already
have a testing performance?"
And so the rules that we're asking you to
adopt this morning, also establish that a new breeding
facility will inherit the lowest status from among all
facilities from which it received deer. Also if a
facility has its status dropped because it received deer
from a facility of lower status, the question was asked
"How long must that facility stay at that lower status?"
And the rules that we're asking you to adopt would
specify that period at two years. And then for new
facilities, the new facility status would be calculated
after two years.
Obviously, though, as Carter Smith
indicated, we're going to be revisiting these rules in
January. So there's no certainty on where we're going
forward. This may be changed as we evaluate the rules
with our stakeholders and our partners at Texas Animal
Health Commission. And then finally, as --
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Can you hold on
just a second?
MR. WOLF: Yes.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: On the first
bullet point, new breeding facility. If a new facility
acquires deer from two different sites that have
different classifications, what would happen
hypothetically in that case?
MR. WOLF: They would assume the status
of the facility with the lowest classification. So if
they got deer from a TC 2 and they got deer from a TC 3
when they opened their facility, they would become a TC
3 breeding facility.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Okay, thank you.
MR. WOLF: And then as Mr. Smith
indicated, these rules -- and these are not in the text
of the draft of the rules that were submitted to the
Texas Register; but an amendment that we're asking you
to consider, as well, is an expiration date of
August 31st. Understanding that as Mr. Smith said, our
process, we hope -- we plan to be back in front of you
in March with proposed rules and in May to consider
those proposed rules for adoption.
As of 7:00 a.m. this morning, the public
comment primarily through the web was 678 that agreed,
supported the rules, with 372 opposed to or disagreeing
with the rules. We also received a letter that I
reported to you yesterday that had numerous signatories.
I have those on the screen here in front of you, and I
will scroll through those as you see them. There were
26 organizations or associations on that first letter.
This morning, I was presented with a new version of that
letter. It's basically the same letter, but it has
three additional signatories on that letter in addition
to the 26 that are on the screen here; and that includes
the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the
Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports, and the
Texas Agricultural Land Trust are also now signatories
to that letter of support.
We also received individual letters of
support from organizations and associations to include
East Texas Woods and Waters Foundation, the Texas
Conservation Alliance made a web comment. Ducks
Unlimited, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers
Association and King Ranch. And then we received a
letter from Texas Farm Bureau that was -- it didn't
necessarily speak specifically to the rules, but we
would categorize it as a letter of support. They --
when they submitted the letter, they said it was in
reference to our Chronic Wasting Disease rules. And
I'll just read the third paragraph.
"Farm Bureau policy favors Texas Parks
and Wildlife Department and the Texas Animal Health
Commission addressing the disease problems associated
interstate and intrastate shipment of native wildlife,
particularly those related to hunting -- to the hunting
economy of Texas. Additionally, the Farm Bureau policy
supports continued research to develop a live test for
CWD," which, of course, we will be thoroughly
investigating at the beginning of the year.
We also received a web comment from Texas
Deer Association in opposition to the rule. And if we
look at the reasons, the more common comments, we did
have 106 comments that were identical or nearly
identical, rather lengthy comment; but in essence, the
comments on the web indicated that they did not feel
that there was no longer an emergency because of where
we were in the -- in our testing, that there was no
considerable threat, that current testing requirements
were injuring industry without just cause; and
specifically in addition to just asking the Commission
to consider the rules, the adoption of the rules in
their entirety, there was -- there is a specific request
to dispense with Class II release site testing.
Other more common themes, the numbers
here are probably -- will be updated a bit because this
is from yesterday morning, and we weren't able to keep
up with everything over the last 24 hours. But the
common themes, there were some in opposition to the
rules because they -- the individuals are opposed to
deer breeding in general or the rules were not stringent
enough. Some felt that this was Agency overreach and
overreaction. There were some that believed that the
rules required deer to be sacrificed. Others indicated
the rules were punitive and singled out deer breeders.
And then, of course, as we make the reference to live
animal testing, several believe that the rules should
allow for live animal CWD testing.
A few more comments that testing
requirements should be the same for all deer; and then
we had some more comments, individual comments that
weren't the form comments, opposing release site test
and also commenting that they did not believe that there
was an emergency. And then, in general, just scanning
through the comments, there were a few that indicated
that the rules would have a negative impact on the
economy, on deer breeders, land value, and local
economies and such.
And so the motion that we're asking the
Commission to consider this morning is: The Texas Parks
and Wildlife Commission adopts new 31 Texas
Administrative Code Section 65.90 through 65.93
concerning disease detection and response, with changes
as necessary to the proposed text, which is located in
Exhibit A, as published in the October 2nd, 2015, issue
of the Texas Register.
And with that, I'll be glad to take any
questions or step aside for public comment.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you,
Clayton.
Any questions for Clayton at this time?
Okay. We have several people signed up to speak on Item
No. 6. Starting with Carrie Collard, and Marko Barrett
is next.
MS. COLLARD: For the record, my name is
Carrie Collard. Chairman and Chairmen Members, I sat
here in this room in July at a special hunting -- in a
special hearing in September discussing the making of
interim regulations concerning the deer industry at the
end of the hunting season.
Now, I am attending today without any
discussion with this industry as the hunting season
begins. How can you tell the public you're going to do
something, and then do the complete opposite? I feel as
a Texas resident that I cannot trust my government
because their word means nothing. These emergency rules
have crippled this industry and the landowners who
purchase this product that are not even deer breeders.
It has placed burdens on the breeders and
landowners just because they purchased from a deer
breeder. The regulations have decreased land values and
have put a financial strain on me, deer breeders,
landowners, and the Texas economy. I think integrity is
at stake here. There is a process in which rules and
regulations are made by State governments and this Texas
government should be held to the same standards. You,
as government officials, have a duty to be honest, fair,
listen, and discuss with both sides of the issue before
you write or pass regulation.
As a Texas resident, I feel that you have
overstepped your boundaries on this issue. I am not a
deer breeder. I am a concerned mother of two little
boys being raised working in a deer breeder industry. I
have taught my children values and how the State
government is to work for the people. You have a duty
to hear concerns from all the people. I have a problem
with mandating landowners because they happen to
purchase a breeder deer, and then place a financial
burden on them.
These breeder deer have been liberated.
They are no longer a breeder deer. They are wild deer.
Before the emergency rule went out and went into effect,
hundreds and thousands of breeder deer have been
liberated into the wild on these same release sites.
You wiped the state clean across the board and
considered them all wild and without risk. After your
emergency rules, the breeder deer are released and not
considered wild and they are at risk because they came
from a breeder pen.
Okay, sorry. We raise deer in a
permitted breeder pen and have regulations that protect
our deer from being hunted and killed. Some groups seem
to hide behind the TTP, TTT, and DMP Programs; but in my
opinion, they were breeding those deer illegally because
they do not hold a breeder permit. They should be held
to the same standards as a deer breeder and be held
accountable. Deer liberated from a deer breeder permit
are released onto private property and are no longer
breeder deer. They are wild.
These deer have the right to roam wild on
the land and the landowner has the right to hunt them,
just as the other groups do, without burdens placed on
them because they came from a breeder pen. I vote no to
the extension of these rules being placed. You need to
hear all the people, not just a select few before you
regulate. Please stick to your word. And another
thing, I don't think it was fair to sit up here and put
new rules that were not exposed to the public, to go
ahead and pass them through real quick. I think that
was pretty crappy. Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you for
your comments.
Next is Marko Barrett.
MR. BARRETT: Mr. Chairman,
Commissioners, for the record, my name is Marko Barrett,
San Antonio, Texas; and I'm in favor of the adoption of
the interim rules that are proposed. I'm the current
President of Texas Wildlife Association; a group of
Texas landowners, wildlife managers, sportsmen, and
conservationist nearly 10,000 strong. But before that,
I'm a hunter, I'm a landowner, I'm a wildlife manager.
My family has both high- and low-fenced
property. We farm. We raise cattle. We lease for
hunting, and we outfit for packaged hunts. I have
property in Medina County, the county here in Texas
where CWD was first found in a White-tailed. We have
used many of the varied programs and regulated permits
that our State and the Department has made available to
landowners.
On our Medina County property, we were
permitted under Level 3 of the MLDP Program. We have
transferred deer into the Medina County ranch both with
the Triple T Program and from a permitted deer breeder.
I have personally extracted brain stems to ship off to
Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic's Lab to qualify to
move deer out of another ranch with a Triple T Permit.
I understand the sense of unease that comes from the
what-if scenario that goes through a landowner's mind
awaiting for those tests to come back.
I will be testing this year voluntarily
on my property because I believe it is the right thing
to do. We need to have a better understanding of just
where this disease is or has been as we move forward
into the future. I am extremely hopeful we will not
find any more positives, but my optimism isn't paired
with a high level of confidence. I commend the
Department and the Texas Animal Health Commission for
erring on the side of caution by swiftly stopping
movement once the disease was discovered and also for
working with varied stakeholder groups, managers,
hunters, and landowners to provide a cautious way to
allow for movement of deer before this hunting season
via the currently in place emergency rules.
A week after the discovery of the index
positive, I and many of my friends who span the spectrum
from large property, low-fenced landowners to small
acreaged, high-fenced breeders, were having serious
discussions questioning whether deer movement of any
kind would be allowed at all this year. Let us not
forget how far we have come in such a short period of
time. I fully support the adoption of the rule as
proposed and have faith that with the information and
science garnered by the rule's required testing
protocols during this season the Department has
indicated in the rule discussion section, we're better
equipped to considering modifying the testing protocols
in the future. So we will continue to protect our
State's deer herd, the hunters who depend on that for
recreation, the landowners and managers who provide us
habitat, while at the same time being mindful of the
impacts on users with tools in place. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Marko, thank you
for your comments n.
Next up is David Yeates; and after that,
Van Bruns.
MR. YEATES: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners,
thank you for your time. For the record, my name is
David Yeates. I work for Texas Wildlife Association.
In the interest of time, I'll keep this very brief. I
want to speak specifically to the letter that's being
delivered that's a hard copy of the most updated version
with the additional signatures that Mr. Wolf mentioned.
I recognize there is a desire to amend
the rules, specifically to Class II release sites. The
stubborn, unfortunate facts are that there -- we don't
know if there is connectivity or not. We don't know
who's connected and who is not. We haven't the found
source of the initial index herd. And, therefore, I
believe that we should err on the side of caution in
moving forward; and I want to reiterate the Texas
Wildlife Association is absolutely committed to
retooling and revisiting these rules with the
information at hand at the end of the season.
I understand there's already about 1500
non-captive samples collected already. Hunting season
opens this weekend. I'm personally excited about that.
I hope that we'll see a heavy tranche of new samples
come in. I personally will be sampling for myself. I
did want to point out that you certainly don't need us
to explain the risks that we are potentially exposed to
here. Thank goodness there are only four -- five
positives at this time. We may, indeed, find more. I
hope that we do not.
But rather than that be treated as an
opportunity to back off and ease up, I think it demands
responsible vigilance. This is an opportunity to nip
this in the bud and react in a responsible manner. So
with that, I'll close and I'll be happy to any answer
questions and thank you for your wisdom and leadership.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you.
Any questions?
Appreciate it, thank you.
Mr. Bruns and after Mr. Bruns, is
Mr. Bender, Steven Bender.
MR. BRUNS: For the record, Van Bruns,
deer breeder, 64 years old, about ready to retire; and
the deer business is very important to me. I work for
HP Zachary as a contractor for a number of years, and
then went into pipe design. I don't have a pension, and
I'm relying heavily on this.
So why did I get in the deer breeding
business? I wanted to tell you that. Back in the 90s,
I was in DeWitt County and deer numbers plummeted and
there's a number of factors. You know, we have
bulldozers and small acreage tracts in DeWitt County;
and also, small acreage tracts and a drought. We went
from 38,000 deer to seven, 8,000 deer. Landowners were
very unhappy.
And what did the Parks and Wildlife do?
They implemented a program -- not their fault -- to kill
four does. So it hit DeWitt County at that time at a
very bad time. People were very unhappy. Landowners,
they had a meeting in -- public meeting in DeWitt County
and it got out of control. So we have a passion. I
love the White-tailed deer. I've been hunting since I
could barely walk. So it's something we have a real
passion for, love for. We make money at it.
I'm a small guy. I worked my way up from
the bottom, and I talked to the guys that are on the
bottom. Y'all want to affect the guys on the bottom?
Believe me, you are. I've got a feed bill that I have
to pay. It's a -- well, actually, I worked my way up --
probably $100,000 a year. And so the decisions y'all
make are going to decide whether those guys get paid or
not. I was fortunate enough to sell my bucks this year.
I want you to know I had one call. No other calls.
Normally, we don't have to advertise or do anything.
Okay, now let's get to the Chronic Waste
Disease. I'm a Level 2. I buy deer, and I sell deer.
Okay, so what does that mean, I'm a Level 2? I don't
just do 20 percent testing. I test -- try to test all
the deer that I possibly can. I don't have a lot -- I
don't have help on the place, like a wildlife biologist.
I work myself, do almost all the work myself. Okay, so
what does that mean? I go to work on -- I also work, go
to work before daylight; and the time we have right now,
I get home after dark. So there is a possibility I'm
going to miss a deer every once in a while as far as
doing a test on them.
But I'm guaranteeing you, I've tested all
I possibly can. Haven't released any dead deer out into
my pasture. Okay? So Level 2, I've tested all these
deer and I -- now, when I release a deer out into my own
site, I've got to kill some of those deer; and I've
tested a bunch of them all ready. I'm not connected up.
Now, I understand that we could have this disease
totally gone and I could still get it in my pen because
it could be brought in by what? Feed? Hay? It could
be in the ground already. So just because I don't have
it, doesn't mean that I'm not going to get it.
The other thing, you've got the best
level out there; and y'all are trying to tell us that
they don't need to be tested going out. Okay, that's
fine. I understand they've tested some deer and hadn't
showed up or maybe they tested every deer. But if they
can get it out of the ground, out of feed and hay, how
do you think they could not possibly have it? And what
I'm saying is that Level 2s are definitely -- I feel
like I'm being discriminated against.
I've tested my deer. I'm not a level --
the best level. But I feel like I'm being discriminated
against as a breeder, and I love the White-tailed deer
just like anybody. Thank you. Any questions?
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you very
much. Appreciate your comments.
Mr. Bender.
MR. BENDER: Good morning, Chairman
Friedkin, Commissioners, and Mr. Smith. I'm here today
to speak in support of the proposed interim Chronic
Wasting Disease rules as put forward by the staff here
at Texas Parks and Wildlife. For the record, my name is
Steven Bender. I work for the National Wildlife
Federation, but today I represent NWF and our -- and
Texas Conservation Alliance, our longtime affiliate and
partner.
At the National Wildlife Federation, my
job is to work with sportsmen and women and to engage
them in conserving the natural resources of this
country. Our organization has more than 4 million
members through the world and half a million of those
are hunters and anglers. They are our roots, and we
have been working with them for 80 years.
I won't go into why we're here. We know
that there have been two significant events over the
last several years that have brought us concern with CWD
in both West Texas and Medina County. Every year, our
NWF affiliates -- and we have 49 of them -- come
together with our staff to discuss and debate affiliate
sponsor resolutions. Some of the most heated debate is
around the care and protection of our cervids in this
country.
Our first reference to Chronic Wasting
Disease was in 2000, when this disease was fairly
tightly contained into a few different states. Now,
that has changed; and it's made its way around the
country. We have made comments on behalf of our
affiliates to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, APHIS, concerning these issues, as well. The
tradition of hunting and fishing runs deep in this
country and most certainly in Texas. Many people who
hunt do so because they want to get out in nature, they
want to get outdoors. And when successful, these
hunters want to put meat in their freezers for their
families to enjoy throughout the year.
Hunters should not be concerned in the
field about harvesting an unhealthy animal. They are
concerned this has a potential to hurt hunting license
sales and, therefore, decrease the revenue to this State
agency. In-state hunters and our out-of-state friends
want to hunt in Texas without fear or concern of the
health of the animal they're harvesting. National
Wildlife Federation and Texas Conservation Alliance
support the actions taken by the biologists here at
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. We trust the
Agency to manage this resource properly and from a
scientific perspective.
Therefore, we encourage the Commission to
adopt the interim rules as laid out by the Wildlife
Division; and we also encourage you to embark on a
process that engages the best scientific minds inside
and outside of this state to create a plan for
postmortem and live testing and herd screening. Thank
you for your time and consideration of this issue.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you.
And next up -- you may have to help me
with this a bit -- Brent Geistweidt.
MR. GEISTWEIDT: For the sake of time,
I'll withdraw; but thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Okay.
And next up is Mike Ford.
MR. FORD: Chairman, thank you for your
time today, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, Carter.
I see lots of people in this room we call
"stakeholders." I have a stake in everybody in this
room's business. I've developed equipment personally
that an international company in Mount Pleasant is
building for us. Some of it, I've sold to the Kerr
Wildlife Management Area to further their knowledge and
experience in what we're dealing with these animals. We
all love them.
I only beg and pray somewhere that as a
Commission Court and Carter and his direction, that we
find a science-based leader to teach us about this
disease and let the passions that seems to have divided
our wildlife community -- I'm a member of every
organization sitting in this room. Some of them as a
life member. I joined the TWA when I played for the San
Antonio Gunslingers for Clinton Manges and getting $100
to give TWA out of Clinton Manges was a pretty tough
deal back then for y'all that know Clinton. Bless his
heart, he's gone today.
But I just ask the Court and the
Commissioners to have the foresight that lets science
teach us; and if we can do things to help eradicate the
disease through science-based facts, then we have to go
that way. Today in the communities of the wildlife that
we're all involved and love, passion is what's directing
us. Passion is what's dividing us. Only science can
educate us. And I beg the Commissioner's Court to let
that be the thing that we all strive to find.
Somewhere in this deal, science has to
tell us what we have to do. We know that science has
proved to us that that disease won't make you sick. We
could eat 100 pounds of backstrap this afternoon, and
nobody is going to get sick from eating it. We know
that it's not going to depopulate a herd anywhere. They
just released bison at the Colorado State University
where they've done a brucellosis extraction from the
gene. They just released those bison last week on the
same property where they found CWD in the 1960s.
How on earth can we have such a narrow
mind of passion ruling something that science is the
only answer to have? It took me 30 years to get out of
college. I'm not the smartest guy in the room. I
enjoyed every bit of it. I'd like to go back for a
year, but I don't think that's going to happen at my
time. But if we take our passions -- we all have them,
each and every one of us in this room does. I have
friends here. I have lots of friends. I've know
Clayton. Brad Chappell and I are from the same county.
I'm from Red River County.
We talk about the deer in our pens not
being wild. They're -- in our eyes, they're livestock.
We're producing a product for a consumer. In my
county -- and I see the light flashing -- they had to
catch deer in some counties to bring back to Red River
County in the 1940s. I've seen the reports of it. We
killed all the deer in Red River County out of need to
eat. We killed all the turkeys. As I visited with Mr.
Linder this morning, we caught turkeys and took them
back and reintroduced them. We caught deer in three
counties -- Zapata, Webb, and Johnson Counties -- and
reintroduced them. So in my particular case in Red
River County, which is just shy of Oklahoma if you know
where that is, we didn't have those animals when I was a
kid.
I had no hunting season when I was a kid
in Red River County because there was no deer. My
forefathers and all their friends had shot all the deer
and all the turkey to eat. We, as man, and science let
us go get some animals to bring back to reintroduce. I
don't think we're doing a whole lot different with that.
And I'll say this: There is not one deer
breeder anywhere in this room or anywhere in this state
that ever would want anything bad to happen to any
client or customer that ever come to them. We would --
we need to be the people leading that science fact.
We've got the animals to test. We can do the homework.
We can do the numbers to get to there. I beg the
Commission to use the science-based facts to lead our
industry and not our industry, but our state as a whole
wildlife association. We've got too many things pulling
from outside this room. Well, this room needs to be
together, not divided. I take the Commissioners' time,
and thank all of y'all for that.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Appreciate your
comments. Thank you very much, Mike. Thank you.
Mr. Patrick Tarlton, and next up is Mike
Wood.
MR. TARLTON: Good afternoon, Chairman,
Commissioners. My name is Patrick Tarlton. I'm the
Executive Director of the Texas Deer Association. On
behalf of our membership, we oppose the adoption of
the -- or the interim rules, Chronic Wasting Disease
response rules.
This industry will never minimize CWD.
For decades, deer ranchers in this state have led the
way in CWD testing. No one is more committed to
mitigating, controlling, and finding the source of CWD
than my members. Our very livelihoods depend on it.
The rules currently governing our industry were created
in response to a perceived emergency that does not
exist. Animal Health Commission and Parks have gained a
wealth of knowledge of information, which they did not
have at the time of the creation and implementation of
these rules.
The abundance of caution upon which these
rules were created must be balanced with the facts
before us today. Sampling at the high -- of the
high-risk deer at the index facility yielded four
positives. Conclusive tests on the remainder of the
index facility had zero positives. The single positive
test result outside of the index herd can be directly
traced back to the same pen and cohort at the index
facility.
I take extreme exception to the comments
that we cannot assess connectivity. Through the use of
the robust and innovative TWIMS system we all utilize,
we have identified, contained, and managed this incident
of CWD in Texas. There is no statewide emergency. The
system did work. Our industry has euthanized and tested
more than 800 animals since July 1st. The absence of
any additional test -- positive test results,
significantly narrows the potential impact of CWD
incident on this state, both in wild and in captive
herds.
These results should immediately alter
the dynamics of the rules governing our industry moving
forward. The significant increase in CWD testing by
breeder facilities should allow the Department to
release Class II release sites without impacting the
important functions of the Department on controlling the
spread of the disease. This immediate relief would
equalize testing across thousands of landowners that are
completely unconnected to CWD Tier 1 facilities. The
current testing and surveillance on Class II release
sites required by emergency rules, are significantly
damaging our industry.
I would ask you give this matter your
prolonged consideration. You do not have to adopt these
rules as written today. Making them permanent only
validates decisions made in haste with limited
information and based on a completely different set of
facts than we were looking at today. Additionally, if
these rules are truly interim, we should not include
consequences lasting two years. Regulators in industry
must work together to maintain a certain balance of
private property rights, economic impact, and disease
management.
The deer industry is in dire need of a
permitting process that provides regulatory certainty,
while maintaining a climate conducive to business
growth. We need -- we know challenges lie ahead. The
Deer Association and all my members are committed to
working alongside regulators to find a path forward that
balances fair and appropriate rules that take into
account the economic livelihood of essential rural Texas
industry like ours. Thank you for your time.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Patrick, thank
you.
MR. TARLTON: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Appreciate it.
Mr. Mike Wood. Next up is Tim Condict.
MR. WOOD: Greetings, Chairman Friedkin,
Commissioners, Mr. Smith. First off, I'd just like to
say I love that we live in a country and a state where
we're all allowed to get up and voice our opinion. I
appreciate all of your time, the State employees' time.
Animal Health, Parks and Wildlife has devoted an undue
amount of time and the sleepless hours and the abundance
of work they've put in. Since this was found in late
June, early July, I think us, as ranchers, have had very
much similar unrest and -- through this entire process.
It's cost many Texans their property,
their livelihoods, their health, and even some their
marriages. Temporary emergency, according to Webster,
temporary: Lasting for on a limited period of time, not
permanent. Emergency: A serious, unexpected situation
requiring immediate action.
Well, we got the emergency part down
pretty good. The temporary part, we're still working
on. Emergency rules according to Texas Code, 120 days
followed by two sets of 30 days each. I implore you to
act upon the temporary part and realize that Parks and
Wildlife has been planning for this exact situation
since 2005, when the importation of deer into Texas was
stopped and as recent as a few years ago in far West
Texas.
Guys they've had the time. They put the
plans together. Let's let them work. Implementing
these temporary orders to permanent status or extending
them, I believe is a bad precedent. You have not
educated the hunters, the landowners, the lessees, the
lessors. There's been nothing to these people who have
deer on their properties. I've received calls from
people, neighbors and so forth. One of my neighbors is
the Executive Director of the Dallas Safari Club.
That's a pretty big organization. He's asking me what
do to. I don't know. "What's going to happen if it's
found on my land and I voluntarily submit it?"
I don't know. I've worked lots with
Mitch Lockwood. I want to applaud Mitch for every time
since this has started, I have called Mitch and he's
instantly answered the phone. He's never sent it to
voice mail. He's never said, "You know, I can't help
you." And before this, I've had good relations with
Mitch and I know that's blinking; but I just had to say
that. But even Mitch couldn't answer what's going to
happen to you if it's found.
We'll I've got two words -- three words
for you: Three Mile Island. Your land's toxic. If you
really want to find where -- if you really want to find
this, we need to really start testing. We need to test
everywhere, not just voluntarily. We need to test
everywhere. TTP, those deer are already terminal.
They're dead. Let's test them. You've got free animals
right there to test. So I beg of you to let the
emergency order expire before more good, honest,
hardworking Texans are forced into a bad situation.
Many ranchers like myself realize released bred does in
the spring and carrying this forward, this rule forward
to August of 2016, will be taxing at best and dangerous
that many have -- more dangerous than many have even
considered.
Let the rule expire as we were told; or
simply put, you can shorten the MLDP season by two weeks
when many of the folks are already through with their
hunting and by usurping this emergency rule procedure to
simply cover the last two weeks of the MLDP season, I
feel is improper and reckless in many eyes, as well.
The proper action will be to proceed with caution. Let
the tests conducted, then reviewed, come in. Let the
science and information disseminate where we go from
there and all points moving forward. Thank you for your
time, and I appreciate you. Any questions? Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you.
Mr. Tim Condict. Then next up is Evelyn
Merz.
MR. CONDICT: Mr. Chairman, members of
the Commission, thank you for allowing me to make
comment of the rule. I feel strongly on the importance
of our industry, not only in Texas, but across our great
nation. We create jobs. We pay taxes. We work hard;
and we give families the opportunity to live their dream
of raising great children in a rural environment,
allowing parents to instill the ethics, morals, and
values into those children through the responsibility of
a day's work of doing chores on a deer farm. It would
be wonderful if every child in this country could be
raised in this manner.
We are very patriotic and freedom-loving
people. We love our country, and we love Texas. Across
the nation, we have volunteered to be the canary in a
coal mine. We test our animals at a much higher rate
for disease than animals on the outside of our fences.
We work hard to be part of the solution by helping show
when a problem possibly exists. When we do find
something, we are put out of business and our dreams are
lost. We do what we do not to get rich, but simply
because we love our particular species so much that we
can't imagine not being able to surround ourselves with
these animals, learning and loving every minute spent.
Over time I feel there's been a level of
distrust built between this Agency and deer breeders
across Texas. I'm not here to point fingers. I am here
to be part of a solution. We should all be part of a
team. We all want what's best for the future of
hunting, and we all want what's best for a future filled
with people being able to spend time and learn the same
respect for the great outdoors that we all share. I
think the people who work and take direction from the
members of this Commission would agree that I am very
open and honest with them and express my opinion of
agreement or disagreement in a non-obstructive way.
I have sincerely appreciated the way that
the gentleman that the Commission oversees has worked
with me and given me the opportunity to express my
opinion in a non-obstructive way. I find myself reading
proposals for rules that include language that I feel
can be misinterpreted or detrimental to our industry. I
think we would be better served if a couple of the
representatives from our industry had opportunities to
work in an earlier stage of every process to eliminate
unforeseen issues. It is hard sometimes to understand
how rules and laws will affect breeders unless you are
one.
The route of CWD throughout the body of
cervids is totally predictable. It first shows up in
the lymph node, then the tonsil to the brain, and then
to the rectal lining. From the time it shows up in the
lymph node to the tonsil, according to the best research
people in the nation, is less than two months. The
tonsil test is 100 percent accurate if CWD has reached
the tonsil. People lead you to believe it is hard to
accomplish this test. It takes 20 seconds once an
animal has been knocked out. That is absolutely not
true.
We have people in quarantine situations
that are losing their livelihoods and dreams that we can
test out. Please allow me to help work out these
situations. The DBC believes many deer were wasted
through the retroactive 4.5 percent testing of animals
that were not in trace-outs, costing our industry over
$5 million. We believe this could have been done going
forward and avoided that loss.
We feel the emergency no longer exists
and the information -- with the information we now have,
we believe that testing breeders in hunt -- and hunt
facilities is double jeopardy on the animal and testing
in hunt facilities is crippling our industry. Because
of these reasons, we cannot support these emergency
rules. However, I would like to say that I really have
appreciated the effort that's been put forth on behalf
of Texas Parks and Wildlife extended to me and I thank
you, Carter Smith and Clayton Wolf and Mitch Lockwood
for the work that they have done with me because I do
appreciate how they've reached out to me and I've
reached out to them and the DBC would like to extend an
invitation to put me in Austin, Texas, however long it
takes, to stay in a motel down here and assist working
out these situations with particular breeders that are
caught in quarantine situations that will put them out
of business. Thank you for your time, and thank you for
listening.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Mr. Condict,
thank you for your thoughtful comments. Appreciate it
very much.
Ms. Evelyn Merz.
MS. MERZ: Good morning, Carter, Mr.
Chairman, Commissioners. My name is Evelyn Merz. I'm
here representing the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra
Club. To us, this is a very straightforward issue. The
solution to this issue is found in the name of the
Agency Texas Parks and Wildlife. The Agency's
responsibility is to protect the State's wildlife
population for the benefit of all the people, not just
for the benefit of a special interest group.
This goes to the heart of the public
trust doctrine. The interim rule is a necessary,
reasonable, fact-based, and thoughtful response to
protect the wild deer herd from the transmission of
Chronic Wasting Disease from private deer hunting
facilities. The Lone Star Chapter strongly supports the
interim rule -- not the permanent, the interim rule --
and urges the Commission to adopt it. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you very
much.
And for the record, Mr. Tom Vandiver
wishes to register a position for the adoption of
interim proposed rules; and Mr. Craig Wilson wishes to
register a position against the adoption of proposed
interim rules. They did not wish to speak.
And that, I believe, is everyone that's
signed up to speak on Item No. 6. Is there any
discussion by the Commission?
We have a question from Commissioner
Duggins. Yeah.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: It's actually a
question I would like to ask of Dr. Schwartz, if you
wouldn't mind coming up please, sir.
Does the Animal Health Commission
consider the rules that are proposed for adoption
reasonable and prudent from a disease management
standpoint?
DR. SCHWARTZ: Thank you. For the
record, my name is Andy Schwartz. I'm Assistant
Executive Director with the Texas Animal Health
Commission.
And, Commissioner Duggins, the short
answer to your question is yes. We've -- would say that
even before this first case of CWD was found in
White-tailed deer and pen deer in Texas, our Agencies
have worked together. The Texas Animal Health
Commission and Texas Parks and Wildlife, our leadership
saw the need to do that. Although we have differing
missions, we knew that we needed to come to the same
table because we both have a card in this game of
protecting White-tailed deer.
So we support -- we supported a stopping
of movement of deer while the epidemiological
investigation was taking place. We were -- as Mr. Wolf
had said earlier, we were involved in the discussions
about how to resume movement, how to allow the industry
to resume some normalcy and still mitigate any risk
that's still there, still was presented by this case,
chronic Wasting Disease.
As it's been stated earlier, we still
don't know the source of infection in this particular
herd; and so I think it warrants some caution moving
forward. We do need extra surveillance that's being
accomplished this year through the hunting season
through the additional testing that was done to qualify
herds for movement. We plan to come back to the table
with Texas Parks and Wildlife to consider this
information that's gathered through additional
investigation through hunting surveillance and making
any recommendations to change the rule. But, again, we
see ourselves as sitting at the door. The actions that
our Agencies take, could have a long-term affect on the
health of deer population in Texas; and I think caution
is warranted. So we do support this rule.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Thank you, sir.
COMMISSIONER JONES: Can I ask a question
of Clayton Wolf? I just --
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Please.
COMMISSIONER JONES: Clayton, I just have
a quick question. A couple of comments mentioned the
science, which is obviously very important to us, as
well, and education of the stakeholders, the landowners,
the deer breeders. Are we do any -- what are we doing,
if anything, both on the science side and the education
side? Testing procedures, even live testing, are we
doing anything in that regard; or do we have something
planned in that regard?
MR. WOLF: Yes, Commissioner. On the
science side, in the time period that we had, we
obviously relied upon the expertise of Texas Animal
Health Commission, our veterinarian to pull together the
scientific information we had. The short answer,
because many of the comments are related to antemortem
or live animal testing, was really there was no protocol
in place to be able to do that without really creating
gridlock.
But as we've indicated before, the
purpose of our January symposium really is going to be
to pull all the national experts on -- not just on live
animal testing, but on the impacts of CWD. You know, so
there's a lot that's unknown; and so that's fertile
ground for speculation on what population level impacts
might -- there might be. And so for January, we're
going to bring together all the experts and put that
together in a forum that all the stakeholders will be
able to have access to; and then we're going to use that
as a springboard as we move forward because we do -- we
do feel like we can be leaders. We can be innovative.
We don't necessarily need USDA approved -- approval if
we're going to develop standards for intrastate movement
using a live animal test.
But we need to parameterize really those
aspects of the test, and that's the part that we did
engage some staff statisticians. And what is concerning
is when you look at probabilities of detecting this
disease, particularly this type of disease, it is tough
to detect. And so some of the sampling levels we've had
in the past, really the statisticians tell us it could
take decades to find the disease. And so what we want
to do is bring the scientists together, along with the
statisticians. So not only can we look at the technique
of how you get a sample and how sensitive that CWD
sample is, but also convert that to something that means
something for us how.
How long would it take, or what is the
probability of detecting disease in this population or
in this herd? And so that will -- we'll do a more
comprehensive look into that in January, and that will
be -- all that material will be part of the
decision-making process when we come to you in March.
As far as education goes, our partners at
Texas AgriLife Extension have really taken the lead. We
have been part of numerous seminars and outreach
meetings throughout the state. In fact, there was one
in San Antonio last night; and I think Mitch went down
there to represent the Department. And I've been
involved in some in Bandera and Hondo and other places.
We'll have them in Austin and Houston, San Antonio. So
outreach, just general outreach to get the hunters and
landowners and talk about the disease, that is also
taking place and Texas AgriLife Extension has really
been a -- played a critical role in helping us do that.
COMMISSIONER JONES: Okay.
MR. WOLF: Did that answer all your
questions?
COMMISSIONER JONES: It did. When you
look at -- have you scheduled the date in January yet
for that symposium?
MR. WOLF: We have not. We've got a week
that we have penciled in right now. But, obviously,
we've got to try to get ahold of all the experts to make
sure we can get them here. But we're looking at the
middle of the January right now as our target, but we
haven't scheduled anything yet.
COMMISSIONER JONES: Okay. Would you
make sure you talk to the stakeholders before that
scheduling because I'd like to make sure that as many of
them can be there and it doesn't interrupt hunting
season and whatnot that they may have. I just want to
make sure you --
MR. WOLF: Sure.
COMMISSIONER JONES: -- get as many of
them there as you can.
MR. WOLF: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER JONES: Okay.
MR. WOLF: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any other
questions? Discussion? Okay. Do we have a motion on
Item 6?
COMMISSIONER MORIAN: So moved.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Moved by
Commissioner Morian.
COMMISSIONER JONES: Second. Second.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Second by
Commissioner Jones. All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Okay. Hearing none, the interim rules carry. Thank
you.
Item 7 is Land Acquisition, Matagorda
County, 6,554 Acres on the Matagorda Peninsula, Mr. Ted
Hollingsworth
Hi, Ted. Good morning. It's still
morning.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Chairman,
Commissioners, good morning. My name is Ted
Hollingsworth. I'm with the Land Conservation Program.
And at the risk of changing the subject, I'd like to
talk briefly about Matagorda Peninsula.
We briefed the Commission on this
potential acquisition back in August and are returning
to discuss action. Matagorda Peninsula is in southern
Matagorda County. The peninsula itself ranges in width
from 800 feet to about a mile wide, about 22 miles long.
Separates the Gulf of Mexico from East Matagorda Bay.
The eastern two-thirds of that tract is owned by the
General Land Office.
At one time, it was a state park; but in
1997, Legislation arranged for that -- for some exchange
of assets. The property went to the General Land
Office, and the coastal conservation community has been
looking for opportunities to put that property back into
conservation since then. With the Deepwater Horizon
spill and the funding opportunities or mitigation
opportunities that have come from that, we have been
working with our partners and with our trustee partners,
with the Restore Council, with the NRDA trustees; and we
propose to acquire this property and add it to the
inventory of the Coastal Fisheries Division to be
managed as a coastal preserve, using restored funding.
6500 acres in interest. Most of that is
100 percent interest. There are some undivided
interests in those tracts. The property is really --
really very, very, very high conservation value for
migratory and resident wading birds, waterfowl. Sea
turtles nest on those beaches. Just very, very high
conservation values. The property is quite remote; and
for that reason, we feel like it warrants protection
while we have that opportunity.
This map shows that, again, most of that
property is 100 percent owned by the General Land
Office. Some of those tracts are 99 percent owned or
less. There are some inholdings in some of those
tracts. I just want to be very clear about that. At
the same time, the opportunity to conserve 11 miles of
Gulf beaches and East Matagorda Bay, we consider to be
worth taking this opportunity. Especially with the
opportunity -- with the potential for restore funding
for this.
The Restore Council has placed this one
on their FPL, their Funding Priority List, which we
finalize next month. We're confident that the -- that
this is one that the Restore Council will advocate
funding for and we wanted to get ahead of that and ask
the Commission to approve that acquisition when those
funds become available. We've received two public
comments both in favor of the acquisition.
And with that, the staff recommends that
the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopt the
following motion: The Texas Parks and Wildlife
Commission authorizes the Executive Director to take all
necessary steps to acquire approximately 6,554 acres on
Matagorda Peninsula to manage for conservation of fish
and wildlife. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any questions
from the Commission for Ted? And nobody has signed up
to speak on this item. No questions, motion for -- oh,
did you have a question?
COMMISSIONER JONES: Moved.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Okay. Moved by
Commissioner Jones. Second by Commissioner Morian. All
in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, motion carries.
Ted, you're back at it with Item 8, Grant
of Utility Easement, Brazoria County, Approximately .4
Acres at the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Chairman,
Commissioners, good morning. My name is Ted
Hollingsworth. I'm with the Land Conservation Program.
This item is brought to you as a result of a request
from Phillips 66 Petroleum and CenterPoint Energy to
provide a service drop for a valve station on the Justin
Hurst Wildlife Management Area. Phillips has an
easement across the Justin Hurst that they've had since
long before we acquired the property.
They've installed some new pipelines and
they've installed a valve station, very necessary for
safety and for managing the flow in those valves. The
valve station requires electricity, electrical power.
The valve station is very close to an existing
CenterPoint easement.
This is the general location in the north
part of wildlife management area where these two
easements occur. They're separated by a very short
distance and staff has taken a close look at this now
and determined that truly most expedient way and the
best way to minimize impacts to fish and wildlife
resources at the wildlife management area is to grant
this short easement that would allow CenterPoint Energy
to provide that drop for those valve -- for that valve
station for Phillips 66.
CenterPoint and Phillips 66 have both
worked fairly closely -- well, have worked closely with
us to find this -- to find the shortest route possible
to get that power to the valve station and to minimize
harm to the wildlife management area in the process.
We've received no public comments on this one.
And staff does recommend that the Texas
Parks and Wildlife Commission adopt the following
motion: The Commission adopts the resolution attached
as Exhibit A. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any questions for
Ted?
Commissioner Duggins.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Does the -- what
you labeled as the existing easement, does that have a
term on it; or is it perpetuity?
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: It's in perpetuity.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: And if it's -- if
the use is discontinued, do we have the option of
leaving the lines in the ground or requiring the
easement holder to remove?
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Yes, sir. In fact,
all of the easements we've issued for a number of years
now, give us the exclusive option to have the
infrastructure removed or left in place at our
discretion.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: And so the new
proposed easement show in red would contain the same
terms?
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: And would they be
tied to the existing easement so if the existing
easement went away, they go away?
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: We could certainly
make sure that that's clear in the easement, yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: I don't think that
would affect their use. But I would suggest that the
ease -- the new easements, if the Commission approves
them, state that if they -- quote, existing easement
goes away, that these go away too.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: We can easily make
that a condition of the easement. That's a good point,
yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Thank you.
With that, I'll move approval.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Okay. Moved by
Commissioner Duggins.
COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Second
Commissioner Scott. All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, that motion carries?
Item No. 9, Grant of Utility Easement,
Brazoria County, About 37 acres at the Justin Hurst WMA
has been withdrawn.
And Item No. 10, Acceptance of Land
Donation, Cameron County, Inholdings Totaling
Approximately 15 Acres at Boca Chica State Park, Mr. Ted
Hollingsworth.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Chairman,
Commissioners, good morning. my name's Ted
Hollingsworth. I'm with the Land Conservation Program.
We have a state park facility in Cameron County, just a
couple miles north of the mouth of the Rio Grande River.
That facility, Boca Chica State Park, is currently
leased to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and managed
as part of their Rio Grande Refuge System.
When we acquired that property, there
were a couple of subdivisions that we acquired at the
same time. A number of tracts had already been sold;
and although very, very little development has occurred
on those tracts, they are inholdings. As most of you
know, there was a 49-acre tract that the state park
property is sort of wrapped around that was acquired by
SpaceX for a space vehicle launch site.
For health and safety reasons, as well as
for compliance with FAA regulations, SpaceX as been
acquiring those inholdings within the state park within
a certain radius of their facility. And they have no
interest in managing those, those odd tracts of land;
and are proposing to transfer those to Texas Parks and
Wildlife. The park's about 1100 acres. It's a
really -- if you haven't been to that part of Texas, it
really is truly unique. And, of course, any of those
tracts we can acquire are going to facilitate our
operation and, of course, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service operation of that fish and wildlife habitat
there at that property.
The white box there shows where most of
those inholdings are. Again, that was conceived to be a
neighborhood at one time, although no homes have been
built in that area. And most of these, although not all
of those odd tracts, are in that. What we're asking the
Commission to do is authorize the Executive Director to
accept those tracts as SpaceX acquires them and offers
them to us. We've put one caveat on that and that is
that we're going to put somebody on the ground to look
at each of those tracts to make sure there's no
underground storage tanks or other obvious environmental
liabilities before we accept them.
Obviously, the more of those inholdings
we can eliminate in the state park property, the easier
it's going to be for operation and management of that
property going forward. We've received no public
comments on this potential action.
And the staff recommends that the
Commission adopt the following motion: The Texas Parks
and Wildlife Commission authorizes the Executive
Director to take all necessary steps to accept the
donation of inholdings within Boca Chica State Park in
Cameron County. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thanks, Ted.
Any questions? Motion for approval on
this item? Commissioner Duggins. Second Commissioner
Scott. All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, motion carries.
Ted, I think you get a break for a
second.
So Item No. 11 is Land Acquisition,
Cochran County, Approximately 5 Acres at Yoakum Dunes
WMA.
MR. KUHLMANN: Yeah, for the record, I am
not Ted Hollingsworth. So Corky Kuhlmann with the Land
Conservation Program. Good morning.
Y'all have been hearing a while, for the
last couple of years, as we've been putting together
this wildlife management area in Yoakum Dunes. Cochran,
Yoakum, and Terry Counties, Texas. Well, staff -- well,
the total WMA is now about 1400 acres. Staff has had
the need or found the need to have a headquarter's
complex to serve this area; and we decided we should
look outside of the area, out of primary -- out of prime
chicken habitat. A minimum of 5 acres, high priority
chicken habitat out of it, and reasonable distance of
the WMA and utilities available.
We were lucky enough and fortunate enough
to find a willing seller for this type of tract. It's
about 5 miles north of the WMA. It's noted there by the
red star. It is from a willing seller. The tract has
440 feet of paved county road frontage. The west side
access will be -- the owners will deed us an easement
along the west side. If you look at that, the green
polygon is what we'll be purchasing. The area just to
the west of that is leased to an oil field. It's 3
acres leased to an oil field for a maintenance area.
They are going to give us a right of first refusal on
that 3 acres if they ever decide to sell it. With that,
I'll answer any questions.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Commissioner
Duggins.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: You said -- you
misspoke. You said 1400 acres. You meant 14,000.
MR. KUHLMANN: Oh, 14,000. Excuse me,
yes. 14,000.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any other --
MR. KUHLMANN: If there's no other
questions, staff recommends the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Commission adopt the following motion: The Texas Parks
and Wildlife Commission authorize the Executive Director
to take all necessary steps to acquire approximately 5
acres as an addition to Yoakum Dunes Wildlife Management
Area.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Okay. Motion for
approval? Any other questions? Motion for approval?
COMMISSIONER MORIAN: Moved.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Commissioner
Morian. Second?
COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Commissioner
Joes. All in favor?
(Chorus of ayes)
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any opposed?
Hearing none, motion carries.
Thank you, Corky.
Item 12, San Jac Waste Pits Settlement,
10 Million of Appropriation to Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department for Environmental Grants, Mr. Ted
Hollingsworth. It's --
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Chairman --
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: It's afternoon
now.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: It is. Chairman,
Commissioners, good afternoon. My name is Ted
Hollingsworth, and I'm with the Land Conservation
Program. This is a briefing item. We just want to take
a few minutes and let the Commission know what's going
on with this particular appropriation.
Some of you may know that down in San --
down in Harris County, just a couple miles north of San
Jacinto, there's a Superfund site. Back in the 1960s, a
waste company levied off some marshes and dumped waste
from a paper mill. And they only did that for two or
three years, but they filled those pits up. And in
short order with subsidence and erosion and other
things, those pits began to leak into the San Jacinto
River. The most toxic or the chemicals of greatest
concern for health of wildlife and people are dioxins.
In 20080, the site was declared a
Superfund site. In 2011, the EPA stepped in and put a
temporary cap over that site. Research into whether
that cap is sufficient or not, research into how much
dioxin has been released, research into the effects of
that dioxin on fish and wildlife and the potential human
consumption of fish and wildlife are ongoing. There are
also other legal actions ongoing at this time. But in
19 -- but in 2011, Harris County filed a suit. The
County itself filed a suit against the operators of the
waste pits, as well as the producer of the waste. And
last year they arrived at a settlement of $29.2 million.
Under State law, 10 million of that went
to the State. The County asked the State to convey that
$10 million to Texas Parks and Wildlife, to be then
granted back to the County to use -- to be used on
projects that would mitigate impacts to fish and
wildlife service and also impacts to the human access to
and use of those river facilities. And the
Commission -- I mean, the Legislature did, in fact, pass
legislation appropriating that $10 million to Texas
Parks and Wildlife.
You can see in this slide, again, that
those pits are just a couple miles north of the San
Jacinto Battleground. We have already executed an MOU
with Harris County that defines how those funds will be
used. Texas Parks and Wildlife is going to play the
role of coordinating a proposal process. We'll work
with the County to identify the projects we think best
meet the intent of the legislation and will do the
best -- do the most long-term benefit for fish and
wildlife resources in the lower San Jacinto River and
help educate the public and give the public access to
those river resources.
Once we have agreed on those projects,
we'll convey -- we'll enter into a new MOU that lists
those projects. We'll convey that $10 million to Harris
County; and at that the point, Harris County will be
solely responsible for doling out those funds to the
project sponsors, tracking those funds, making sure that
there's compliance with the intent of the legislation.
So at that the point, Texas Parks and Wildlife will be
out of the process. But over the next few months, we do
expect to work with the public in Harris County and with
the County to identify those projects that that
$10 million would be best used to fund.
And with that, I'd be happy to answer any
questions that you might have about that $10 million
appropriation.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any questions for
Ted?
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: One quick one.
Ted, I noticed on the -- under the grant schedule, you
said there's going to be a local public meeting --
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: -- to inform
potential applicants how to apply for projects?
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: I would suggest we
put something on the website, too, just for people
who -- again, trying to drive our business through our
website. I would suggest that in addition to the
meeting.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: We've given our web
team a heads up that we -- that once we have that time
and date established, that we would like for them to put
a link with that information on our website.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: A link about the
meeting, or how to apply? Because what I'm talking
about is give them some of the same information that
will be conveyed at the meeting for those who cannot
come to the meeting, but might want to apply.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Yes, sir, both.
That's correct, yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER DUGGINS: Thank you.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: And I would just
mention about the public meeting, at this point, we
don't intend to host that meeting. The County asked us
to be involved because there's a perception -- and I
think rightly so -- that we're an impartial third party
and can help select those processes without maybe some
of local biases involved for the best benefit of fish
and wildlife and for the best recreational and
educational value of those dollars. So we'll be
present, but we anticipate that the meeting itself will
be hosted locally. There is a citizen's group down
there that's already taken a very active role in
educating the public about this whole process; and we're
working with them, as well as with the County.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Any other
questions, discussion for Ted?
Thank you.
Item No. 13, Ted -- is Ted again on Texas
Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program, Transfer of
the Program to TPW.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Chairman,
Commissioners, good afternoon. My name is Ted
Hollingsworth. I'm with the Land Conservation Program,
and this is another briefing item. I believe all of you
are familiar with the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands
Conservation Program and the fact that the
84th Legislature transferred that program from the
General Land Office to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
The purpose of the program is to make
funds available for the acquisition of conservation
easements on working lands. I think everybody who's
looked at the statistics, realizes that we are losing
ranch land and farmland in Texas at an alarming rate.
And in 2005, the Legislature created a program for the
purpose of making funds available to nonprofit -- mostly
to NGOs, land trusts, specifically for the purpose of
acquiring easements on working lands.
The Commission -- I'm sorry, the
Legislature did not provide appropriation, did not
appropriate State dollars for that program. The GLO did
manage to get some funds out of CAP to fund that program
for a few years. But the purpose of the program is to
make dollars available to land trusts to acquire
conservation easements on working lands to try and
preserve some of the best of the farm and ranch land in
Texas.
The statute gives a priority to those
lands that are adjacent to or contribute to other
conservation lands, lands that are threatened -- that
are most threatened with fragmentation, threatened with
development, and that are productive working lands. The
Legislature did appropriate $2 million to Texas Parks
and Wildlife to get this program up and running over
this coming biennium. We're already very actively
working on a grant selection process, application forms
and that we hope very early next year to roll that out
and to start requesting proposals from the NGO, the land
trust community.
The statute also provides for a council.
The statute increased the number of members on that
council to 12. Just this last week or so, the Governor
has appointed the two vacancies on that council; and we
anticipate that when the program is officially
transferred to the Department on January 1st, that
shortly thereafter we'll convene that council and ask
that council to approve the selection criteria, the
grant process that we're working on now.
We are working closely with several land
trusts already in anticipation of their interest in this
program. We're working with our -- in our CS to see if
there's a way to leverage those State dollars with
federal farm bill dollars to increase the number of
conservation easements that we'll be able to fund in
this upcoming biennium. The Department will be managing
the program. It'll be managed in the Land Conservation
Program shop; and, of course, we will work very closely
with the council to make sure that they're -- they have
the oversight responsibility intended by the
Legislature. They will be approving the suite of grant
proposals that are recommended by staff.
And just in a nutshell, here is the
composition of the board. The chairman of this
commission is also the chairman of the council. There
are six of those positions are appointed by the Governor
again. Those top two is Pam McAfee and Mr. George
Scott, were recently appointed to serve six-year terms
on that council. Again, we anticipate that by January,
we'll be ready to seat that council and present them
with our recommendations for a grant process, selection
criteria and, in general, policies and procedures for
moving forward with the Farm and Ranch Program.
Again, here is that schedule. We hope
that by spring, we're able to select the projects that
are most appropriate and to make those awards. We're
also very helpful that -- hopeful that there will be a
tremendous demand. We think there will be. We'd like
to be able to go into the next Legislative session
saying that, you know, there's a large unmet need, a
large unmet demand for opportunities for families to
place their working lands under conservation easement.
We get calls here regularly from the
owners of working lands concerned that either when they
die or when the taxes get too high or any number of
reasons, they're concerned about what tools might be
available for keeping those lands intact and working.
We think as an Agency, we believe -- obviously, we
believe in private lands and the role that private lands
play in conservation. And personally, I'm very excited
that we're going to have another tool in that toolbox to
help the owners of working lands, keep those lands
working, and keep them in conservation at the same time.
I'd be happy to answer any questions that
you might have about the Farm and Ranch Program.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Thank you, Ted.
Any questions? Any discussion?
Appreciate it. Thanks for the update and
the briefing.
MR. HOLLINGSWORTH: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER FRIEDKIN: Great.
Okay. Mr. Smith, this Commission has
completed its business; and I declare us adjourned.
MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
(Commission Meeting Adjourns)
In official recognition of the adoption
of this resolution in a lawfully called public meeting
of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, we hereby
affix our signatures this _____ day of ______________,
2016.
_________________________________________
T. Dan Friedkin Chairman
_________________________________________
Ralph H. Duggins, Vice-Chairman
_________________________________________
Dan Allen Hughes, Jr., Member
_________________________________________
Bill Jones, Member
_________________________________________
James H. Lee, Member
_________________________________________
Margaret Martin, Member
_________________________________________
S. Reed Morian, Member
_________________________________________
Dick Scott, Member
C E R T I F I C A T E
STATE OF TEXAS )
COUNTY OF TRAVIS )
I, Paige S. Watts, Certified Shorthand
Reporter in and for the State of Texas, do hereby
certify that the above-mentioned matter occurred as
hereinbefore set out.
I FURTHER CERTIFY THAT the proceedings of such
were reported by me or under my supervision, later
reduced to typewritten form under my supervision and
control and that the foregoing pages are a full, true,
and correct transcription of the original notes.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Turn in date _____ day of
________________, ________.
___________________________________
Paige S. Watts, CSR, RPR
CSR No.: 8311
Expiration: December 31, 2016
7010 Cool Canyon Cove
Round Rock, Texas 78681
(512)335-5110
TPW Commission Meetings