Public land is scarce in the big state of Texas. It may become even more scarce and the land donor’s wishes ignored, if the Texas land commissioner has his way.

On September 21, 2007 a “technical error” postponed the sale of the 9,200 -acre Christmas Mountains wilderness northwest of Big Bend, allegedly based on a mistake in the map in the original state bid specifications. The School Land Board rejected all six bids submitted for the purchase of the land. The tract will be re-bid for next School Land Board meeting in November. Commissioner Jerry Patterson, the land commissioner responsible for pushing the sale, said, “This is a fortunate mistake, because it will give Texans an opportunity to become more informed about why this land should be conveyed to a good steward.”

In 1991, the Richard King Mellon Foundation donated the Christmas Mountains to the state of Texas, to preserve the land and keep it wild forever wild. The School Land Board owns land on behalf of the state’s $25 billion Permanent School Fund. It oversees the Christmas Mountains, a wildlife mountain area constituting Texas style paradise to hunters, bird watchers and nature lovers who appreciate the rugged high-chaparral terrain and mile high peaks. Commissioner Jerry Patterson of the Texas General Land Office, leader of a three-member land board, decided, though, that it best met the “fiduciary and conservation” goals of the School Land Board to sell off the Christmas Mountains to the highest bidder who would meet with the General Land Office’s approval. Only about 5 percent of Texas land is publicly owned, nearly the lowest percentage in the country.

Patterson’s rationale was that Texas needed the cash. He stressed that his goal in selling the land was to accomplish the goals of the original gift: to preserve and protect the Christmas Mountains and open them up for appropriate public access. The Mellon Foundation opposed the sale and demanded that the land either be maintained by the state, in accordance with the terms of the donation, or retained.

In response, Patterson maintains that the land is beset by poachers and invasive plants. The Land Office claims it cannot invest the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to fence the land to protect it from poachers and replenish the wildlife. According an article in the September 18, 2007 Austin American Statesman, the top three (out of six) bid proposals ranged in price from $261,000 up to $652,000. Two top bidders said they wouldn't allow the public on the land or would tightly control public visits.

Environment Texas led the fight to save the Christmas Mountains for the recreational purposes as the Mellon Foundation intended. According an article in the September 19, 2007 New York Times, Representative Ciro D.Rodriguez, who represents the Big Bend area, wrote Patterson the week before the proposed auction, saying that the proposed sale “potentially jeopardizes the conservation and well being of the area” and urging that it be put off. More than 2,800 people sent e-mails to Patterson and the media widely opposed the sale. Seventeen people testified at the hearing of the School Land Board on September 18, mostly in opposition to the proposed sale.

Environment Texas opposed the sale on three grounds:
(1) Bad precedent. The Richard King Mellon Foundation opposed the sale, arguing that the lease required its permission to sell. Patterson claimed that provision would not hold up in court. Clearly any other potential donors of land to the state of Texas will think twice before making another generous offer of land after this.
(2) No guarantees of protection or access. It’s unclear who will monitor and enforce the development restrictions, and there are no guarantees of public access.
(3) We can do better. The state does in fact have the money to protect against poachers, invasive plant species and irresponsible public use, but is using it for other purposes. The state parks system is funded through sales taxes on sporting goods, in addition to park entrance fees. However, the Legislature has capped the amount received by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, diverting most of those dollars back into the state general revenue fund. Although the Legislature tripled funding for the parks for the next two years in the 2007 legislative session, it dedicated no new money for land acquisition and kept the cap on the sporting goods tax in place.
(4) Part of a pattern. In 2005, TWPD proposed selling 46,000 acres of Big Bend to John Poindexter, a Houston developer, and in 2006, it proposed selling Eagle Mountain Lake State Park in Fort Worth to developers. In both cases, a public outcry resulted in defeat for the proposals. Poindexter submitted a $509,828 bid for Christmas Mountains as well.
(5) Texans want/need more public land. Again, only about 5 percent of Texas land is publicly owned, and according to a study by Texas Tech, Texans are becoming increasingly frustrated about the lack of access to lands to experience nature. There’s also a big lack of public hunting land.

The School Land Board intends to press on with the sale, despite intense public pressure opposing it. It could be on the agenda again as early as November 2.

Take Action: Sign Environment Texas' petition to Gov. Perry and Attorney General Abbott asking them to direct their appointees to stop the sale of the Christmas Mountains.