More Christmas Mountains

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson's controversial actions related to a pristine mountain range under his charge has attracted more attention from the state legislature.

State Rep. Rob Orr, chairman of the House Committee on Land & Resource Management, said members of that panel will review actions by the General Land Office relating to the 9,269-acre Christmas Mountains during hearings in early May.

"The land was donated to us -- and then all the sudden we get these barriers for the National Park Service to get the land?" said Orr, R-Burleson. "I think that it's very fair for the Land Office to come in and explain (this) to us."

A conservation group donated the mountain range in South Texas to the state in 1991 with a general understanding that it would remain in state hands or go only to the National Park Service. Patterson’s attempts to instead sell it to private bidders — even after the park service signaled its interest in the property — raised criticism from conservation groups and sparked public outcry.

On Friday, state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, also weighed in. You can read a letter he sent to Patterson here: Burnam Letter.pdf

Last month the School Land Board over which Patterson presides rejected two private bids on the property. Patterson, however, has signaled his continued opposition to transferring the land to the National Park Service, and has suggested the mountains could still get sold to private interests.

--R.A. Dyer

 

Comments

[sgmorr]

Thanks very much for your continuing coverage of the Christmas Mountains issue. The land will not be totally safe until it is wrested from the dictatorial control of Patterson and placed within the jurisdiction of Big Bend NP. Please continue to keep us abreast of developments.