No Christmas for Private Bidders?
February 5th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Christmas Mountains news from the Startlegram:
Offers to purchase the state-owned Christmas Mountains in West Texas were rejected Tuesday by Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and the School Land Board, a move that signals the possible transfer of the mountain range to the National Park Service.
But whether that happens still depends on the three-member School Land Board, over which Patterson presides. The Republican land commissioner earlier expressed opposition to transferring the land to the federal parks system if the agency insists on enforcing its normal firearms restrictions on the site.
The two private bidders included a Dallas couple, Ramona and Michael Craddock, and Houston businessman John Poindexter. The School Land Board earlier had delayed picking among the two — saying they wanted to give the National Park Service time to make an offer — and then on Tuesday rejected both private bids outright.
So now what? In a press release, Patterson seemed to accept that the Christmas Mountains would eventually become a public asset.
“With the question of private ownership resolved for now, we can now more fully explore the option of public ownership,” he said in the press release.
However, Jim Suydam, the GLO spokesman, said a close reading of that statement (”…resolved for now…”; “…”option of public ownership…”) means Patterson has at least left the door open for a transfer to a private entity. On the other hand, the commissioner has pledged to look for a federal agency - perhaps U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the Forest Service - that will allow hunting. It’s not at all clear if the Park Service plan, which rejects hunting, will get an up-or-down vote, though they will be required to pay a market price for the wilderness area.
Despite today’s vote and months of ridicule, Patterson hasn’t backed off his “no hunting, no firearms, no deal” statement.
“I don’t want to say the gun issue is a sideshow but in his mind it’s part of public access,” said Suydam. “More Texans will be able to enjoy the Christmas Mountains if hunting is allowed.”
But here’s the rub: Congress would have to establish the Mountains as a preserve to pave the way for public hunting. Moreover, the Park Service says that the 9,270-acre ranch may never produce an “excess population of huntable species.” That’s because there is considerable pressure on game populations in the surrounding area. As a ballpark estimate, the Park Service determined that there might be all of seven bucks available each season for hunters at a cost to the agency of almost $140,000 annually. Meanwhile, the nearby 300,000-acre Big Bend State Ranch is open to the public for hunting.
Suydam says the cost estimate is deliberately inflated and that quail and dove hunting could be in place as early as this fall. Maybe so, but Patterson is also clearly making a righteous stand for gun rights.
“[H]e would not want to transfer [the Christmas Mountains] to the NPS if they were to restrict what type of bumper stickers you could have on your vehicle in violation of your First Amendment rights,” Suydam said. (What about a bumper sticker that says, “You can take the Christmas Mountains from my cold dead hands?”)
The NRA must be loving this! By the way, I looked up some of the purchases Patterson has made from his campaign funds. This guy is giving the Nuge a run for his money. Findings:
- Two contributions to the Firearm Coalition. $86.
- Subscription to Gun Statistics. $117
- Subscription to Guns. $21.97.
- Subscription to Handguns. $9.97.
- Subscription to Guns & Ammo. $39.88.
- Gifts to constituents purchased from NRA store. $77.
- Here’s a weird one: A book by one Brent Lokey. The only known book Lokey has written is Riding with the Wizard of the Saddle, a hagiography of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Civil War General and founding father of the Ku Klux Klan. $33.
- Dues to Austin Rifle Club. $85.
- Contribution to the NRA. $50.
- Seven contributions to the NRA via Palladium Press, a publisher of Second Amendment titles. $251.30.
- Two due payments to the 2nd Amendment Sisters, a women’s gun advocacy group that formed in opposition to the Million Moms March. The president of the Sisters is FReeper Marinelle Thompson of Texas. $100.
