Heritage, Volume 7, Number 3, Summer 1989 Page: 4
31 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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FROM THE EDITOR
There is a controversy raging in the
Trans Pecos region of West Texas. Local
citizens and landowners are up in arms
against an invasion. The last time emotions
ran so high against an invading force
was during the famous raid on the Brite
Ranch in 1916 under the direction of
Venustiano Carranza. However, this modern
day raiding party didn't come from
south of the border and across the Rio
Grande. It entered Texas from east of the
Potomac River. It was the federal government
with a plan for increasing its national
park holdings by taking in a substantial
part of the Davis Mountains. At least that
was the local citizens' fear and an initial
study on such a project was definitely
under way. The Davis Mountains remain
one of the most beautiful and pristine
regions of all Texas. Local opposition to
this federal land grab grows out of a park
acquisition program which has turned a
significant portion of Brewster and Presidio
Counties into federal and state park
holdings, removing much of the land from
the county tax rolls. To this most recent
attempt, the citizens of Jeff Davis, Presidio
and Brewster Counties said, "No more."
The federal study was stopped as quickly as
an overheated Edsel in 5 o'clock traffic. A
congressman who had come out strongly
for the proposed study to evaluate this land
acquisition reversed his field with all the
alacrity of Wrong Way Roy Riegal (who,
you might recall, ran for a touchdown the
wrong way in the Rose Bowl). Being from
West Texas, this congressman was sensitive
to the direction from which the wind
was blowing.
With the withdrawal of the study the
controversy has now simmered down, but
the larger question that lingers on is what
federal policy for acquiring ecologically
important parts of our state should we
support? Certainly it is hard to argue that
we are worse off for the government having
acquired the Big Bend National Park, the
Guadalupe Mountain National Park and
Padre Island. One could not say that these
beautiful parts of our landscape would be
better served if they were given over to the
hands of developers to become sites for
golden arches and ranchettes. If the federalgovernment or the state doesn't acquire
and preserve these beautiful and ecologically
important regions of our country for
future generations of Texas, then who will?
The concern being expressed by landowners,
of course, is that they wish to keep
the land they love so dearly from condemnation
and the heavy handed intrusion
on their right to private ownership,
which is also part of our national heritage.
As a landowner in the Trans Pecos region,
I sympathize with that attitude. I, nevertheless,
would much prefer to be able to
look out over that vast landscape and not
see it carved up into numerous ranchettes.
If there was some assurance that the land
would always remain in the hands of landowners
in large relatively unspoiled parcels,
I think all of us would share a distinct
interest in having most of what remains of
frontier West Texas remain in private
ownership. The simple fact is that is not
going to happen. One needs only to look at
the harsh realities of the Terlingua land
development and the ranchette development
around the Prude Ranch to see how
quickly the silent beauty of West Texas can
be destroyed by the destructive noises that
come with man's intrusions. Whereas my
mental sensibilities tell me that the rights
of private ownership should not be tampered
with, somewhere in my heart I am
sympathetic with the notion of keeping
West Texas in an unspoiled and natural
state.
Maybe within all the financial mess that
has beset Texas there is at least a partial
answer to the problem of preserving important
parts of our state in a way that will
accommodate all parties' interests. As we
are aware, the Federal Deposit InsuranceCorporation is fast becoming the largest
landowner in Texas. Through its forced
acquisitions of banks and savings and
loans, it is the ultimate acquirer of literally
billions of dollars of Texas propertycommercial
and farm and ranch land. A
suggestion is that the FDIC do an evaluation
of its entire inventory of foreclosed
properties and transfer those to various
state and federal agencies by sale on favorable
terms. This would seem to have two
salutary effects. One, important pieces of
property could be transferred to permanent
public domain without infringing on the
rights of individual landowners. Second,
federal agencies which have money appropriated
for land acquisition could take off
the market those properties which would
otherwise be liquidated by the FDIC. This
would seem to be a good way to allocate the
money appropriated to the federal and
state agencies for land acquisition within
Texas. It could help reduce the FDIC financial
problems and would help support
land prices in Texas.
An additional twist on this concept
could be added. Packages of both foreclosed
farm and commercial property could
be exchanged with those landowners who
have land that is a high priority for acquisition.
The landowner could do a tax-free
exchange of his ranch property for lands
held by the FDIC. The FDIC in turn would
sell the property for cash to the National
Park System, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department or some private conservation
organization like the Audubon Society or
the Nature Conservancy.
A plan such as this could shift the Trans
Pecos controversy from an invasion scenario
to a win-win situation. The rights of
individual ownership could be balanced
with society's need to enjoy parts of the
environment untouched by modern development.
Wouldn't it be great to see individuals,
towns and federal agencies working
together like players on a team?J. P. BRYAN
Editor-in-ChiefHERITAGE * SUMMER 1989
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 7, Number 3, Summer 1989, periodical, Summer 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45431/m1/4/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.