Fall 2002 - Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

Lone Star Sierran Fall 2002 11
Your Environment
Conservation of Texas Land and Water
Resources Highlighted at Chapter
Conference
Conference Marks First Anniversary of Wide Open Spaces Campaign
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club celebrated the first anniversary of the Wide Open
Spaces Campaign with a well-attended sixth annual Chapter Conservation Conference at the
Armand Bayou Nature Center in Houston on July 20. This year’s conference, which drew in
excess of 100 people, focused on the need to increase parkland and to protect open space and
wildlife habitat in a variety of ways statewide and in East Texas.
Keynote Presentation –
Texas at the Crossroads
The keynote speaker, Texas
Tech University President Dr.
David Schmidly, shared historical
and current information over the
past century using a time-lapse
style presentation to
document the changes
in Texas population,
landscape and wildlife
diversity. Dr. Schmidly’s
presentation, Texas at
the Crossroads: A Historical
Perspective on the
Biological Diversity of
Texas, emphasized the
present critical stage of
the State’s environmental
movement. Dr.
Schmidly compared
primary data from a
biological survey conducted
a century ago by
Vernon Bailey with
current data from The
Texas Parks and Wildlife
for the 21 st Century report
prepared by Texas Tech for Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department
(TPWD) in 2001.
Based on this comparison Dr.
Schmidly identified the most
important threats facing biological
diversity in Texas. The threats
include (1) urban sprawl (the
migration to and expansion of
urban areas), (2) lack of ethnic
diversity in the environmental
movement, (3) land fragmentation,
(4) non-native plants and animals,
(5) loss of valuable terrains (i.e.,
wetlands, hardwood bottom forests,
prairies) and (6) an increase in
numbers of rare, endangered, and
extinct animals in Texas.
Dr. Schmidly provided some
guidance on how to address these
Brian Sybert, Natural Resources Director for the Lone Star
Chapter and director of this year’s conservation conference,talks
about the Wide Open Spaces Campaign.
threats through what he termed
“The Ten Commandments of
Conservation.” These include
finding a common ground, developing
an adequate information base,
recognizing the changing nature
of the clientele, avoiding single
species approaches to conservation,
and focusing on sustainable
resources and ecosytem management.
The other “commandments”
include strengthening
scientific research, making
conservation education a priority
for the public, increasing participation
of private landowners,
expanding protected area acquisition
and management, and promoting
regionally-based conservation
planning.
State Land and
Water Plan
Dr. Schmidly’s presentation
was followed by an
overview of the Texas
Parks & Wildlife
Department’s statewide
Land and Water Conservation
and Recreation Plan
by Jeff Francell and Emily
Armitano. Francell is the
Land Acquisition Director
for TPWD and Armitano is
a Policy Analyst for TPWD.
Francell discussed how
this plan was different
from the Texas Tech study
presented by Dr. Schmidly
and the recommendations of the
Governor Bush’s Task Force on
Conservation. According to
Francell this plan is different
because it is actually being created
by TPWD staff and will be
adopted by the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Commission, the governing
body for TPWD.
The plan was mandated by the
Continued next page