Houston Regional Group - News

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Comprehensive Conservation Plan/Land Protection Plan (DEISCCP) for the four national wildlife refuge (NWR) Texas Chenier Plain Complex. The four NWRs are Anahuac, Moody, McFaddin, and Texas Point. This DEISCCP sets out the management direction for these four NWRs for the next 15 years.

The Houston Sierra Club (HSC) submitted comments on January 8, 2007 about the DEISCCP. The HSC comments stressed:

1) Opposition to the implementation of an entrance fee for Anahuac NWR. The DEISCCP mentioned this proposal in one sentence. The DEISCCP says nothing about the need for the entrance fee; what the fee will pay for; the environmental impacts of the fee; and the socioeconomic impacts of the fee. The DEISCCP does not discuss the effect of charging citizens for visiting and enjoying the public lands they own when citizens already pay taxes sufficient to manage these lands. Sierra Club policy opposes general entrance fees for NWRs.

On January 16, 2007, the HSC sent the FWS a Freedom of Information Act request regarding the analysis, evaluation, assessment, studies, and other information used to determine that charging an entrance fee at Anahuac NWR was necessary and in the public interest.

2) Support for Refuge Management Alternative C, which emphasized native habitat restoration and addresses major threats to ecosystems. The HSC also proposed reintroduction of American Bison and the phasing out of cattle grazing to help restore native grasslands.

3) Support for Refuge Boundary Expansion Alternative D, which would add up to 104,120 acres to Anahuac, Moody, McFaddin and Texas Point NWRs; protects forested wetlands along Taylor Bayou; and protects wetlands on Bolivar Peninsula and East Galveston Bay.

The FWS points out in the DEISCCP that the hydrology of the Texas Chenier Plain Complex is threatened by drainage, flood control, residential, and commercial projects that are north of, on, or near the boundary of the NWRs. In a major oversight, the DEISCCP did not discuss the threat and cumulative environmental impacts that the proposed Texas Department of Transportation bridge to Bolivar Peninsula poses to the water quality of East Galveston Bay; coastal prairies and fresh and saltwater wetlands; and proposed or protected private (Audubon Society) and federal wildlife lands (FWS) on Bolivar Peninsula and Texas Chenier Plain Complex.

The HSC will continue to participate in and monitor the process that will lead to the approval of the CCP.

March 2007

Last updated:  01/28/2007.   Content © 1999-2007 by the Sierra Club.