Democratic Nominee for U.S. Congress Beto O’Rourke has written Zia Engineering of Las Cruces expressing his support for a continuation of the Fort Bliss RAB (Restoration Advisory Board) and his opposition to its adjournment. The Ft. Bliss RAB is key to keeping the drive to conserve Castner Range on track.

Here is an image of O'Rourke's letter to Zia:

Click on image to enlarge.

Previously elpasonaturally posted a letter by Richard Teschner to Zia urging the same thing. Teschner is the V-President of Frontera Land Management and  has been personally involved with efforts to conserve Castner as a member of the Castner Conservation Conveyance Committee and RAB delegate.  In an email to others in the environmental/conservation community, he writes: "If you yourselves have not yet written Zia Engineering & Environmental Consultants (755 S. Telshor Blvd., Suite F-201, Las Cruces, NM 88011), please do so right away. The public-input period comes to an end by the Fourth of July. Let’s all support (and thank) Beto for his willingness to stand up for the RAB!"

Don't Adjourn Fort Bliss RAB

In an email this past Monday to conservationists, Dr. Richard Teschner urged people to write the Zia Corporation in an effort to stop the adjournment of the Fort Bliss RAB (Restoration Advisory Board) whose main concern is Castner Range and its clean-up. Dr. Teschner wrote:

Dear everyone— This is a strictly information-only mailing. No organizational action or even consideration of the fate of the Fort Bliss RAB (Restoration Advisory Board) is being solicited here. Instead, I am simply letting you know what’s now going on anent the Fort Bliss RAB, whose main concern is Castner Range. In a nutshell, the Fort Bliss Environmental Division and the Fort Bliss Garrison Commander are recommending that the RAB be “adjourned” for at least the next two years, i.e., no more RAB meetings until the post decides to start them up again. I oppose this. See my letter attached. Justification of the “adjournment” recommendation appears in an April 23, 2012 e-mail from Joel Reyes, Restoration Program Manager etc., Environmental Division, Fort Bliss: the Garrison Commander will “consult the Environmental Protection Agency, state, tribes, Fort Bliss RAB members and the local community to recommend the adjournment of the fort Bliss RAB. At this moment, Fort Bliss does not have any restoration projects to justify the need of the RAB … [T]his does not mean the RAB will be permanently dissolved. … As required, Fort Bliss will continue to move forward with the Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP) process at the two sites currently under investigation [including Castner Range], as required under … CERCLA, and support the Technical Project Planning and public meetings that are an important component of this process.” And indeed, a few TPP meetings have been held since 2008. All public meetings however have been held under the aegis of the RAB. No other venues have been realized or proposed. What exactly is “the RAB”? The following comes from the first page of www.epa.gov/fedfac/documents/rab.htm : “Department of Defense (DoD) policy calls for Restoration Advisory Boards (RABs) to be formed at all closing installations and at non-closing installations where the local community expresses interest. RABs are an expansion of DoD’s Technical Review committee (TRC) concept. The boards are a forum for exchange of information and partnership among citizens, the installation, the EPA and the state. Most importantly, they offer an opportunity for communities to provide input to the cleanup process. It is our view that RABs will improve DoD’s cleanup program by increasing community understanding and support for cleanup efforts, improving the soundness of government decision, and ensuring cleanups are responsive to community needs.” If you personally support my opposition to the adjournment of the RAB, please write Zia Engineering (see attachment) as I myself have done. (I was elected to the RAB in early 2011 and my term of office runs into 2014.)
 Best regards, Richard Teschner

Here is Teschner's letter to Zia Engineering:

Click image to enlarge.

TxDOT Plans Animal Corridor Not Meant for Animals

Party for the Planet at the El Paso Zoo this Saturday and Sunday, April 21-22. (Map)

Want to see what a TxDOT wildlife corridor looks like? I’ve posted the plan. It’s 600 feet in length and I have it on so many good authorities that no animal is going to traverse this tunnel. Of course, I’m talking about the corridor which is going underneath their Transmountain Freeway. TxDOT did tell the public that they had communicated with the Texas Parks and Wildlife. However, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Urban Wildlife Biologist for El Paso, Lois Balin, said: "I have never seen this design before nor discussed anything even close to a 600 foot culvert." Another wildlife expert told me: “TxDOT is only trying to placate outraged citizenry who do not know much about wildlife and might think that a tunnel is a good faith effort to show that they care about our wildlife.” What is the tunnel for really? Really?

Many of you have noticed how quickly contractors are obliterating a wide swath of natural landscape on both sides of Transmountain on the west side of the mountain. Keep in mind that the Sierra Club is suing TxDOT and asking the court to order a more thorough environmental study. In fact, last week Sierra Club asked the court for an injunction to stop the work and we are still waiting for that result. The faster the land can be cleared, the more an injunction or the study becomes moot. In fact, the easier it becomes for TxDOT to argue that too much has been done already and too much money has been spent. A threat of a counter suit by the contractor, Sundt Construction, becomes a greater possibility as well. Their argument will be that they have too much time and money into the project now. The genii, as they say, is out of the bottle. Stay tuned.

On the other side of the mountain on both sides of Transmountain is Castner Range. Attempts to preserve it have been going on for a much longer time than efforts to save the Scenic Transmountain Corridor on the west. The Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition has been working for a long time with elected officials and Fort Bliss to save the Range as natural open space. Many of you are most familiar with Castner Range during the annual Poppy Fest. This year the poppies were more dazzling than troupes of edelweiss in the Austrian Alps. (El Paso didn’t have Maria von Trapp but we sure had our Native American drummers.) You can see at today’s elpasonaturally post pictures of this year’s poppies along with information and background about the Range and why it is critical that it be preserved. There is also an announcement of an upcoming meeting on Wednesday, April 25^th, of the Fort Bliss Restoration Advisory Board at 6:30 p.m. in Chaparral, NM just off the tip of NE El Paso. RAB needs to see more and more and more El Pasoans who want to see Castner Range preserved as natural open space once it is wiped clean of any still unexploded ordnance (the reason for all those “No Trespassing” signs around the perimeter of the range).

UTEP Engineering Professor, Dr. John Walton, gave a presentation about passive rainwater harvesting in the El Paso region to members of the City’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board last week. You can see the slide show from that presentation.

Speaking about water, you are probably keeping up with the serious situation regarding the early release of large amounts of water from the Rio Grande to Mexico meaning less water now for Texas farmers. “State officials are taking a stand against the binational International Boundary and Water Commission over the release of Rio Grande water to Mexico. They say the water payments will cause substantial losses to U.S. crops and run counter to the 1906 pact governing water shares in the West Texas and New Mexico region.” Read more from MySanAntonio.com: Tempers boil over border water battle.

It’s not just nations vying over water: stakeholders along three Texas rivers are unhappy with a TCEQ ruling.

Get used to water wars but know that the public needs to have a greater voice about its water. That is why the Rodriguez bill last year was so egregious. You can get more background from three El Paso Times stories from earlier years here, here and here.

Finally, want to find out how walkable your neighborhood is? Go to walkscore.com.  Be sure to read what makes a neighborhood walkable and the benefits of living in such a neighborhood.

RAB Meeting Gives Opportunity to Support Preservation of Casner Range

Click on image to enlarge.

Elpasonaturally has focused primarily on the preservation of land in the Scenic Transmountain Corridor on the west side of the Franklins. The effort to preserve Castner Range on the east side has been going on for a much longer period of time. It involves cleaning up unexploded ordnance since the Range which is still property of the U.S. Army was used for many years for artillery practice. Once that "cleaning up" has occurred, then the land could be transferred to the State Park and preserved in its natural state. Cleaning it up is ongoing. Transferring is still not a done deal. That is why it is so important for all of us who want to see our natural treasures preserved begin to be seen by the Fort Bliss Restoration Advisory Board. Enlarge the image above for more information about their next meeting in Chaparral, NM. (Map)


Here is a publication by the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition which is valuable reading. Along with information and background about the Range, it states the reasons for preserving Castner in its natural state:
Castner Range Educational Flier

Castner Range is the area where the Mexican Poppies have become prolific. I even saw poppies grow on Knapp property just south of the range on the other side of Hondo Pass. Some plants have now been found on the west side of the mountain. Here are three pics from this year's Poppy Fest which is held at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology which is surrounded by Castner Range:

Bullwinkle Formation in background

 Maggie, Phaedra & Finn Moses