An Animal Corridor? Really?

Do these pictures . . . 

look like this:

Unless there is some magic left for TxDOT to do, it isn't even remotely the same as the plans shown for an animal corridor.

Lois Balin, our Urban Wildlife Biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had this to say after visiting the site:

"I inspected the wildlife crossing with Rick Bonart on Friday afternoon.  I am sincerely hoping that they are not finished with it yet.  Currently, there are many shortfalls.  It looks more like a new entrance to FMSP than a wildlife crossing.  There are wide graded roads along 375 on the south side as well as continuing on through the underpass into the park on the north side.  It currently does not look very wildlife friendly.  There is a very steep enormous drop off on the south side of the crossing that does not encourage the use of wildlife.  I see no significant difference in grades for the humans and wildlife.  I thought there would be a narrow surfaced section for the hikers and bikers and a wide natural and soft earthen section for the wildlife.  I had suggested using a barrier between the two sections.  I see no difference whatsoever at this point. The surface is hard and compacted.  Of course, they are not finished.  I can only hope they  will reduce the steep grade on the south and use natural surfaces and native vegetation to make it more attractive to wildlife.  Also, I didn’t see a funneling fence into the corridor as yet."

As to Ms. Balin's observation that "[i]t looks more like a new entrance to FMSP" - it does. I too have inspected it and the "road" not corridor ends where eastbound Transmountain is. Another entrance for vehicles to the park? Is it in anticipation of the new FMSP Visitor's Center? That Center was to have been built on the eastside of the mountain near the current Archaeological Museum. Concerns about water and electrical utilities have dictated a change to the opposite side near the entrance of the Tom Mays Unit.

Something is very wrong here.

Animal Corridor Close to Being Finished

Photo by Rick Bonart 6/16

We've been following the progress of the animal corridor/underpass at the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park. The photo above is taken looking south. The project should be done by September just in time for Celebration of Our Mountains.

The corridor is envisioned by some as a part of a new Mountain to River trail. It includes the hike bike trail along the Transmountain frontage where currently some trees have died and are being replaced by cacti - something not originally planned. More on that later.

Wildlife Corridor Progressing

Click image to enlarge. Photo by Rick Bonart

Rick Bonart who took the picture above had this to say about the underpass/wildlife corridor at the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park: 

"The wildlife corridor is coming along. Note it's done in 2 sections to allow natural light in the middle, and dirt bottom, and water will drain in a separate section to avoid erosion... ‎in other words best practices design."

Bonart is proposing a small stock tank nearby to support wildlife. "I just want a bunch of birds, deer, javalina rabbits, ferrets, etc.," he said.

Many are recommending that the underpass be named the "Bonart Wildlife Corridor" after Dr. Rick Bonart who has spent years advocating for this structure.

For further reading:

5 Things You Need to Know about Wildlife Corridors

Wildlife Corridor

10 important wildlife corridors

The Spine of the Continent

Progress on Tom Mays Corridor

Photos by Rick Bonart

It may not look like much yet. However, work on the Tom Mays underpass (Animal, Hike, Bike Corridor) continues at a steady clip. The official name of this corridor being constructed by TxDOT is the "Park Connectivity Project". Tom Mays is a "Unit" of the Franklin Mountains State Park.

TxDOT Regional Engineer, Bob Bielek, reports: We are trying to accelerate and finish this year but most likely February or March of next year."

Tom Mays Underpass, Solar Energy, New Council and Glass Recycling

Rather than doing several posts, I decided to just bring you up to date about several items.

Photo by Rick Bonart

At long last the work has begun to construct a hike/bike/animal corridor underneath Transmountain to connect the FMSP land to the south to the FMSP’s Tom Mays Unit to the north. I had been made aware of this several weeks ago from a friend of mine and also a friend of TxDOT Regional Engineer Bob Bielek. Now the buzz has begun via email as some have passed by the construction site.

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On the solar front, a potential settlement on EPEC's rate case before the PUC may happen tomorrow. Some are saying that it is the best proposal, which means that nobody will be happy. Who may be the unhappiest: (1) all the folks who will lose their jobs when EPEC kills the solar industry in El Paso, (2) all current solar users and (3) all El Pasoans who will lose a chance to have a clean, sustainable energy future.

Take a look at what France is doing. Imagine roads of solar panels that you can drive on. 

Check out the Bloomberg Business Report Who Owns the Sun. Be sure to watch the video.

Also read New Report Reveals Electric Utility Industry's Influence at Universities. (Note that NMSU is part of the cabal.) It is clear that the fossil fuel and electric utility companies are "out to get" the distributed solar energy industry. 

Read Senator José Rodríguez's op-ed piece in yesterday's El Paso Times as well as his piece in the Rio Grande Guardian. HERE is what he wrote to the PUC. 

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Good news from last week's regular City Council meeting. An ordinance establishing a Regional Renewable Energy Advisory Council passed. Many thanks go to Rep. Peter Svarzbein for being proactive on Council rather than playing politics and being reactive.

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Finally, it seems like glass recycling in El Paso is off to a good start. Marshall Carter-Tripp reports: "I went to the Northwest Collection Center today.  As promised, no water bill was required.  What they had was four recycle bins along a wall.  They had different color tops.  You put the glass in the bins yourself.  Unfortunately the bin with the blue top had been pretty much filled with brown bottles, so I put my blue bottle in with the green bottle and hoped for the best.   The clear glass went in a bin with a grey top. Hope they will refine it a bit but it went well."

For the glass recycling pilot program to succeed, we not only should recycle bottles but use the end products for mulch and more.

Improve Connectivity at FMSP Soon To Start

TxDOT calls it simply "Improve Connectivity at FMSP". It's an animal corridor and a separate hike and bike trail. It is the means to connect the south and north sides of Franklin Mountains State Park at Tom Mays Park now cut off by Transmountain Road. 

The project has been a possibility for a long time. The problem has been funding but it looks like the funds are now there.

TxDOT opened bids yesterday and there were six. Three of them came within the acceptable 10% range above estimate. The lowest was 1.07% over estimate. Regional Engineer Bob Bielek reports: "Without doing a complete review for an unbalanced bid, 1.07% over is very close to the estimate.  Absent any abnormalities with the bid I would think that a contract will be awarded to the low bidder at the next Commission meeting.  In fact, the three lowest bids are all within, or close to, the 10% that we typically look for.  That said, given the time to get the contracts signed, etc. and the upcoming holidays, I would expect a construction start shortly after the first of the year."

Former PSB member, avid mountain bike rider and a major driver throughout the years for this project responded: "Very Cool! Woohoo!"

Very cool indeed.

FMSP Corridor Project Lets!

It's official. TxDOT is now calling for bids for the FMSP connectivity project (animal corridor with a hike and bike trail). The corridor will be constructed near the entrance to the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park. The El Paso conservation community has long awaited for TxDOT to ask for bids and then begin and complete the project. Here we go.

Click image to enlarge.

To see the bid online go to http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/cmd/lettingschedule/2016/current-month.pdf and scroll to page 68.

State Park Animal Corridor to Let in September?

Although it's pretty certain that the City of El Paso's priorities and not TxDOT nor regional engineer, Bob Bielek, are to blame, the process for actually building the wildlife corridor with a hike and bike trail at the Tom Mays Unit of the FMSP has been a lengthy one.

In a July 30, 2015 email to Rep. Joe Pickett, Bob Bielek wrote: "I discussed how we are going to fund this project with staff today and we came to the conclusion that it makes the most sense to fund the project out of Category 11, which is essentially District discretionary funds.  We will likely have enough to fund this project with FY 16 funds and should be able to let in September or October. The reason for this is that we would not need to get the project into the TIP, STIP or have to go through all of the paperwork associated with conformity, etc. Depending on final estimates this could change, but as of right now we believe this is the fastest and cleanest approach."

Let in September or October? Let's hope it's finally true.

The Friday Video: Double Feature about Animal Highway Crossings

[If you receive elpasonaturally by email, the videos won't display. Go to www.elpasonaturally.com to view them. You can sign up to get elpasonaturally by email in the box in the column next to this post. Also, please help us become the "Newspaper Tree" of El Paso. Your contribution will help us turn the El Paso Southwest "green".]

First of all, hat tip to Tami Gandt who sent this Seattle Times story about an ambitious animal crossing program in the State of Washington. Washington is a state that values its natural beauty and wildlife. The natural El Paso southwest is a beautiful part of the Chihuahuan Desert and it teems with wildlife. Is it too much to ask TxDOT and Bob Bielek to keep their promise for an animal passageway at the Tom Mays Unit? This passageway could also be used by hikers and bicyclists and will serve to connect the north and south sides of the park. Simple question, Bob: When will you do as you promised?

First a video from the Commonwealth of Virginia:




Here's one from Utah:

Remember that FMSP Hike-Bike-Wildlife Corridor and Entrance at Tom Mays?

In March TxDOT presented a report to City Council that included the hiking/biking/animal corridor into the Tom Mays unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park. The corridor is the key connection between the north and south sides of the State Park west of the mountains. It sounded like good news. But where are we now?

On April 7th of this year in an email, TxDOT District Engineer, Bob Bielek, said that he would like to accelerate the project and start sometime in the first quarter of the next fiscal year. (It begins in September 2015.) Acceleration is necessary because of all of the work beginning on I-10 from downtown to Executive. More demand will be put on Loop 375 (the Transmountain Highway.) 

In an email on the same day, Bielek stated that TxDOT workers pick up about 4 dead deer in a year and about 4 dead smaller animals a month. He didn't think that the death toll was too high. His opinion, of course; and the opinions of wildlife experts don't register with him or TxDOT.

Now let's review the record of broken promises and shifting predictions. Judy Ackerman passed some detailed notes about the corridor/connectivity project to me. Her notes begin in January 2013.

January 24, 2013 - the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission considers a proposed transfer of 8 acres of park land to TxDOT for the purpose of a new entrance into the Tom Mays Unit.

November 19, 2013 - at the Border Highway East Public meeting, Bielek stated in a conversation that Dr. Rick Bonart's idea for an animal crossing was a good one , that the project might cost $2 Million, and that TxDOT might start working on it in the Fall of 2014.

December 11, 2013 - plan unveiled to public and is warmly received.

April 10, 2013 - TxDOT holds a public meeting about the corridor/connection/new park entrance. Plans get a positive response.

April 15, 2013 - at a special meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Transportation Policy Board (TPB), Bob Bielek announces that he is committed to the project in 2014.

February 20, 2014 - at an El Paso League of Women Voters meeting, Bielek gives a Fall 2014 date for the beginning of a corridor between the north and south portions of the park that have lost direct access. He gives a date of Fall 2014 for the beginning of such a project.

April 11, 2014 - at a breakfast meeting sponsored by NE El Paso City Council Representative, Carl Robinson, Bielek says that the project will begin in Fall 2014, take 3 months and cost $1 Million.

October 3, 2014 - Bielek says that the project is still in design.

March 17, 2015 - in a presentation to City Council it is announced that the project will cost $3 Million and that the estimated let date is 2016.

May 15, 2015 - again at a Carl Robinson breakfast, Bielek announces that the project will let in 2 to 3 months and that funding will be from Proposition 1 Funds. (Previously it had been from his discretionary account and then "Denial of Access" funds.)

As you can see, dates keep moving up, estimated costs keep changing as well as funding sources. It's June 2015, when will this corridor, which should have begun in Fall of 2014, really begin - if at all?

TxDOT Reports Plans for Tom May Access

TxDOT is presenting to City Council today its Quarterly Update for El Paso. The update includes plans for the Franklin Mountain[s] State Park Connectivity. Although the project will have taken a long time to start (as most governmental projects do), it's inclusion in the report is great news. 

No changes from the original plan are expected.

Good news is always welcome and great!

Environmental Community Gives Thumbs Up with TxDOT Park Entrance Plan

Last evening at Canutillo High School, Regional Engineer Bob Bielek and his staff unveiled their plan for the new park entrance at the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park. You can review the plan on one of my previous blog posts HERE. The plan met with enthusiasm from a small but happy sample of the local outdoors, environmental/conservation, recreation and Master Naturalists community. Almost as soon as the meeting ended last evening the chatter on Facebook began and it is all positive.

During the first thirty minutes of the gathering, people reviewed pictures of the proposed underpass for hikers, bicyclists and animals as well as pictures of the entry and egress configurations for the park. There were a number of TxDOT and design engineers on hand to answer questions. Bielek also was on hand to answer questions and visit. He then informally addressed the gathering and explained safety and wildlife issues and park access issues. 

The point that I really want to make here is how comfortable the situation was. Two years ago the scene was totally different. Former Engineer Chuck Berry of TxDOT had plans and wasn't willing to listen. I remember well that as person after person came to the mike to speak about the need for connectivity between the two sides of the park, a workable animal corridor, etc., etc., Chuck and company sat at front and chatted among themselves. They weren't listening. Not only did Bielek's plans show that they listened and listened to wildlife experts such as Dr. Cesar Mendez and Lois Balin, but that they heard from hikers and mountain bikers and did their homework on safety issues.

Bielek discussed the traffic issues and satisfied the group assembled that a left turn into the park going east on Transmountain would still be safe whereas a left out of the park to go east would not be as safe as requiring a U-Turn of sorts. That U-turn (a right out of the park going west and a U-Turn at Resler) is not the perfect solution - but it sure is safer and it saves the park entrance from having an enormous scar of a concrete and asphalt entryway. The simple U-Turn versus an enormous exchange is, obviously, cheaper.

Bielek also explained the need to go after Denial of Access funds. The modificaitons at the entry are really not transportation issues but right of way issues. There is funding for ROW work and that is separate from the discretionary funds that he seemed to think would work earlier. The cost will be $1.5-2 Million. Some of the local politicians on hand seemed to think that there might be a way to get funding sooner than later. Whatever, Bielek now projects that the project can be done in 15 to 18 months from today or March to June 2015. 

Because of our previous experience with TxDOT and the former Engineer, it has been easy to expect the same level of duplicity and arrogance from Bielek. Bielek is a guy who likes to wear cowboy boots, visit with folks, get feedback while at the same time possessing the maddening trait that comes from believing that we are all subject to the laws of the Universe, Nature, physics, what have you. He's not a person who cares so much about policy. He's the kind of person who takes current policy as a given in the equation. Basically it is "here is what I can do for you folks - what we can do based on natural law and what the laws of the land will currently let me do." When at first he said that discretionary funds would do the trick, he wasn't trying to deceive just trying to figure out how it could work for the folks he serves.

The plans unveiled last night and the informal straight-talk of the Regional Engineer went a long way to heal a very fractured relationship between conservationists along with outdoors recreationalists and TxDOT here in El Paso. There are still serious institutional issues and there will always be that struggle for balance between environmental and economic values. But one thing is for sure - Bielek's TxDOT office knows what a real animal corridor looks like and knows that people enjoy hiking and bicycling in our beautiful Franklin Mountains. Now if we can just do something to convince them to be a bit more pro-bicycle . . . 

By the way, your comments are needed. At issue is what most of us have been saying all along: We need connectivity. The Transmountain expansion has cut off access between the two sides of the park. Hikers, bicyclists and animals need safe, attractive corridors. Right of way to the park must be safe. This plan does it. Email your comments to ELP-FMSParkEntrance@txdot.gov. If you prefer snail mail - okay - here it is:

Blanton & Associates
Attn: Connectivity at the Franklin Mountains State Park
5 Lakeway Centre Court
Suite 200 
Austin, TX 78734

PSB Recommends Access and Animal Corridor into State Park

They've got to stop it. The PSB I mean. They are going to ruin my reputation - or theirs. We are agreeing too much. I was delighted when they endorsed a conservation easement. Today they recommended an access to the State Park that makes sense to me. 


Some background: With the widening of Transmountain, the current entrance and exit from the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park will become even more dangerous than it is today. Although the TxDOT plan to widen Transmountain does not address this danger, most people are reasonably concerned. Some alternative plans have been proposed.


Dr. Richard Bonart DVM, a member of the PSB recently gave a presentation with his suggestions:
Bonart Plan for Access to Tom Mays

His suggestion puts an access road alongside Transmountain to the north and takes into account planned hike and bike trails. (Slide 4) It also makes mention of existing culverts just to the east of the current entrance that could be retrofitted to become solely an animal corridor with use by hikers and mountain bikers as well. (Slide 5) The model for the corridor would be those used in Oregon (Slide 6). 

The alternative proposed today in a presentation given by Pat Adauto is similar to Dr. Bonart's. It provides an access road off of Paseo del Norte (as does Dr. Bonart's) and enters the park a bit to the north of Bonart's - using an existing trail that is the beginning of the southern route of the current Lower Sunset Trail. That alternative also has the advantage of following a road to be built to a "resort" as approved earlier by City Council. Indeed this route was also mentioned years ago by Dr. Bonart to TxDOT.


Too often some people see those of us in the conservation/environmental community as in lock-step singular agreement on all things. For example, I don't always agree with the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coaltion and vice versa. I don't write for the Open Space Board nor am I affiliated in any fashion with Frontera Land Alliance, a non-political/non-profit land trust organization. I recently encouraged members of a neighborhood association to oppose a recommendation for a zoning change given by OSAB to the City Plan Commission. I was one of only two votes against this egregious recommendation - enough said at least for now. Obviously some in the conservation community take quite an exception to my views about the ballpark (more on that later). And the recent election put many of us in the O'Rourke camp and many in the Reyes camp. We have our differences and we aren't all the same though we share common goals.


One proposal from the conservation community for access to the State Park would build an interchange off of Transmountain about where there is an existing runnaway lane. That interchange would provide an underpass for safe entrance to and exit from the park. It could also be utilized by animals for nocturnal passage. Although this plan would provide safe access and egress for motorized vehicles and human beings, I have two serious reservations about it. First, the interchange would be a mini-spaghetti bowl blocking the view shed of the mountain. Second, I really don't want to mix vehicles with animals even if you expect no cars after 10 p.m. and animals only from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. (Animals can be rather sloppy about their time keeping.) I've seen Mule Deer out during the day - many in those parts.

Dr. Rick Bonart (in red) explains his plan to (counter-clockwise from foreground) Dave Wilson, Borderland Mountain Bike Association, Ed Escudero, Chairman of the PSB, Brent Sanders, BMBA, and Dr. Cesar Mendez, Park Superintendent standing in culvert.

The PSB's Alternative 1 also means that a resort can become a grand entryway into the park - an encouragement to get people outdoors and an opportunity for eco-tourism and eco-tourist dollars for the City as well as places for retreats, strategic planning, museum space. Think of a place like Indian  Lodge in the Davis Mountains State Park. A mini-spaghetti bowl only eats up more natural open space. A simple access road tied into an Indian Lodge-type resort provides an opening into natural open space.


Not only did the PSB recommend Alterantive 1 but they recommended the Bonart animal corridor at the place where the culverts are now.


So stop it, PSB! You're ruining my reputation!


Actually, keep it up!