Comments to TxDOT about Wildlife Crossing

First of all, Mary Telles-Goins of TxDOT is telling people not to email her but to send written comments to: Antonio Uribe, EIT<>

I'm betting that a formal request such as these sent by some of you will have to be accepted at any time:

"I too would like to make an official correspondence for two purposes: 1) consider this a formal request that I be provided the draft NEPA document that evaluates this project so that I may provide public comment in accordance with 40 CFR 1500-1508; 2)I am hereby going on record as notifying TxDOT of the danger to public health & safety to the public that accrues from ignoring the hazards associated with not providing large mammal crossings across the proposed 4 lane expansion of loop 375."

Frankly, public comment should be taken at any time especially about this issue. Why? In an email to Ms. Telles-Goins, ecologist Kevin von Finger says it well:

"I am aware that the issue of an underpass that would accommodate safe passage of large mammals has been brought to the attention of TXDOT by a Texas Parks & Wildlife Urban Biologist, and also by myself at a city Open Space Advisory Board meeting. The comment from the TXDOT project engineers was that this wasn't in the plans since their staff didn't tell them that it was an issue. Note that in one month (February I believe) there have been 5 vehicle-deer collisions. I now understand that TXDOT says that a properly designed large mammal crossing is too expensive. What appears to have happened is that nobody at TXDOT did their homework regarding environmental & health & safety impacts so now the item may not fit in the budget.

TXDOT has been made aware of the dangers of vehicle-large mammal collisions. This is not only an environmental issue but one of health & safety. The state is liable if TXDOT neglects to remedy this danger and God forbid someone dies [which] happens all over the country & will sooner or later here if status quo is accepted. There will be one hell of a price to pay. If a human life is not a sufficient price to get a properly designed large wildlife crossing, then perhaps the guarantee of a future lawsuit should be motivation. Pay now or pay a hell of a lot more later.

Vehicle-wildlife collisions must be analyzed as an impact in the NEPA document and an argument can be made that this is a significant environmental impact as defined in the CEQ NEPA implementing regulations 40 CFR 1500-1508. The underpass must be properly designed or large wildlife will not use. I & others can provide guidance. Mary, sorry to burden you with this but it is serious. When I lived in Illinois I saw vehicle-mammal collisions actually happen & it wasn't pretty. There were horrible injuries & a death. Please provide me with the NEPA document when it becomes available for public review."

Perhaps many of you will want to write similar requests. TxDOT cannot and should not just ignore public comment at whim.

Update on Arroyo 41A and the Lower Sunset Trail

Arroyo 41A from Picnic Area 39

Last week the Franklin Mountains Park Superintendent, Mr. Cesar Mendez, took me and several other people on a hike on those portions of the new Lower Sunset Trail that are now completed.

Our hike began at Picnic Area 39 in the Tom Mays Unit. That area overlooks Arroyo 41A. The new trail begins by going down toward the arroyo and then winding west and south to that portion of the Lower Sunset that is in the State Park. The other portion, of course, was destroyed by Jobe's bulldozers.

Click to enlarge image. You are looking west toward GLO land. The clear path was created by Jobe's bulldozer. You can see the Jobe "No Trespassing" sign. Arroyo 41A is to the left (south) of the picture. The buffer should run somewhere along here past the hill in the foreground. That hill and hundreds of other acres will be no more once the quarry operation begins. To the left (north) of the picture is where the old Lower Sunset Trail crossed Mile Marker 6 and Arroyo 42 back up to the trail to the entrance of Shaeffer Shuffle. Many mountain bikers and environmentalists would also like to see that area preserved as well. That path was actually the originally proposed Mountain to River Trail as these maps reveal. At this time, Mr. Jobe is adamant that he will not grant an easement of that area as well.

We then retraced our steps and some of the hikers continued on a different fork not far below the picnic area. That fork skirts some beautiful limestone cliffs above another arroyo. It eventually will hook up with the Avispa/Lower Sunset Trail and return to the park up the steep hill just past Schaeffer Shuffle.

Mark Johns walks a portion of the new Lower Sunset that will hook-up with the trail to Schaeffer Shuffle

All agreed that the new trail layout will make for a beautiful hike. Although disappointed by Mr. Jobe's planned destruction of the land leased to him by the Texas General Land Office, everyone agreed that the new trail would be even better than the older trail. Tommy Young exclaimed: "My overall impression was WOW! It will be fantastic when completed."

WOW!

So where do things stand with Arroyo 41A Go here and here to read about Jobe's plan to grant an easement to the Public Service Board and create a buffer between the arroyo and his future quarry. At his expense, Stanley Jobe agreed to survey the area to the north of the Arroyo where an the buffer will go. The GLO must approve the easement and the survey before it can be submitted to the PSB.

I asked Mr. Jobe whether the survey had been completed and whether I could see a copy of the survey. He replied by email and a phone call and told me that the survey had been done. Once the GLO approves the plan, he will submit it to Representative Ann Lilly who will take it to the PSB. He declined to show me a copy of the survey until after the GLO approves it. I did not push the matter but will ask him again in a month, if I hear nothing back from him.

Poppy Display Promises To Be One of the Best

The poppies are beginning to pop! Photo courtesy of Judy Ackerman

This Saturday is Poppy Fest - one of the best annual celebrations in El Paso. I've been getting calls all week from people who tell me how great the poppies are looking on the east side of Trans Mountain and throughout Castner Range. Go here for more information and a schedule of events.

The poppies this year promise to be as refulgent as some of the best years in the past

TXDoT Needs Your Comments

Following the public meeting last Wednesday, TXDoT is soliciting public comments. A form for commenting is available for downloading here.

Send comments to Mary, at mtelles@dot.state.tx.us. The form isn't required, but can be used as a template or downloaded and filled out. If you would prefer just to send a letter, you may do that as well. The letter/comments should be addressed to Antonio Uribe, Jr., EIT, TxDOT, 13301 Gateway Blvd. West, El Paso, TX 79928.

Comments must be received on or before March 24, 2010.

In addition, you can also write Rep. Joe Moody at 6600 N. Mesa, Suite 603, El Paso, TX 79912.

Here's what went down: Mr. Uribe explained that the project is required because of growth and development. I know people who live on one-side and work on the other. They describe nearly nightmare commutes. Before long Doug Schwartz will begin developing Enchanted Hills and Randy O'Leary will begin Desert Springs - both on the north side of Transmountain, west of the Franklin Mountains State Park and east of I-10. There will be development as well on the south side of Transmountain.

The project consists of expanding the current two-lane undivided roadway to a four-lane divided roadway with two-lane frontage roads and grade separations at major intersections: Northwestern Drive, Resler and Paseo Del Norte Drive.

There will be paved hike and bike trails on both sides. One person reported not seeing the bike trail connection with the existing culverts on the plans. However, Rick Bonart emailed me and said:

"The ramp [hike/bike] is to be constructed on the south side of Transmountain where the culverts are about 6 feet above grade. It is being called a drainage erosion ramp. On the north side, the culverts are on grade.

"The culverts will connect hike-mountain bike trails like other trails in the park that have been blessed by Texas Parks and Wildlife and will be constructed by BMBA [Borderland Mountain Bike Association] and volunteers.

"Both sides of the culverts are in TXDoT ROW (right-of-way) and the trails are Texas Parks and Wildlife ROW."

The full plans can be viewed at the TXDoT office, 13301 Gateway West. Construction will begin February 2011 and will be completed in 2013.

There is no provision for a wildlife crossing.

Urban Wildlife Biologist, Lois Balin, points out signs of deer feeding along Transmountain

When he was a grad student in Wyoming, Mike Mecke had experience with wildlife crossings. He says:

"WYDoT had pushed through I-80 west from Laramie across major big game migration routes instead of taking another, better route advocated by ranchers and game department. So, they were having many collisions with deer, antelope and elk - not good for them or people.

"So, they high fenced I-80 for many miles - solved problem for motorists, not wildlife. They thought the game would be forced to use small existing 6-8 ft high culverts - nope. Scared them, like a dark tunnel and they stacked up. I worked for Rocky Mountain Research Station on weekends trying to count animals using newer versions - enlarged culverts with fenced wings guiding them. We installed night cameras and I watched, counted tracks, etc. Little use. I graduated and moved, but I think they finally enlarged them more and got the wildlife to using it- but not easy to do.

"I may be wrong - but, I do not foresee wildlife using the same crossings as bikers and hikers - think you will have to keep those groups far away or they will scare the wildlife and leave behind their scent, trash, etc. too.

"Leave the current ones for them and build larger, more open ones for wildlife at a good distance and in sites that would seem to be natural deer, javelina trails - draws, etc. Might have to use wildlife protein and mineral blocks to draw them in. Even construct small rainwater catchments w/troughs for wildlife at entrance."

Currently, TXD0T does plan to pave the bottom of the culverts. However, ". . . those pipes will never work except maybe for rattlers or rabbits," according to Mecke. "A deer or javelina will never go through those." What is needed is a local, natural soil floor on any underpass for wildlife. They must have the right scents and feel.

2010 Franklin Mountains Poppies Preservation Celebration

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Wildlife Crossing for Transmountain Road?

Culverts on south side of Transmountain - ramps are needed for access. Pictured: Jamie Ackerman and Bill Hoover

Culverts on north side - no ramp necessary. Pictured: Judy and Jamie Ackerman

There can be a way for hikers and mountain bikers; but will there be a way for wildlife, especially deer, to safely cross under Transmountain Road?

As I mentioned in my last elpasonaturally e-letter, TXDoT is holding a meeting this Wednesday, March 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Canutillo High School "to present new design information and to solicit public comments for the proposed improvements to Loop 375 [Transmountain] from I-10 to east of the Franklin Mountains State Park entrance . . . " For more information and meeting location go here.

The concern with the expansion of Transmountain is having a crossing for hiking and bicycling. Bob Medley of the El Paso Ridgewalkers says: "Now would be a great time to include an underpass for a trail to make it possible to hike from the southern end of the Franklin Mountains all the way to Las Cruces, New Mexico via the Sierra Vista Trail."

In fact, TXDoT has previously committed to such an underpass. The plan is this: just to the east of the entrance to the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park are three culverts that pass under Transmountain road. Ramps will be constructed to give hikers and mountain bikers access to the culverts on the south side of the road.

Dr. Rick Bonart, formerly with the Open Space Committee then Board and now on the Public Service Board, is an avid mountain biker and open space advocate. Several years ago he single-handedly negotiated with State Park planers from Austin and TXDoT officials to build the ramps. "It took years of negotiation between the State Park and TXDoT to get the ROW, permission and money to plan and build the ramp," Dr. Bonart told me.

There is also interest to create a wildlife crossing especially in light of the fact that recently five mule deer have been killed in the past four weeks crossing over Transmountain Road.

The drawback to the existing culverts is the fact that they are not suitable as a wildlife crossing. According to Lois Balin, the Urban Wildlife Biologist for this area with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the culverts aren't high enough. The height of the culverts should be a minimum of 10 feet and fencing to funnel the animals toward and into the crossings must also be a minimum of 10 feet high.

Ms. Balin points out another drawback: "The deer will not walk on the corrugated metal. Concrete or packed soil would be better for them."

Master Naturalist, Judy Ackerman, finds signs of deer nibbling brush on the north side of the culverts not far from the State Park entrance.

This past Saturday, the Ackermans and I visited the site of the culverts and went through them. On the south side of the road, we looked for deer sign and found plenty of indications that the deer are there. However, on that side, there is no means for them to access the entrances to the culverts and there is an eight-foot plunge to the pool floor beneath.

As Gary Williams of the El Paso Community Foundation says: "A wildlife crossing is a must at this location."

Hopefully, Wednesday evenings meeting will be attended by wildlife advocates as well as members of the hiking and mountain biking communities.

Mule deer doe and young buck at Fusselman Canyon 4 August 2009

Back by Noon Natural History Outings

Click on image to enlarge and read.

Southwest Environmental Center in Las Cruces has just published their new Back by Noon Natural History Outings. I went on two of these last year and both were great.

You can also see and download the PDF here.