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Franklin
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Who We Are
A Brief History How to Join Upcoming Meetings/Events Conservation Issues Newsletter Contacts Links
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Conservation Issues The Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition is currently circulating a petition to U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes urging him to work for permanent protection of all of Castner Range. Below are copies of:
Please put them to good use. Castner
Educational Flyer Download the documents
above using Acrobat Reader (free software-click on logo below)
Lone Star Legacy Endowment Fund Want to make a lasting contribution to the future of Franklin Mountains State Park? Make a donation to the Park’s Lone Star Legacy Endowment Fund. Under the Lone Star Legacy program, the Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas has established permanent endowments for every state park, wildlife area, historical site and fish hatchery in Texas. When you contribute to the endowment for Franklin Mountains State Park, you help create a stable source of funding for the Park’s future operations and maintenance. Your donation is a secure investment – only the interest can be used. The principal continues to grow, providing a long-term source of income. Since the inception of the Lone Star Legacy program in 1998, the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition has contributed annually to the endowment fund for Franklin Mountains State Park. We encourage our members and anyone who enjoys and appreciates the Franklin Mountains to do likewise. How can you make a donation? Here are two ways: 1. You can make a tax-deductible donation to the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition and request that your donation be conveyed to the Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas for the endowment fund for Franklin Mountains State Park. For this option, please make checks payable to “Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition” and send to:
FMWC 2. You can send a tax-deductible contribution directly to the Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas. For this option, please make checks payable to “Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas” and send to: Lone
Star Legacy Endowment Fund
With your check, include either the Foundation’s online donation form or a cover letter indicating you want your donation placed in the endowment fund for Franklin Mountains State Park.
Border Patrol Seeks Land on Castner Range (Updated: April 10,
2002) The U.S. Border Patrol has
submitted a request to the federal government for 40 acres of land on
Castner Range to build a new station and sector headquarters.
If approved, this action will not only have direct environmental
impacts but will also set a damaging precedent encouraging additional
development in one of El Paso’s greatest natural treasures. Action
Get on the mailing list for the
soon-to-be-released draft Environmental Assessment of the Border
Patrol’s proposal, then submit comments as soon as it becomes
available. The comment
period will be brief – 30 days – so time is of the essence.
To be put on the mailing list, contact: Mark
W. Horner Background:
Castner Range Castner Range is an old military
firing range no longer in use. It
consists of 7,000 acres (11 square miles) on the east side of the
Franklin Mountains, on either side of Trans-Mountain Road.
Castner Range extends from the Patriot Freeway almost to the
mountain ridgeline and includes some of the most scenic and ecologically
significant parts of the mountains.
Hidden springs, complex geological features, unique plant
associations, diverse landforms and noteworthy archaeological sites are
among the elements that make it, in many ways, the heart and soul of the
Franklin Mountains. This former artillery range
remains open space today thanks to the stewardship of the Army and the
presence of unexploded ordnance. The
Army has identified Castner Range as surplus to its needs but cannot
transfer it to other ownership until it has been searched and cleared of
old artillery rounds. The Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition has long
recommended that Castner Range be added to Franklin Mountains State Park
once the clearance is complete. The Border Patrol’s Proposal
The Border Patrol has requested
40 acres in the southeast corner of Castner Range for a new El Paso
Station and a new headquarters for its El Paso Sector.
The proposed site wraps around the existing Texas Department of
Transportation facility that sits on 10 acres at the corner of Hondo
Pass and the Patriot Freeway. The
new Border Patrol facilities would replace current facilities located on
Montana Avenue. The proposed facilities would
directly affect plant and animal resources on the 40 acres in question
and would degrade scenic qualities of the area.
More ominously, placement of the Border Patrol facilities on
Castner Range would be a stimulus for
further development efforts in the area and would encourage
others to pursue piecemeal development of Castner Range lands. Current
Status Scientific Applications
International Corporation (SAIC), in cooperation with the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, has prepared a draft Environmental Assessment (EA)
on the Border Patrol’s proposal.
It is now in the final stages of internal review and is expected
to be released for public comment soon. The draft EA will evaluate the
Border Patrol’s proposed site and 2 other northeast El Paso sites that
are not on Castner Range: · -- at the northeast corner of McCombs Street and U.S. Highway 54 (Alternative 2), and ·
--
at the southeast corner of McCombs Street and Sean
Haggerty Drive (Alternative 3). Before preparing the EA, SAIC
sought public and agency comment on the range of environmental issues
and concerns to be addressed in the EA.
The Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition submitted extensive
comments. We recommended that Alternative 2 be selected for the
proposed Border Patrol facilities rather than the Castner Range site.
We favor Alternative 2 because it: · -- meets the Border Patrol’s requirement for ready access to a major highway (U.S. 54), linked directly to the international border; · -- does not conflict with existing developed neighborhoods; · -- can serve as a stimulus for future economic development in that portion of northeast El Paso; and ·
--
avoids the costs, environmental impacts and likely
time delays associated with construction on Castner Range. For More Information
Contact:
Stan Stack, Secretary
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