Big Bend Gazette :: A visit to the Christmas Mountains and Big Bend National Park with Jerry Patterson

On a stunningly clear mid-January afternoon Texas General Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson pilots his 90-horsepower Citabria aircraft from San Marcos to land at Terlingua Ranch’s 4,000-foot dirt runway, at 1:30 pm. On board with Patterson is a chilled Sam Gwynne, writer from Texas Monthly, who has endured the three-hour flight in the back of the small aircraft, sitting behind Patterson where the aircraft’s heat does not reach.

Patterson is in Brewster County to explore the Christmas Mountains and Big Bend National Park by air, foot, truck and all-terrain vehicle.

I will spend the next two days with Patterson, Gwynne and Paul Loeffler from the GLO traversing the 9,269-acre Christmas Mountains tract.

Patterson and the General Land Office have been trying to sell the Christmas Mountains since 2005. Patterson has made numerous public statements indicating he would allow a sale of the property to proceed to whoever could open the property to appropriate public use. This was his opportunity to spend time on the ground getting a feel for the land and a feel for just who that appropriate buyer might be.

Since 1991, the mountains have been inaccessible to the public under the mantle of the GLO.

In what was intended as a simple land transfer from a private party to, ultimately, the National Park Service or Texas Parks & Wildlife, with the GLO as intermediary, the Conservation Fund, in 1991, with funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, donated the tract of land to the GLO. The donated tract has numerous conservation easements, including that the property first be offered to either the National Park Service or Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

In 1991, when then GLO Commissioner Gary Mauro accepted the Christmas Mountains he wrote the Conservation Fund and the Mellon Foundation stating he “would be delighted” to accept the donation and “that the ownership of this property can only be transferred from the Permanent School Fund to either National Park Service or the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.” The final conservation easements were slightly different than what Mauro wrote and stipulated the property could be offered to other parties as well after first being offered to the NPS and TPWD.

Since 1991, the GLO has indeed offered the tract to both public agencies, and both have declined the property. In June 2004 and in November 2005, the GLO offered the Christmas Mountains to the NPS; then Superintendent John King declined the opportunity to pursue acquiring the property, writing the GLO on both occasions that “the deed restrictions placed on the property by the Conservation Fund when the land was gifted to the state of Texas would provide sufficient protection to the property.” The first auction scheduled for February 2006 was cancelled after the Conservation Fund wrote the GLO asking the property be removed from sale.

The easement further stipulated the Conservation Fund would need to grant permission before the land could be sold to any third party. Patterson says this is an “unlawful restraint.”

Now the GLO has once again put the land up for sale, drawing the ire of conservationists outraged the state would consider selling a gift. Patterson defends the sale as necessary to carry out his fiduciary responsibility to the Permanent School Fund.

And Patterson has further fanned the flames of controversy by making the sale a Second Amendment issue and refusing to consider any offer from the National Park Service, creating a land management imbroglio that has drawn nationwide attention.

Yet now contending for the property is the National Park Service, manager of almost 400 natural, cultural and recreational sites throughout the nation. Included in this portfolio is the 800,000-acre Big Bend National Park located to the south and along one mile of contiguous boundary with the Christmas Mountains.

Wallace Stegner, the great writer of the American West, called the national parks “the best idea America ever had.” Except to Jerry Patterson. The law and the idea that you can’t bring a loaded gun into a national park per NPS regulations is anathema to Patterson, who while serving in the Texas Senate co-wrote the state’s concealed handgun law.

When I first met Patterson and interviewed him at Panther Junction in Big Bend National Park, I asked him if he was “packing.”

“Of course,” he replied, nonchalantly. Patterson, who wore a National Rifle Association ball cap during his visit, sums up his views on the right to bear arms by stating simply, “The Second Amendment defends all the others.”

When the GLO opened the Christmas Mountains for bid several months ago, it received two bids, one from John Poindexter, a Houston businessman and owner of Cibolo Creek Ranch in Presidio Co., and the other from Mike and Ramona Craddock, attorneys and owner of a 1,000 acre ranch in Hopkins and Wood Counties.

In Poindexter’s 17-page site management plan submitted to the GLO, he proposes ecologically-oriented tours, auctioned mule and whitetail deer hunts, and construction of hiking and biking trails as means of allowing public access to the property. The one and a half page management plan submitted by the Craddocks calls for participation in TPWD “Big Time Hunts” and offering free day-hike permits.

It should be noted the GLO received a third letter from Louis Waters of Utopia, Texas, requesting the GLO postpone the auction, “to allow the National Park Service time to evaluate and or acquire the property.” Waters was the high bidder for the Christmas Mountains in a previous auction that was cancelled due to mapping errors.

Within 10 minutes of landing at the ranch, Patterson is checking in at the front desk of the Terlingua Ranch lodge. His feet barely on the ground, Patterson finds himself right away discussing his views with local resident Tom Jolly, who owns land adjoining the Christmas Mountains. (Jolly later describes his conversation with Patterson as friendly, although Jolly is opposed to any sale of the property to a private party.)

After the amicable conversation, we leave the Ranch office and head to our rooms, where we eat lunch: cheese, crackers sausage and sodas. Over lunch, Patterson discusses the history of the GLO, its function and his role as Commissioner. Patterson recants the illustrious history of the GLO’s first Commissioner John Borden who served in the Battle of San Jacinto and of his brother Gail who began the Borden Dairy empire.

Patterson and the GLO are well known to West Texans. In 2003, a group of well- connected Midland oilmen and Austin residents formed Rio Nuevo, Ltd. Their plan for Rio Nuevo was to contract with the GLO to tap and sell billions of gallons of groundwater from state lands.

The resulting furor over the proposal led the GLO to schedule a public hearing in Alpine where Patterson faced a standing-room-only crowd of over 500. During one exchange during the 5-hour meeting, Patterson quipped, “We’re not here to nuke you; we’re here to take your water.”

Although the Rio Nuevo deal has never materialized, it remains strong in the consciousness of West Texans.

After lunch we jump in two GLO pickup trucks, one of which has a trailer with several ATV’s, and head up into the Christmas Mountains via the Old Mine Road. For the first few miles the steep dirt road is in remarkably good condition; higher, though, there are numerous large boulders on the road which to be cleared by hand. Mostly this can be done by one person, although some are so large it takes several of us, including Patterson himself, to move them.

After we unload the ATV’s we take turns riding and walking. At first, Patterson declines using an ATV, saying he has lots of hobbies: “airplanes, guns, sailboats (a catamaran) – and ATV’s isn’t one.”

A little later, to save time, we double up on the ATV’s so we can reach the summit of the mountains and still make it back before dark. Lo and behold, I am riding on the back of an ATV driven by a man whose hobbies do not include driving one of these machines.

It turns out Patterson is a fine ATV rider.

The last few hundred feet to the top of the mountain are a steep cross-country hike. The view from the top of the unnamed peak offers one of the most spectacular 360-degree panoramic views in the Big Bend, and the views of the Chisos Mountains are breathtaking.

At the conclusion of our sojourn into the Christmas Mountains both Patterson and I dismount the ATV. Patterson takes a sweeping look around and says, “Maybe we’ll keep it.”

Over dinner at Terlingua Ranch Lodge Patterson, Loeffler, Gwynne and I discuss the future of the Christmas Mountains. I ask Patterson about the recent proposal from State Senator John Whitmire to broker a deal between the Conservation Fund and the GLO to allow the Fund to purchase the Christmas Mountains.

Patterson is dismissive of the idea and considers it as dead on arrival. He explains “If the Conservation Fund wants to spend more than $500, 000 for something that’s protected in perpetuity, that’s stupid…. John’s a good friend, we go back a long way. It’s nice to know there are people willing to spend that kind of money, and I’d like to tap them for trail construction.”

While recent media accounts have portrayed the deal as a win-win situation and have described the other two members of the School Land Board as amenable, it is Patterson who holds the golden key. If the other two members vote against Patterson on an agenda item, their votes carry the issue.

However, according to Patterson, it is he as Chairman of the SLB who decides what items make it to the agenda, and in the event of an item like this, if Patterson does not like the idea and does not recognize it for the agenda, the item will never be voted upon.

Gwynne expresses shock to Patterson over this, saying if Patterson does this he will unleash a torrent of negative reaction far greater than anything Patterson has yet seen.

Patterson is unfazed.

I congratulate Patterson for making the Christmas Mountains a national issue – and one through which he has amassed political capital.

“Horseshit,” he responds, laughing. “I’m land commissioner: what kind of legacy am I going to have?”

Tom Ramsay, a Terlingua Ranch resident, comes over to our table and joins our discussion, telling Patterson he thinks the land should be protected. (Later, Ramsay said, “ Jerry Patterson is a good man trying to do the right thing. I don’t share his vision of what is right, and I would like to see the Christmas Mountains become part of the national park.”

On our second day, we hike from Big Bend National Park to the Christmas Mountains, to get a sense of what access is available from the park to the Christmas Mountains. By making the hike, Patterson will have a sense of what kind of hiker will make the journey, and perhaps how many hikers will actually make such a trip. After looking at topographic maps and studying several routes, we decide to hike from the main park road, north along the Oak Creek drainage to the boundary of Terlingua Ranch, about 1/3 of a mile from the Christmas Mountains tract. Because we are being picked up on Terlingua Ranch we will not hike directly to the GLO tract, but very close to it.

Our 8-mile, 4+ hour hike through the park is beautiful, with stunning views of the Christmas Mountains. Hiking up the drainage, we encounter several gorgeous patches of slick rock where salt crystals have formed into small towers. About half way through the hike we share the drainage with a group of about 6 javelina.

At the end of the hike Patterson says he has gotten what he wanted from the hike and that “it is a graphic example of access.” While he thinks few hikers will make such a trip he says some still will.

At the February 5 meeting of the School Land Board, the GLO will again consider the Christmas Mountains. There are several possible outcomes. It is expected the National Park Service will have a proposal ready to acquire the tract, and both the Poindexter and Craddock bids are still on the table.

It is unlikely the Whitmire plan will be considered unless Patterson decides to place it on the agenda.

It is possible the General Land Office will do as it has done since 1991 and as Patterson said, “maybe we’ll keep it.”

ABOVE: Texas General Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson arrived at Terlingua Ranch on January 17, after flying his 90-horsepower Catabria aircraft from San Marcos. Patterson would spend the next two days in the Christmas Mountains and Big Bend National Park in advance of the February 5 meeting that may decide the fate of the Christmas Mountains. Patterson a Vietnam veteran has logged over 3,000 hours of flight time including flying for the U.S. Marine Corps.

ABOVE: Patterson hiked in Big Bend National Park. Patterson spent 4 hours hiking from the main park road to Terlingua Ranch in an effort to explore possible recreational routes hikers may take from the park to the Christmas Mountains.

ABOVE: In a ceremony atop the Christmas Mountains in South Brewster County, Texas General Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson congratulated GLO employee Paul Loeffler (right) for his 25 years of service to the agency. The mountain top venue for the award was a first for Patterson, who usually makes the award in an Austin office. Both Loeffler and Patterson were thrilled with this location.