Austin—The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club today called upon U. S. Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison to support the effort to protect the Christmas Mountains in Far West Texas.  The Sierra Club requested that the Senators urge Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and other members of the School Land Board to delay the proposed sale of the land to private interests and give the National Park Service (NPS) time to pursue acquisition of the property. The group also asked the Senators to support the NPS efforts to acquire the land as an addition to Big Bend National Park.

“Christmas Mountains would be a natural and welcome addition to Big Bend National Park,” said Ken Kramer, Sierra Club state director in Texas. “The National Park Service is interested now in acquiring the land. The Sierra Club believes that it is in the public interest for the School Land Board to put the proposed sale of Christmas Mountains to private buyers on hold. Senators Cornyn and Hutchison would be instrumental in delaying the sale by showing their support for NPS to acquire the property.”

“Recent comments from Land Commissioner Patterson indicate that he is preparing to ignore the public outcry over the proposed sale of Christmas Mountains and even ignore the terms under which the land was originally donated to the state,” Kramer said. “The citizens of Texas need some high-powered help from their U. S. Senators to convince Patterson to make the land available to the National Park Service.”

Christmas Mountains was donated to the State of Texas in the 1990s by a national land preservation group, The Conservation Fund, as a result of funds made available from the Mellon Foundation.  The land was donated with the intention that it would be managed by a public entity for conservation purposes.  The documents conveying the land to the State included a very protective conservation easement that restricts activities on the land.

Currently the land is part of the Texas public lands under the jurisdiction of the School Land Board and is managed by the Texas General Land Office, headed by Texas Land Commissioner and School Land Board Chairman Patterson.  

The Conservation Fund, in conveying the Christmas Mountains to the State of Texas, required that the National Park Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department be given the first opportunity to acquire the land if the School Land Board ever wanted to divest itself of the land. Based on earlier indications that neither NPS nor Parks & Wildlife Department felt they were able to acquire the property, Commissioner Patterson put the property up for bids for possible sale to private interests.  Now, however, NPS has indicated that the agency is interested in obtaining the property.

“It was one thing for Commissioner Patterson to put the Christmas Mountains up for sale when neither NPS nor Texas Parks & Wildlife appeared to be in a position to acquire the property,” said Kramer.  “But NPS has now indicated its interest in obtaining the land, and every effort should be made to make that happen. Our U.S. Senators need to be part of that effort, and they need to let Commissioner Patterson know that they support NPS acquisition of the Christmas Mountains.”