Save the Christmas Mountains!

If you love the Big Bend region of Texas as much as I do, you've been by turns astonished, dismayed, and pissed off by the comical attempts of Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson to sell the Christmas M0untains in West Texas to the highest (or whatever) bidder. If you've not been keeping up with the story, here's a little background from the Observer.)

Karen Brooks at the Dallas Morning News, who has been covering the story for months, reports that the National Park Service has submitted a proposal for managing the Christmas Mountains as part of the Big Bend National Park.

Forrest Wilder at the Texas Observer blog summarizes the NPS proposal:

The NPS would manage the property as a backcountry area for hiking, primitive camping, and horseback riding. The advantages of NPS management vs. privatization, according to the proposal, are:

1. The area would be permanently protected and preserved as part of the national park.

2. Public use of the area would be assured and the public would be able to participate in the planning process.

3. The park has extensive experience in managing public use in backcountry environments including law enforcement, search and rescue and emergency medical expertise.

4. The park can provide a full range of professional educational and interpretive services which are essential to a safe and enjoyable experience in a rugged and remote area.

5. The park has an excellent resource management staff including wildlife biologist, physical scientist, geologist, botanist and archeologist. In addition, we have access to numerous NPS resource specialists and academic institutions.

It sounds like a better deal to me. If you want to help save the Christmas Mountains, go to the Environment Texas website and access their user-friendly tools to send an email to members of the School Land Board and their bosses, Rick Perry and Greg Abbott.

To inspire you, I've included a smattering of pictures of the Christmas Mountains.