Proposed East Texas wildlife refuge would take in 25,000 acres

By KARI KRAMER | East Texas Edition

The area under consideration has habitat for migratory waterfowl and other migratory birds, plus resident wildlife. -- Courtesy photo

August 19, 2004 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is considering the establishment of a 25,000-acre national wildlife refuge in the East Texas counties of Anderson and Cherokee.

The area, in the Neches River floodplain, serves as habitat for migratory waterfowl, other migratory birds, and resident wildlife.

"This area of the Neches River has been recognized since the 1980s as one of East Texas' premier bottomland hardwood wetland forests and is an important migratory area for waterfowl that use the Central Flyway and neotropical migratory birds (birds that nest in North America and winter in the Caribbean islands, Central and South America)," said USFWS spokesperson Jeannie Wagner-Greven.

Public workshops were held earlier this summer to inform the public about the refuge details. These open meetings allowed the public to ask questions, comment, and express concerns and ideas. According a USFWS spokesperson for the Southwest Region, the meetings were used to explain the refuge proposal, the policy for acquiring refuge lands, the Refuge Revenue Sharing act and annual payments in lieu of taxes to county governments for lands owned by the USFWS, and detail the service's land conservation process.

According to Wagner-Greven, those who attended the workshop were interested in the effects of the refuge on local taxes, hunting and visitation privileges in the refuge, the loss of hunting leases on lands acquired through purchases, and the details of oil drilling in on refuge lands. She explained that lands acquired through conservation easement were permitted to keep hunting leases and that mineral rights (for drilling) will be honored unless the USFWS obtains the mineral and surface rights on lands it acquires.

Later this fall, the public's concerns will be addressed in three documents: an environmental assessment, a land protection plan, and a conceptual management plan. This documents will be reviewed by the public for a minimum of 30 days. Copies of the documents are available at local libraries and through a mailing list of meeting attendees. Wagner-Greven stated that once the public has commented on the documents, the Service Director in Washington, D.C., will decide on the fate of the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge project. She added that this process could take several months and a decision was not expected until at least late-summer 2005.

The USFWS is in the process of assuring landowners that private lands would be purchased from willing sellers at market value.

"If the service were to establish a wildlife refuge in this area, we would only seek lands or conservation easements or cooperative partnerships with willing sellers," said Don Ciccone, chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System for the USFWS Southwest Region.

"The service wants the public to know that any lands to be acquired will be from willing sellers and donors only. The service will not condemn lands to acquire them for this potential refuge. Additionally, landowners will continue to be free to use their lands as they wish. It would take many years to complete a potential refuge because of both willing sellers and funding must be available to purchase lands," added Wagner-Greven.

Funding for the project is expected to come from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund. This money comes primarily from the public's purchase of waterfowl hunting stamps.