May 8th, 2007, marked a key step in the progress of El Paso’s local land trust: completion of The Frontera Land Alliance’s first conservation easement transaction. To make the story even more interesting, this easement covers a parcel of land owned by the City of El Paso that was purchased through a Public Improvement District (PID)—a very unusual and creative multi-party approach to natural resource preservation.

Thunder Canyon is a 26-acre natural arroyo in the western slopes of the Franklin Mountains formerly owned by a private development company. For two years neighbors of the canyon worked with the City to create a PID and purchase the property from the developer. Essentially, the 88 households surrounding Thunder Canyon agreed to tax themselves to pay off the purchase price; the land now belongs to the citizens of El Paso for all of us to enjoy forever. A conservation easement was established to preserve the canyon’s scenic vistas and native wildlife habitat in perpetuity.

By accepting this easement, The Frontera Land Alliance took on the responsibility to monitor and defend the conservation values of Thunder Canyon. It’s not something to be undertaken lightly, but we were able to do so at no expense to the taxpayers or the members of the PID thanks to very generous donations from El Paso Electric Company and Texas Gas Service. We’d like to express our deep appreciation to both companies for underwriting this project and giving us the means to move forward with it.

We also wish to offer special thanks to City Representative Ann Morgan Lilly for facilitating the process and giving our board another opportunity to fulfill Frontera’s public benefit mission.

The real heroes of this story are the 88 household members of the Thunder Canyon PID whose outstanding generosity and public-spiritedness is truly inspiring. Congratulations to all who worked so hard to bring this effort to such a delightful conclusion!

Click here for a “bird’s eye view” of Rio Bosque Wetlands Park
(Courtesy of Google Maps)

Historically, the wetlands and riverside woodlands of the Rio Grande valley were the biologically richest habitats in the El Paso-Juárez region. Today, they are virtually gone. Past land and water management practices did not accommodate the needs of native ecosystems, and a vital part of our natural heritage gradually disappeared.

Over time, many people began to realize the importance of these river-valley habitats and became committed to reversing their loss. Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is a living example of that commitment.

At 372 acres in size, it is El Paso’s largest city-owned park and natural area. It is also the site of a federal wetlands mitigation project: in 1997 the International Boundary and Water Commission reconstructed the historic channel of the Rio Grande where it once meandered through the parkland. Working from a design crafted by Ducks Unlimited, the IBWC created a system where water flowing through this channel can be diverted to a series of large, shallow wetland cells.

The infrastructure for a significant wetland is in place, but to date Rio Bosque has not been able to achieve its full biological, educational and economic potential due to the lack of a guaranteed water supply during the growing season. Any wetland restoration effort in an arid region faces a great challenge: how to integrate ecosystem health with the many competing demands for water from urban, agricultural and industrial users. The way a community allocates a vital but scarce resource reflects the values and relative interests of its members.

The Frontera Land Alliance recognized an opportunity for private citizens to address Rio Bosque’s water needs. With financial support from the World Wildlife Fund’s Chihuahuan Desert Program, the land trust has embarked on a project to establish a “user-friendly” mechanism whereby landowners with unused water rights can transfer or assign their water rights to Frontera, which Frontera will then exercise at Rio Bosque. The idea is to make Rio Bosque a regular customer of El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1, and fully integrate the park into the existing irrigation network.

Once the details of the transfer mechanism have been worked out, Frontera will set about recruiting water rights holders to donate their precious resource to this community project. It will take the contributions of many people of good will to build up a sufficient supply to meet the park’s needs. If you have an interest in helping cottonwoods and willows flourish at Rio Bosque, please let us know!

For more information on Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, please visit www.riobosque.org. To learn more about the World Wildlife Fund Chihuahuan Desert Program, go to http://worldwildlife.org/wildplaces/cd/index.cfm

Resler Canyon was The Frontera Land Alliance’s first land preservation project. Its story is one of inspiring generosity and community cooperation.

Click here for a “bird’s eye view” of Resler Canyon
(Courtesy of Google Maps)

Development in Arroyos Arroyos are distinctive natural features in El Paso, channels carved into the slopes of the Franklin Mountains by the flowing water of countless years. Many wind like ribbons through established neighborhoods, offering havens of peace and beauty in the urban setting, and providing important wildlife corridors that connect the mountains with the Rio Grande. As arroyos approach the river valley, they widen out and become less steep.

In the past, El Paso’s development occurred mainly on tablelands (mesas). Residents of established neighborhoods often assumed the arroyos would remain in their natural state forever, but recent rapid growth placed acute pressure on privately owned arroyos. Resler Canyon was one of the first to be slated for development.

When plans were put forward to construct approximately 140 single-family homes in the 91-acre canyon, the City of El Paso became caught up in a struggle between the adjacent neighborhood association (led by preservationist Charlie Wakeem) and the developer, Hunt Building Company. Efforts to reach a satisfying compromise ground to an impasse and protracted litigation seemed imminent.

A Confidential Benefactor Meanwhile, in January 2005, Dr. Richard V. Teschner, a professor of linguistics at the University of Texas at El Paso and a resident of the Coronado Townhouses near Resler Canyon, began working behind the scenes to purchase the arroyo. Dr. Teschner had recently received a substantial inheritance from his deceased parents. He independently decided he wanted to use his newfound wealth to “Save the Canyon”—an unconventional choice without a doubt, and one that would have profound influence on the progress of El Paso’s preservation efforts, and The Frontera Land Alliance in particular.

Dr. Teschner made known his plans to members of Frontera’s board in the spring of 2005. The land trust evaluated the site and determined that Resler Canyon would be a good fit for achieving the organization’s mission. Dr. Teschner involved Frontera in later stages of negotiations, and ultimately donated $1.87 million to Frontera for the land trust to purchase the property directly. The City of El Paso played a pivotal role in the deal by earmarking $347,500 for much-needed repairs to drainage structures feeding into the canyon. On December 23rd, 2005, the final transaction was completed and Frontera became the owner of 91 acres now known as the Charlie Wakeem/Richard Teschner Nature Preserve of Resler Canyon, or the Wakeem/Teschner Nature Preserve for short.

Community Inspiration It took the determination, cooperation and good will of many parties: Hunt Building Company, Dr. Teschner, City of El Paso staff and elected officials, neighborhood leaders, and Frontera’s board all worked hard to bring about this happy conclusion. The culmination of a year of intense negotiations was a manifold accomplishment: preserving an arroyo of key significance to El Paso, maintaining the character of several well-established neighborhoods, and demonstrating that preserving unique natural features is a valuable and achievable goal.  Based on the success of Resler Canyon, the City of El Paso went on to initiate a public planning process for city-wide open space preservation.

The Nature Preserve Resler Canyon is now managed by the land trust as a nature preserve. It is open to the public for walking, meditation, wildlife observation, and similar low-impact activities. In accordance with Dr. Teschner’s wishes, there are no plans to construct visitor facilities or additional trails. Frontera holds biannual community clean-up days in the spring and fall, and works to re-vegetate areas of the canyon impacted by erosion, illegal dumping and drainage repair work.

Water flow from Resler Canyon directly feeds the Keystone Wetland, a city-owned, privately-managed natural area and site of the archeological remains of a 4000-year-old Native American village. The mile-long length of Resler arroyo soils and plants provide vital filtering that enhances the water quality for this rare desert wetland.

Below is a (very incomplete) list of plants and animals that make their home at the Wakeem/Teschner Nature Preserve.  If you identify a new species on a visit to the canyon, please drop us a line and we’ll add it to the list.

Birds: Golden Eagle, Turkey Vulture, Gambel’s Quail, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Great Horned Owl, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Western Kingbird, Verdin, Cactus Wren, Northern Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Great-tailed Grackle, House Finch

Other Animals: Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Desert Cottontail, Coyote, Mule Deer, Texas Horned Lizard, Collared Lizard, Checkered Whiptail

Native Plants: Littleleaf sumac (Rhus microphylla), Silverleaf bahia (Bahia absinthifolia), Desert marigold (Baileya multiradiata), Desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), Mountain peppergrass (Lepidium montanum), BSi-colored mustard (Nerisyrenia camporum), Spectaclepod (Dimorphocarpa wislizenii), Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.), Barrel cactus (Ferocactus wislizenii), Viscid acacia (Acacia neovernicosa), Honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), Ocotillo, (Fouquieria splendens), Scorpionweed (Phacelia spp.), Ratany (Krameria spp.), Stinging cevallia (Cevallia sinuata), Blazingstar (Mentzelia multiflora), Sacred datura (Datura wrightii), Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), Lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla), Soaptree yucca (Yucca elata), Torrey yucca (Yucca torreyi), Mormon tea (Ephedra spp.), Fluff grass (Dasyochloa pulchella)

Exotic Plants: Tumbleweed (Salsola tragus), Mexican palo verde (Parkinsonia aculeata), Yellow bird of paradise (Caesalpinia gilliesii), Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila), Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus)