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Highlights of the National Park Service's proposal
€ Facilities that are currently functional and in at least occasional use include an antenna system on the south peak, a rugged service road to the antenna site and several roads entering the property from Terlingua Ranch.
€ Other infrastructure includes approximately 15 miles of road, two wells with windmills, two water storage tanks, a man-made lake with a rock masonry dam, several picnic ramadas and tables, and one small masonry dam. There is also one small wood shack associated with the Fernandez Mining Prospect and one concrete foundation slab associated with mining along the road to the radio repeater site.
€ Radio repeater infrastructure atop the south peak supports Brewster County and Terlingua Emergency Medical Services communication. The NPS supports maintaining this communication infrastructure ... and would consider adding an NPS radio antenna.
€ Other than the one-mile common boundary with BBNP, the Christmas Mountains tract is surrounded by private properties that are part of the Terlingua Ranch subdivision.
€ Roads on Terlingua Ranch are not open to the public. However, the roads are open to property owners and residents of Terlingua Ranch.
€ Although several short spur roads from Terlingua Ranch properties enter the property, of greatest significance is a through route from the Lake Ament area to Terlingua Ranch headquarters. This road generally follows the northern property boundary.
€ The NPS would allow continued historic use and management of the route between Lake Ament and Ranch Headquarters. The route has historically been maintained only to minimum standards, required high-clearance vehicles for passage, and has only occasional traffic. If Terlingua Ranch in the future wishes to significantly change the road's character, type or intensity of use, approval from the NPS would be required to alter road sections within the Christmas Mountains tract.
€ Other spur roads into the Christmas Mountains tract would be evaluated for closure at the boundary during the public planning process.
€ The NPS does not at this time foresee a need to develop housing or administrative support infrastructure beyond those currently in place and functional. Should long-term protection or resource management realities indicate a need for full-time or seasonal staff housing, up to one residence or bunkhouse, including workshop, office and storage space, could be constructed.
€ Since the Christmas Mountains tract is surrounded by private properties of Terlingua Ranch, there is no public access option other than via the one-mile common boundary with Big Bend National Park. The nearest road within BBNP is the paved West Entrance Road, (Park Route 13), which comes within five miles of the Christmas Mountains tract. Thus, hiking and horseback travel from Route 13 would be the primary means of public access to the property.
€ If the Christmas Mountains become part of the national park, the exact type and nature of access would be determined through a public planning process. At that time access at one or more points from Terlingua Ranch could be considered; however, there is no guarantee access through the ranch is possible or desirable.
€ As with other areas of BBNP backcountry, day and overnight hiking would be allowed. Day hiking would be at-will, with no permit re-quired. Overnight backpacking would require an NPS permit.
€ In keeping with other areas of BBNP backcountry, a use area would be established for the Christmas Mountains. An overnight user capacity would be established in keeping with capacities in other similar BBNP use areas. If water sources can be developed for visitor use, the ability for extended backcountry trips would be greatly enhanced.
€ Hiking and horseback riding would initially be cross-country, as there is no constructed trail connecting BBNP road access and the Christmas Mountains. The NPS would initiate a planning process to evaluate the feasibility of constructing a hiking trail loop to the area from a trailhead along Park Route 13. Evaluation factors include degree of public interest, cost, terrain ruggedness and available routes for trail construction through the rugged southern exposure of the Christmas Mountains.
€ Hikers and horseback riders and future trail development would find the antenna access route to be a primary destination for remarkable vistas from the 5,700-foot south peak.
€ As with hiking, public horseback use would initially be cross-country from Park Route 13. All horseback use would require an NPS permit, and overnight stock use would be allowed. A limiting factor for stock and human use is the lack of available water, and feed must be packed in. Should construction of a trail prove feasible, stock use would be allowed on the trail.
€ Lake Ament, inside the northwest corner of the Christmas Mountains tract, is an impoundment of spring seepage and rainfall runoff behind a stone masonry dam constructed in the 1950s. Although there is no public access to the site, Terlingua Ranch residents and their guests have historically used Lake Ament as a venue for picnics, bird watching and similar recreational activities.
€ In accordance with the United States Code of Federal Regulations (16 USC) regarding hunting in national parks, hunting would not be allowed. See Appendix I, attached, for a summary of the issue.
€ The NPS would also conduct inventories to identify critical access for purposes of wildland fire management, search and rescue, and law enforcement activities. Existing BBNP, NPS regional and service-wide natural resource and fire management programs and expertise would be extended to the Christmas Mountains tract.
€ During the planning process actions and programs needed to restore natural system in the Christmas Mountains, such as enhancement of water resources to restore specific animal species, will be determined.
€ No baseline cultural resource inventory exists for the Christmas Mountains. However, one historic mining site is listed in the Texas Historical Com-mission Site Atlas. Structures associated with mining and ranching, and several prehistoric campsites and rock shelter sites ... exist ... but have not been recorded in detail. The NPS would initiate a baseline cultural resource inventory to identify and document cultural resources of the ... tract and, where applicable, evaluate those resources for potential inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
€ The Christmas Mountains tract would be added to BBNP Law Enforcement's West District for purposes of ranger patrols for resource and visitor protection. The West District currently includes five field rangers who provide foot, horse and vehicle patrol. The park has a ranger/pilot who provides routine air patrol and is on call for targeted aerial support operations. Nine additional rangers are on call from other BBNP district and headquarters staff. These rangers also form the core of BBNP Search and Rescue, medical and incident management programs.
€ The Lake Ament Dam was built in 1957-58 and employed 100 Mexican laborers and skilled stone masons. Its ... size and vernacular architecture are a testament to masonry construction in the Big Bend.
€ The Christmas Mountains tract offers extremely limited opportunity for hunting due to lack of reliable water sources and limited numbers of desired game species. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates current deer populations hunted on lands ... in Brewster County at 1 deer per 150-200 acres. Christmas Mountains is about 9,200 acres, which would yield approximately 46-61 deer, and only a portion of these would be harvestable bucks. Although public hunting lands are very limited in Texas, Brewster County has three state public hunting areas.
€ Hunting pros: (a) Provide an additional hunting opportunity in Texas; (b) provide a potential wildlife management tool in the event [of] overpopulations of huntable species
€ Hunting cons: (a) Limited opportunity for hunting -- only 5,500 huntable acres and current population numbers would support few, if any, permits; (b) would require special legislation; (c) safety issues regarding the Terlingua Ranch development; (d) expensive: $200,000 initial costs, $140,000 annual costs; (e) no public road access to the Christmas Mountains; (f) Brewster County has several better hunting opportunities.
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