Multi-Million Dollar Deal
Gets Warbler Plan Underway

(Editor's note: This may be good news or bad news to landowners who have found their property coveted by environmental activists and the federal government as part of the "Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan." Scores of property owners have been prohibited under penalty of law from doing anything with their own land under the scheme, yet they continue to pay taxes as they wait — in vain, many of them fear — for the government to compensate them for what it has effectively "taken" away from them. This may mark the beginning of a process that could bring an end to their waiting. On the other hand, it may suggest that the cost will be so high it could take decades for the government to get around to covering all its obligations. Many of the Central Texas landowners who have had the fruits of a lifetime of labor snatched and held just beyond their grasp don't have that long to live.)

AUSTIN —(AP)— One of the most important parcels in the breeding range of the federally protected golden-cheeked warbler will now be preserved as a sweeping plan to protect such endangered species gains momentum.

Owners of Vista Point have reached an agreement with a nonprofit group and Travis County to sell the property for permanent preservation at a cost expected to total $6 million to $7 million, officials said Friday.

Called by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt one of America's most creative urban conservation efforts, the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan is designed to protect the songbird, another endangered bird known as the black-capped vireo, and cave invertebrates.

For the first phase of the purchase, a $2 million federal grant and $666,000 in county money are earmarked for about 500 acres along Cypress Creek, overlooking Lake Travis.

"This is one of the most beautiful pieces of property in Travis County," Steve Paulson, an environmental consultant, told the Austin American-Statesman in Saturday's editions.

About 50 of the warblers were expected here in the spring from Latin America. A limestone cave on the property also harbors endangered bugs.

Under the federal Endangered Species Act, the public-private plan seeks to preserve prime habitat in western Travis County, near one of the nation's fastest growing urban areas, while allowing residential and commercial development in lower-quality habitat.

As the county's first acquisition, the 490-acre Vista Point tract almost was the subject of a federal court case. But a lawyer for the Shellberg Tract Joint Venture, a real estate partnership that owns the land, said he was pleased it didn't.

Lawyer Alan Glen initially contended the federal government had taken the property without just compensation in violation of the Constitution. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had failed to act on the joint venture's 1994 permit application to develop part of the tract and preserve other parcels.

The agency instead was prepared to allow development on a small fraction of the land but preferred to work out an acquisition plan.

"Their patience was outstanding," David Frederick, the service's Texas supervisor, said of the venture partners.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who helped arrange the federal grant, said the outlay represents a third of the sum authorized by Congress last year for habitat plans nationwide.

County money comes from developers' habitat fees and increased tax revenue from development under the Balcones plan to set aside about 30,000 acres. A reduction in fees helped put the project back on track in recent months.

The Trust for Public Land is acting as a middleman between the joint venture and the county, said Ted Siff, director of the Texas field office for the nonprofit land-conservation group.