Essays
Moseying: Living La Vida Llanero
West Texans work together to promote Heritage Tourism
January 23, 2008
As I was coming back from the Texas Pecos Trails Board of Directors meeting in Sonora, Texas, a badger showed me the deer that Deborah and I had turned into roadkill south of Garden City back in December. He was gnawing on its hair and bones at the edge of the road. He scampered from the carcass as I passed and when I turned around to look at him, he stopped at the fence line and glowered at me (see photo below). That deer cost my insurance company over six grand, but the folks at Quality Body Works made the car look like new again.
The Texas Historical Commission “Heritage Trails” program promotes “heritage tourism” that celebrates local history. Each region has a board of directors. The Pecos Trail extends from Andrews to Eagle Pass and from Junction to Pecos. Ms. Keith Godwin is the regional coordinator. I first met her when she brought a half-dozen Texas Historical Commission staff members to evaluate the Sibley Nature Center The THC provided this team to evaluate our “tourism readiness” and later presented the Sibley Center with their evaluation and recommendations for improvement.
Brenda Kissko of the Midland Convention and Visitors Bureau is the board secretary. Other board members represent county historical associations and Main Street programs, or are directors of museums, bankers, and even a mayor (Sherry Phillips of McCamey.) We meet six times a year at locations throughout the region. Representatives of the public in each town are invited, and Ms. Godwin also encourages the county commissioners, chamber of commerce, mayors, judges, media representatives, preservationist, historians and tourism professionals of the towns to attend.
Among the people I met in Sonora was a volunteer of the Devil’s Sinkhole Visitor Center, a feature writer for Southwest Texas Live magazine and website, the County Judge of Sutton County who had spearheaded the multi-million dollar refurbishing of the county courthouse, a leader in the regional mohair industry, a rancher/banker, and the executive director of the Eaton Hill Wildlife Sanctuary (a program of the Sonora Economic Development Corporation.) Over sixty people attended the luncheon. Many of these folks had also gone on a tour of the refurbished Sutton County Courthouse, too, so we had over two hours of socializing.
The networking aspect of these meetings allows me learn of the many interesting projects people are doing, to learn a little about local history and culture, and to find new projects where the Sibley Nature Center can be of service. Nancy Jenkins of Edwards County (Rocksprings), a fellow board member, and I discussed their pending project of landscaping the main drag in town with indigenous plants and creating a radio tour that discusses the plants’ role in range management and ornamental use. By the time the board meets in Rocksprings in May I will have had a chance to review her plant list and make suggestions for the text of the radio tour.
Delyse Jaeger of the Eaton Hill Wildlife Sanctuary and I met after the meeting in her office at the Sonora Chamber of Commerce and discussed several possibilities where the Sibley Nature Center might be able to help out. I admired her wonderful photography of plants and wildlife and talked about the sanctuary’s bird list with Jacquie Thomas, Ms. Jaeger’s assistant. Jacquie is a spelunker and had been to the Sibley Center for caving programs.
Later in the year, I will return to Sonora and assist the sanctuary in developing trail brochures and discuss their educational outreach efforts, and then give an educational program to local students. Both ladies are able artists, so I also shared the idea of creating a set of regional products like the Sibley Nature Center’s “Natural Calendar” notecards, coloring books, and calendars. Ms. Jaeger creates postcards from her photography at the sanctuary that she hands out for free. Kudos to the Sonora Economic Development Corporation for finding the funding for the sanctuary!
The Past Chairman of the board, Shanon Biggerstaff of the Ozona Chamber of Commerce, and I discussed the on-going initative to revive the Southwest Texas Tourism Partnership (SWTTP). A future meeting will be planned inviting all former partners, while seeking out new nature tourism attractions in the region such as the Holistic Management International West Ranch located in Crockett County.
All of the folks that I met are proud of where they live and are actively seeking to “tell their stories of place.” The consensus among the participants is that more should be done to connect people “with their own home” and to share the uniqueness of their home with tourists who are drawn to the region because of its beauty, history, or family connections. The Texas Historical Commission also assists local entities with oral history projects. I hope that these entities will post the transcripts or even videos of the oral histories on the Internet.
Many of the folks at the meeting discussed the “boom times.” One individual from Sanderson reported that a San Antonio investor was planning to construct duplexes and quadplexes there. The southern part of the Texas Pecos Trail region is experiencing a tremendous amount of drilling for new gas wells. As I returned I had to go 30 miles an hour behind a drilling platform for several miles west of Eldorado where new oil field roads cut through the pastures, and I caught up to a number of big rigs hauling wind energy components further north.
With the above average rainfall of 2007 the pastures were full of winter cured grass. In 320 miles of driving I saw eighteen areas where grass fires had occurred, but only one location where the fire had burned uncontrolled long enough to singe more than a section of land. Several places along the way had new brush control work being done – including the bottom of Centralia Draw east of Stiles. A big brushpulling machine was working there before daybreak, as a light mist muddied my windshield. In the 1980s I helped my mother do Breeding Bird Censuses for the National Fish and Wildlife Service in the region west of Eldorado, and as I drove I realized that the juniper (cedar) has recently increased exponeniently in some areas – pastures were full of young cedars less than head tall.
Deer mating season must have been over, for I saw only one live deer during over six hours of driving (but over 40 roadkilled carcasses!) Only one of those carcasses had a badger gnawing on it.