Castner Range should be a National Monument
Texans need more nature and this area is a great example of land we can both enjoy and share with wildlife
This post was co-authored by Ellen Montgomery, director of Environment America’s Public Lands Campaign
On March 26, Secretary of Interior Deb Halaand visited the Castner Range near El Paso, Texas at the invitation of local groups who have been building support for permanent protections for the area. President Biden should establish Castner Range as a national monument.
The Castner Range is a 7,081 acre former Army artillery facility east of El Paso in the Franklin Mountains and is adjacent to Franklin Mountains State Park. Also close by is Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, on the other side of the Texas-New Mexico border. Both the state park and the monument protect plants and wildlife of the Chihuahuan Desert. Adding Castner Range as an additional protected area would create a wildlife corridor for mule deer, mountain lion, javelina, and other wildlife species.
The range features a wonderfully diverse Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem with dry arroyos, natural springs, and diverse wildlife including 62 bird species such as eagles and hawks and mammals such as mountain lions, foxes and rabbits and threatened species, including the western burrowing owl. Historian Douglas Brinkley recently noted that protecting this “gorgeous swath of the Franklin Mountains would constitute a huge conservation achievement.”
Cleaning up undetonated ordinances and opening up the Castner Range for recreational opportunities like hiking, camping and biking is good for El Paso and good for Texas. Texans need more nature and this area is a great example of land we can both enjoy and share with wildlife.
Originally published at https://environmentamerica.org.
