Texas Land Commissioner dedicates Corpus Christi site for Mollie Beattie Habitat Community

Garry Mauro, Texas Land Commissioner, welcomed Nancy Kaufman, Southwest regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to Corpus Christi in November for the dedication of the Mollie Beattie Coastal Habitat Community.

Beattie, who died last summer, was former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1994, Beattie and Mauro, then president of WSLCA, agreed to work together to find ways for state land offices to actively support the Endangered Species Act, showing that support for the ESA and managed development could be compatible.

They were among a group of federal, state and local officials who signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the "Adopt A Habitat" program of the General Land Office and designating the Mollie Beattie Coastal Habitat Community as the first site.

The tracts consist of approximately 1,000 acres of land that contain a significant amount of intertidal habitat used extensively by a variety of shorebirds, wading birds and other species.

Due to the close proximity of these two tracts to the gulf beach and washover pass areas, this site is known to provide important habitat for the piping plover, listed as threatened by the state and federal governments.

"The Texas General Land Office manages over 20 million acres of Permanent School Fund land," Mauro said. "Some of this land is important habitat for threatened and endangered species. As the largest land manager in Texas, I am convinced that environmental concerns and the economic development of land can be compatible. That is what the Mollie Beattie Habitat Community is about."