Dept of Homeland Security Sues Nature Conservancy to Condemn Land

[Ichingcarpenter]

McALLEN, Texas — The Department of Homeland Security has sued The Nature Conservancy to condemn land in a South Texas nature preserve for the border fence.

The conservancy's Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve, which includes more than 1,000 acres along the Rio Grande near Brownsville, is home to a rare grove of native sabal palms, a South Texas native plant nursery for reforestation projects and habitat for the endangered ocelot and jaguarundi.

The government offered the conservancy $114,000 for a strip of land that would leave three-quarters of the preserve, including the property manager's home, in the no-man's land between the fence and Mexico, according to court records filed earlier this month.

The Nature Conservancy's preference is no fence and no compensation, but the offer failed to take into account the impact to the rest of preserve, Laura Huffman, The Nature Conservancy's state director, said Monday.

The organization paid more than $2.5 million in 1999 for the preserve and has invested considerable money in it since, Huffman said.

It would be a safety concern to have a property manager living south of the fence, Huffman said, and "if we can't steward the land properly ... it raises the question of whether or not it is a viable preserve."

In total, the 60-foot wide strip of land running 6,000 feet across the preserve is about eight acres.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is trying to complete 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, does not comment on pending litigation.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_Border_Fence.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Is there any chance that Nature Conservancy can win?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. No...special rules for the fence project as well