THE I-20 WILDLIFE PRESERVE

A. The I-20 Playa site is an outstanding City of Midland educational and scientific, recreational, and environmental resource. It deserves broad community support and will gain regional, state, and national recognition as a rare publicly owned playa. It is a safe refuge for West Central Flyway migratory birdlife at a time of dwindling playa waters elsewhere and offers all the satisfactions that a wildlife preserve on the Southern High Plains can give West Texans and visitors.

B. The I-20 Wildlife Preserve and the Jenna Welch Nature Study Center should be recognized by the City as a valuable component of the Parks and Recreation system. The Department of Community Services and the Parks and Recreation Division should seek Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Recreational Trails grants and other funding to make possible the development of the Preserve¼s trails, boardwalks, bridges, and other infrastructure.

C. Recognition should be given to the substantial efforts given to the Preserve by the Midland Naturalists, without whose dedication and hands-on work, the Preserve would not be the reality it is. The City and the Friends have the potential of entering into a public-private partnership in which the Friends would undertake raising funds for a number of Preserve components and would assume the Preserve¼s operation and management.

D. The total length of planned trails in the Preserve is 3.4 miles. Once completed, the trail system will more than double the present total of City-owned trails, which now stands at 2.6 miles.

E. In the findings of the City's 2006 Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Master Plan, the Preserve also constitutes a regional park, the only such facility in Midland's inventory.

F. Substantial restoration and upgrading of the Preserve¼s habitat is recommended by this Master Plan, including the removal of 7 acres of cattails, which have overgrown the playa lake and now cover about 70 percent of its surface. With removal, open waters will cover about two-thirds of the lake. This improvement will make it possible to attract greater numbers of diving ducks, shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl in general. The Plan recommends starting cattail removal in the summer of 2007.

G. Other habitat improvements will include the planting of a large number of trees, shrubs, forbs, and grasses that serve as food plants for birds and butterflies. Evergreen trees will be planted on the Preserve's perimeter to help screen I-20 and adjacent land uses and to help attenuate noise.

H. A hawk observation tower will be built, the first of its kind in West Texas. It will be comparable to similar attractions to the birding world found at the Bentsen State Park and the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in the Rio Grande Valley.

I. The Preserve's trails, boardwalks, canopy walks, bird blind paths, and hawk observation tower ramp will comply with TAS (Texas Accessibility Standards).

J. The playa boardwalk will be a prime visitor experience. Short boardwalks will also be built along the soft edges of one of the pit ponds. Step-downs will be built at a number of points to allow students, researchers, and visitors to take water samples.

K. Visitors will be encouraged by Preserve management personnel to take playa water samples and have them analyzed at Preserve headquarters. This program element will be of educational value to the visitor, whether student or not, and of value to the Preserve¼s research and management database.

L. Twenty bird blinds, observation decks, feeding stations, and observation windows are planned.

M. A property fence is planned on the perimeter to control visitor access. Specially designed openings will permit wildlife-only passage at four locations.

N. Realignment of the northwest drainage into a meandering or switchback run combined with permeable bank materials is planned to allow adsorption and remediation of inflowing stormwater runoff. This element will prevent degradation of playa health.

O. The Master Plan anticipates an experienced wildlife management professional to be hired as the Preserve manager, with suitable staff levels keyed to the progress of the Preserve and its visitation levels. The Plan recommends a corps of volunteer rangers that will assist in habitat management and visitor guidance.

P. The Preserve's Scientific Advisory Committee will advise on habitat management, research, and monitoring activities. It will be led by Midland College's Department of Biology and is in the process of inviting the participation of faculty of Sul Ross University, Texas Tech University, and University of Texas ‚ Permian Basin.

Q. Clean-up will be undertaken for all areas of the preserve.

JENNA WELCH NATURE STUDY CENTER

A. The future Jenna Welch Nature Study Center is seen as a state-of-the-art wildlife preserve facility, world-class in content and quality, one which will fully serve the Preserve's educational, interpretive, visitor-service, and management needs.

B. The Plan's expectation is that the Nature Study Center will be a "green" designed building Aspiring to certification by the Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED) association. Built in such a manner, the facility will be efficient in the use of energy as well as water. Rain harvesting will also allow the Center and the Preserve to be economical in the pumping of well water.

C. Small orientation-demonstration areas outside the Nature Study Center will enable visitors to learn about the Preserve before they enter it. These will include butterfly and hummingbird habitat, pond and marsh, grassland, tree groves, and thicket.

D. Prior to the opening of the Center, a pavilion is recommended as its first-phase section. This will serve as the gathering point for visitors and a venue for events.

E. Paving of South Midland Drive and Warehouse Road will be advantageous to Preserve and future Nature Study Center access. It will also reduce road dust migration to the playa.

F. Visitor levels for the Preserve and Jenna Welch Nature Study Center are projected at 10 to 15 thousand annually in the first year or two following completion and a subsequent growth rate of approximately 7 percent a year.

G. Commitment by the City of Midland to provide funds to match future state and private grants should be considered. City Council approval of funds will help leverage additional outside dollars. Development costs are estimated at $4‚4.9 million for the I-20 Wildlife Preserve and $7.2‚9.1 million for the Jenna Welch Nature Study Center and its interpretive setting.