by NPS Meeting- There Ain't No Free Lunch
The invite said there would be a lunch provided and since the Commodore
was going
to be out of town, I decided to go in his place. The National Seashore
requested
CCWA input in the preparation of their new Comprehensive Interpretive Plan.
The two
day meeting, held at a Shoreline Drive hotel in Corpus, was informative but
I had forgotten how
bureaucracies conduct such ventures despite my former career as a state
employee. The two
days brought those memories back very quickly as the jargon peculiar to
government
bureaucrats filled the room. Staying awake was difficult but I met some
interesting players
from the Corpus area including the local Audubon lady, the head of the major
fishing association, and
high ranking Texas Parks and Wildlifest official as well as a crew of other
local luminaries in the ecology movement.
Windsurfing interests were also represented by half of the new owners of
Worldwinds in
the person of Don Jackson. Meetings which start at 8:00 AM are really not
designed to
get much input from me and the explanation of what a Comprehensive
Interpretive Plan is
by itself would usually send me into deep sleep. I found the breaks more
productive than
the meeting as conversations with Ken Reagan and Jim Atkins provided a
promising route
to pursue in order to slow down boat traffic (no wake zone) in the
windsurfing area at Bird.
Between Don's controlled and eloquent discussions and my rants, I feel
confident that
windsurfing will get prominent mention in the final plan- it sure did in the
rough draft generated
by the end of day two. Oh and that advertised free lunch courtesy of the
NPS, the best thing
about it was the view from the top of the hotel overlooking the downtown Bay
front. Sitting
there all day (8 to 4:30) was a steep price for a lunch!
Day two got even worse- one of my out of town bosses showed up to make
me actually work
an entire half day thereby costing me a second free lunch. I was back at
the pseudo-posh
hotel by 2 PM just in time to see the results of our collective efforts- 4
large sheets of
newsprint taped up on the rooms front wall. From this collection the NPS
wordsmiths
will generate the final report. On the page regarding recreation,
Windsurfing was at the
top of the page, #1, primo so Don and I were successful (Don deserves most
of the credit
on that). We also gleaned a ton in intelligence regarding who the likely
players will be
when the specific plan for Bird is finally sent before the public for
comment and we've
both formed a few alliances with what we agreed were the likely movers and
shakers in
those proceedings.
The end result of the meeting for windsurfers is that windsurfing is
listed as the #1
recreational activity at Padre Island National Seashore in the rough draft
of the park's
Comprehensive Interpretive Plan- and that plan is supposed to be in effect
for the next
decade. Windsurfing also earned some new respect among some folks who are
'important' in this town (again Don gets the credit for that). Beyond that,
we are again
now in a wait and see mode, waiting for the Bird Island Basin specific plan
to materialize.
For me, I feel optimistic about that plan now- and almost proud that I didn'
t fall asleep
during the entire meeting.
If you want to help out in this matter PLEASE come to
<http://www.coolcats.com/bib/ >
and sign up for that listbot on the first page. Check out the various
threads while you're
there
Roy
