Leaders should put the brakes on development

Last year, there were 121 sandhill cranes on their evening roost near my home on 11 Mile Road in Galveston.

The previous year there were 154. This year, as of this week’s count, there are only 17.

Hunting these majestic creatures is still an issue within our community.

Perhaps you can encourage readers to write the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and also influence our city government leaders to take any action that they can to have the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department put back the restriction of shooting sandhill cranes south of Interstate 10 and east of state Highway 35.

As you know, our island has developed a significant ecotourism industry, and these birds are one of the more observable species. They are a delight for our tourists, as well as our island’s residents, to watch.

They are a rather timid and friendly bird. They can be seen relatively close from the road as they graze in the pastures.

You do not have to trek into the marshes by boat or go hiking in a game preserve to watch them.

As you probably know, there are only two species of cranes in North America. The other is the whooping crane, an endangered species that had a population of just more than 250 last year in the Aransas Pass National Wildlife Refuge.

They were prolific on Galveston Island in the past, but hunting for their feathers and the destruction of their winter habitat accounts for their having nearly become extinct.

The sandhill is just a little smaller and is considered the cousin of the whooping crane.

So far, the population of the sandhill is thriving.

Hopefully, the citizens of our island will someday finally take a stand to protect the remaining natural areas we have on west Galveston Island.

We can encourage the continued migration of these sandhill cranes to our island every fall for their winter vacation if we choose to do so. Or we can continue the piecemeal destruction of the open spaces and one day exclaim, “What ever happened to the sandhills?”

The sandhills leave in mid-March and will then return in mid-October, commuting back and forth to the Arctic Circle to lay their eggs and raise their young.

My wish is that as many people as possible who come to our island have a chance to see them up close. It’s a spiritual highpoint for almost everyone.

The real estate frenzy on west Galveston Island is the greatest threat that we have to all of our wildlife around Galveston. There is no plan for sane development in place.

Our leaders have refused for years to employ the kind of planning that was done on Hilton Head Island off the coast of South Carolina, which has made that area a premier destination for people seeking an island refuge.

We are long overdue to have some inspired leadership in our community who will take the courageous steps necessary to put the brakes on the over-development of west Galveston Island. We still have time if they have the fortitude and wisdom to look ahead.

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Robert M. Moore, an attorney, lives in Galveston.