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Media Contact for This Release: Maria Trunk, information@tfla.net

Frontera Land Alliance of El Paso Completes First Conservation Easement

(May 11, 2007) - Today marks a key step in the progress of El Paso's local land trust: completion of our first conservation easement transaction! To make the story even more interesting, this easement covers a parcel of land owned by the City of El Paso that was purchased through a Public Improvement District – a very unusual and creative multi-party approach to natural resource preservation.

Thunder Canyon is a 26-acre natural arroyo in the western slopes of the Franklin Mountains that was formerly owned by a private development company.

Over the past two years, neighbors of the canyon have worked with the City to create a PID and purchase the property. Essentially, the 88 households surrounding Thunder Canyon are taxing themselves to pay off the purchase price; the land will belong to the citizens of El Paso for all of us to enjoy forever. A conservation easement was established to preserve the canyon's scenic vistas and native wildlife habitat in perpetuity.

By accepting this easement, The Frontera Land Alliance takes on the responsibility to monitor and defend the conservation values of Thunder Canyon. It's not something to be undertaken lightly, but we were able to do so at no expense to the taxpayers or the members of the PID thanks to very generous donations from El Paso Electric Company and Texas Gas Service. We'd like to express our deep appreciation to both companies for underwriting this project and giving us the means to move forward with it.

We also wish to offer special thanks to City Representative Ann Morgan Lilly for facilitating the process and giving our board another opportunity to fulfill Frontera's public benefit mission.

The real heroes of this story are the 88 household members of the Thunder Canyon PID whose outstanding generosity and public-spiritedness is truly inspiring. We are very optimistic that their example will lead to more creative efforts in our community to preserve El Paso's special places.

Congratulations to all who worked so hard to bring this effort to such a delightful conclusion!

If you'd like to visit Thunder Canyon in person or via Google Earth, it is located just west of N. Stanton Street between Sharondale and Moondale. The easiest way to access it for a pleasant stroll is to enter from the bottom at the end of Oak Cliff Drive.