Management Plan for the Conservation of Rare and Endangered Karst Species, Camp Bullis, Bexar and Comal Counties, Texas

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Publication Date

1-1-1999

Abstract

Camp Bullis is a 113.3-km2 military training facility under the Fort Sam Houston Command. It is located in north-central Bexar County and southwestern Comal County. Camp Bullis’ mission is to provide field training and support for military activities in south Texas, including weapons training, field training and maneuvers, map and compass courses, parachute operations training, combat assault landing training, and field medical training. Soon after the now-listed species were petitioned for endangered listing, Camp Bullis initiated a series of cave and karst investigations that continue to the present in order to pro-actively evaluate the installation’s potential to contain the species and manage those species according to the best available scientific information (Veni and Elliott, 1994; Veni et al., 1995, 1996, 1998a, 1998b, 1999, 2000, 2002a, 2002b). To date, three of the species have been found on the installation, Cicurina (Cicurella) madla, Rhadine exilis, Rhadine infernalis. Additionally, one species on the State of Texas list of threatened species has been found, Eurycea tridentifera, plus 15 new or possibly new species known only from Camp Bullis. The presence of these listed and rare species of concern suggests that Camp Bullis has effectively managed its impact to the environment and these animals. This includes the potential impacts from the installation’s live fire ranges where one of the listed species is known to occur in five caves despite several decades of firearm use. With the increasing rate of urban development of the area around the installation, Camp Bullis may become an important refuge where these and other listed and rare species will continue to survive. The mission requirements of Camp Bullis demand the presence of large tracts of undeveloped land for training operations that are mostly compatible with successfully preserving in perpetuity the ecosystems of the listed species and species of concern. This management plan is designed to minimize and/or direct potentially detrimental impa

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Article

Notes

Vol. 1328 (1999-01-01).

Identifier

SFS0072903_00001

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