Castner monument effort gains steam
With tens of thousands of letters in support, more than $100,000 in contributions and a push from local schools, the effort to have the Castner Ranger portion of the Franklin Mountains declared a national monument has been described as unprecedented.
However, a lot still needs to happen if President Barack Obama is to preserve the 7,000-acre parcel before he leaves office in January, officials involved in the effort say.
“The good news is we’re down to the nitty-gritty-detail phase,” U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, said last week.
O’Rourke and his staff have been coordinating efforts in Washington, D.C., to work out problems so that the Department of Defense can transfer the land to the Department of the Interior, which is in charge of national monuments.
