Subject: Urgent: Bracken Cave bat colony needs your help Dear Friends of Bracken Cave Reserve and BCI, I¹m writing today to ask for urgent action to protect Bracken Cave Preserve from imminent danger. Crescent Hills is a proposed 3800 home subdivision along the Preserve¹s southern boundary.
This development is a threat to conservation, the local economy and public health: 1. 10 million bats will fly directly over 10 thousand residents each night, creating an unnecessary risk to pets and people from the contact with sick or injured bats. 2. Security threats to the cave and reserve will dramatically increase, as will the cost to guard against trespassers which could destroy the colony with one careless or intentional act. 3. 3800 homes on 1500 acres are high density 14 acre lots on top of important aquifer recharge zone. 4. This is known Golden-cheecked Warbler habitat and a sensitive karst area. If you live locally: Please join us as Citizens to Be Heard to speak or just bear witness. On Wednesday, May 22nd at 6: pm City Council has a B Session that includes ³Citizens to be Heard². This is an opportunity for individual citizens to address the City Council. The meeting takes place at 100 Military Plaza, San Antonio and starts at 6 p.m. If you are coming, please notify the Mayor¹s Office and your Council representative and ask that they stay to hear the people. If you are interested in speaking, instructions for sign-up are: Citizens must register between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on the day of the meeting in order to speak. The link to register online <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=3010357&msgid=377992&act=B3IY&c=4 31426&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sanantonio.gov%2Fyourcity%2Fmeetingappear .aspx> becomes available on Wednesday at 8 a.m. at this website: (http://www.sanantonio.gov/yourcity/meetingappear.aspx). Alternatively, between 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., citizens can register in person at the Registration Desk on the afternoon of the meeting. Citizens are given 3 minutes each to speak about their issue, and groups of 3 or more are given a total of 9 minutes. You can yield your time, if you like, to someone who may have a longer presentation. If you cannot attend - Please contact the Mayor and your City Council Representative <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=3010357&msgid=377992&act=B3IY&c=4 31426&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sanantonio.gov%2Fcouncil> to voice your concerns. (http://www.sanantonio.gov/council <http://www.sanantonio.gov/council> ) Please write - help us reach out to the San Antonio Planning Commission and City Council with your letters and emails. Ask them to: Decrease density to 1-3 acres tracks which is compatible with surrounding neighborhoods, or prohibit residential development within a certain distance of the cave. (SA City Council created a 3 mile no-residential development zone around the Toyota plant.) Please forward this to others If you do not live locally, and if you do: BCI will be grateful for all letters of support, expressing the importance of the Reserve, the cave and the colony. We would also appreciate your suggestions and especially contacts with anyone who may have influence in or on the City Council and/or Mayor¹s office. BCI will soon have add special webpage with more information about and regular updates on the situation and what more you can do to help save, what a National Geographic photographer has called, ³One of the world¹s top ten wildlife spectacles, and the only one in the United States.² www.batcon.org/Bracken <http://www.batcon.org/Bracken> Sincere thanks, James James E. Eggers Director of Education jegg...@batcon.org <mailto:jegg...@batcon.org> (512) 327-9721 ext. 12 <https://www.batcon.org/> P.O. Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716-2603 500 Cap. of Texas Hwy. N., Austin, TX 78746-3302 (512) 327-9721 Fax(512) 327-9724 The content of this email is intended only for the use of the above-named addressee and may contain information that is confidential, proprietary, and/or legally privileged. Please notify the sender if you received this email in error. ------ End of Forwarded Message