Texas 2011 - 82nd Regular

Texas House Bill HCR86 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Chisum, Landtroop, Gallego H.C.R. No. 86
2	2	(Senate Sponsor - Duncan)
3	3	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 6, 2011;
4	4	May 9, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
5	5	Government Organization; May 21, 2011, reported favorably by the
6	6	following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 21, 2011, sent to printer.)
7	7
8	8
9	9	HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
10	10	WHEREAS, The State of Texas has customarily recognized a
11	11	variety of official symbols as tangible representations of the
12	12	state's historical and cultural heritage; figuring prominently in
13	13	that distinctive list are animals that played a central role in the
14	14	rich Western heritage of Texas, including the longhorn and the
15	15	American quarter horse; and
16	16	WHEREAS, Another deserving candidate for recognition is the
17	17	bison, popularly known as the buffalo; after arriving in North
18	18	America some 25,000 years ago, the bison adapted particularly well
19	19	to the environment of the Great Plains; by the 1700s, as many as 60
20	20	million buffalo were living on the continent, and the lands that
21	21	were to become Texas were among the areas roamed by the vast herds;
22	22	and
23	23	WHEREAS, The animals were central to the livelihood of the
24	24	Native Americans of the Great Plains, providing not only their main
25	25	diet but also materials for shelter, clothing, and many other
26	26	staples; the ample supply of bison and the hunting culture of the
27	27	Plains tribes were not to last, however; with the completion of the
28	28	transcontinental railroad in 1869, it became possible to profitably
29	29	ship bison hides and meat to eastern markets by rail, and in the
30	30	next 15 years, buffalo hunters almost completely exterminated the
31	31	herds; by 1885, fewer than 1,000 animals remained; and
32	32	WHEREAS, Fortunately, some Texans had the foresight to try
33	33	and save this noble creature; Mary Ann "Molly" Goodnight, the wife
34	34	of legendary Texas rancher Charles Goodnight, was so distressed by
35	35	the rapid disappearance of the bison that she convinced her husband
36	36	to begin capturing and protecting bison calves from the small
37	37	number of wild animals that remained on the Southern Plains; he
38	38	began to round up young bison in the 1870s in the northern Texas
39	39	Panhandle, and the herd at Goodnight's JA Ranch eventually grew to
40	40	about 250 head by the time Mr. Goodnight passed away in 1929; and
41	41	WHEREAS, The Goodnight bison herd became one of the five
42	42	foundation herds in the United States from which the majority of
43	43	surviving buffalo have developed; a number of animals directly
44	44	descended from the Goodnight stock were donated to the Texas Parks
45	45	and Wildlife Department in 1996, and a subset of that group was
46	46	determined to be a pure strain that had not been crossbred with
47	47	bison from other areas; given a home at Caprock Canyons State Park,
48	48	those buffalo and their offspring are today known as the Texas State
49	49	Bison Herd and are notable for their strong genetic link to the
50	50	original Southern Plains buffalo and because they continue to live
51	51	in the area where their ancestors were first caught; and
52	52	WHEREAS, In both its historical significance and its enduring
53	53	connections to Texas imagery and culture, the Texas State Bison
54	54	Herd at Caprock Canyons State Park is indeed a fitting symbol for
55	55	the Lone Star State; now, therefore, be it
56	56	RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
57	57	hereby designate the Texas State Bison Herd at Caprock Canyons
58	58	State Park as the official State Bison Herd of Texas.
59	59	* * * * *