Taking steps to protect our environment
“The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) recently announced plans to reroute a highway bypass in Central Texas to save a stand of ancient oak trees that includes a 500-year-old oak considered one of the oldest trees in Texas.
The state has constitutional authority to take private property without the consent of the owner for projects in the public interest, which includes highway construction. That authority is called “eminent domain.”
The property on which the oak trees are located is near Poteet, and has been owned by the McCurdy family for almost 150 years. The property owners had negotiated with TxDOT officials for seven years attempting to save their trees, to no avail. With construction of the bypass planned to begin next month, the Houston Chronicle brought the issue to the attention of the public.
After the Chronicle reported the story, including a photo with two adult family members perched on a limb of the oldest tree, the public reaction was heard all the way to Austin. As if by magic, a plan to save the trees and to reroute the bypass at no additional cost was engineered in just two days. Earlier, TxDOT officials in the Bryan district said there was little they could do to save the four oaks.”
Welch, Claude. Lufkin News 14 March 2014.