Bill Text: TX SCR20 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

Texas Senate Concurrent Resolution 20 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Designating the first week of May as Texas Bison Week for a 10-year period beginning in 2013.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 2)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Signed by the Governor [SCR20 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SCR20-Introduced.html

	83R2161 JWI-D

	By: Estes	S.C.R. No. 20



	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, North American bison have roamed the continent for
	some 25,000 years, with up to 60 million estimated to have covered
	the range in the 1700s, and the land that would eventually become
	Texas was home to many herds; and
	WHEREAS, Also known as the American buffalo, the animals were
	central to the livelihood of Native Americans; the Apaches of West
	Texas, the Hainai Indians of East Texas, and numerous other tribes
	revered the bison and depended on it for food, shelter, and
	clothing; by the end of the 19th century, however, hunting had
	nearly exterminated the entire species; and
	WHEREAS, Without the visionary work of "The Father of the
	Panhandle of Texas," Charles Goodnight, the bison may have
	permanently disappeared from the Lone Star State; in the late
	1870s, this noted Texas Ranger and rancher captured two buffalo
	calves and gave them to his wife, Mary Ann, who fed and cared for
	them at the JA Ranch; the Goodnights went on to develop a small
	herd, which formed one of the five foundation herds in the United
	States and helped produce the buffalo population that exists to
	this day; descendants of the original Goodnight bison were moved to
	Caprock Canyons State Park and are known today as the Texas State
	Bison Herd; and
	WHEREAS, The bison industry is a growing component of the
	state's diverse agricultural landscape; since 2008, its
	significance has been commemorated with the observance of Texas
	Bison Week during the first week of May, a time that also marks the
	beginning of calving season; and
	WHEREAS, The iconic image of the American buffalo has long
	been associated with wildlife preservation and Native American
	traditions as well as the state's western heritage, as evidenced by
	the buffalo's induction in the Texas Trail of Fame and its
	prominence as the centerpiece of the seal of the General Land
	Office; in the Panhandle, a bronze sculpture by Veryl Goodnight of
	Mary Ann Goodnight bottle-feeding a buffalo calf now stands at the
	historic JA Ranch and Armstrong County Museum as a fitting tribute
	to the Goodnights' role in saving the southern herd from
	extinction, and it is indeed appropriate to celebrate this rich
	legacy in the Lone Star State each spring; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas
	hereby designate the first week of May each year from 2013 through
	2022 as Texas Bison Week.