A city of San Antonio redevelopment project based on the destruction of birds and trees in Brackenridge Park threatens Native American religious practice, a new federal lawsuit charges.
Greg Harman
A federal lawsuit filed yesterday alleges that the city of San Antonio’s effort to evict migratory birds and remove trees at the headwaters of the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park violates the First Amendment rights of Native American peoples to practice their religion.
El caso, Gary Pérez y Matilde Torres v. Ciudad de San Antonio, sostiene que los demandantes han informado al personal de la Ciudad y a los líderes electos en numerosas ocasiones que la cabecera del Parque Brackenridge es el epicentro de su historia de creación y que un proyecto de remodelación aprobado por el Concejo Municipal la semana pasada está “comprometiendo la ecología espiritual del Parque”.
Tanto Pérez como Torres hablaron en contra del proyecto financiado con bonos la semana pasada cuando el alcalde Ron Nirenberg amenazó con cerrar la reunión para evitar testimonios adicionales sobre las formas en que el proyecto podría modificarse para salvar más árboles.
“On a half-dozen occasions, Plaintiffs asked the City to modify its renovation plans to preserve the ecology of the Park and Plaintiffs’ ability to worship within it, but the City refused those requests,” the lawsuit says.
“In fact, the City has never taken basic steps to see if the proposed development of the Park could go forward in a way that would preserve the cormorant’s presence or habitat.”
Perez and Torres are represented by the prestigious law firm Jones Day, which is well known for its work on social justice issues, and attorneys from the University of Texas School of Law’s Law and Religion Clinic, which specializes in cases believed to threaten the religious.
The lawsuit decries an aggressive City campaign that drove out a migratory bird rookery earlier this year in Brackenridge under a federal USDA permit that allows the targeting of cattle, snowy, and great egrets, as well as cormorants, in all San Antonio City Parks. The bird harrassment was part of the original bond project language, though the City later tried to detangle it from the tree removal.
Among the tools listed in the permit allowed to assist in bird removal are trucks, dogs, nest/egg removal, firearms/mylar balloons, drones, propane cannons and other devices.
Although the permit covers the entire 16,237.5 acres of city park property, there has never been a single hearing on the practice since the destruction of a colony at Elmendorf Lake Park on San Antonio’s Westside in 2019.
The cormorant is a bird with deep religious meaning for members of the Lipan-Apache “Hoosh Chetzel” Native American Church. The river, the trees, and the cormorant represent the underworld, middle world, and upperworld of creation, according to the creation story related by the lawsuit.
Here’s Gary Perez talking to Deceleration in February 2022 about the spiritual threat posed by the City’s Brackenridge Park project:
“The presence and connection of these three worlds establishes a ‘spiritual ecology’ that allows Plaintiffs to identify in the physical world and communicate with the spiritual world,” the lawsuit continues.
“Damaging any of the connection points disrupts the sanctity of the Park and its ability to function as a sacred space for Plaintiffs’ religious practice.”
Approximately 50 trees, six of a size that qualify as “heritage” trees, will be removed from the park pending final clearance from state and federal regulators under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The first phase of the project includes repair of the river wall, restoration of the Pump House, an outdoor performance area and other park amenities that celebrate history with the intent to “tell the story of water in San Antonio.”
In addition to alleged First Amendment violations, Perez and Torres claim violations of their rights under the federal Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons Act and Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Texas Constitution.
Here is the claim:
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