The owners of Windemere Ranch property say they’re going ahead with their plans for development, but Hays County could have designs on the land for its regional habitat conservation plan to protect the golden-cheeked warbler and the black-capped vireo.

A county-appointed task force charged with locating a parcel for a shooting sports complex has put forth an open records request to learn of the parcels under consideration for wildlife conservation habitat. The shooting sports task force hopes to co-locate a facility with habitat conservation land, saying no other funds are available for purchasing land.

Two Hays County citizens committees — the Parks and Open Space Advisory Board (POSAB) and the Shooting Sports Task Force (SSTF) — are at odds about how the county should spend the remaining $8.4 million out of $30 million in parks and open space money approved by voters in May 2007.

About 1,400 acres of land adjacent to the San Marcos Baptist Academy is among the 15 parcels being assessed by Hays County for suitability as a publicly-owned endangered bird habitat and shooting range, according to three insiders.

A federal agency is dubious about a Hays County proposal to place a shooting range on land earmarked for wildlife habitat conservation.