City Council to vote on resolution to put grass back at Fort Bliss National Cemetery

State Rep. Joe Moody, middle, professors Diana Doser and Lixin Jin talk with Fort Bliss National Cemetery officials. (By Aaron Martinez / El Paso Times)

The El Paso City Council on Tuesday will discuss and vote on a resolution urging officials at Fort Bliss National Cemetery to replace the xeriscaping with grass and sod.

The efforts from city officials comes after U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, encouraged them to get involved in bringing grass back to the cemetery, city Rep. Cortney Niland said.

"The Congressman (O'Rourke) has asked if the city would draft a resolution for his initiative to turn the cemetery back to grass, which I feel would be very deserving to these brave veterans who served our county," Niland said. "They deserve a place to rest that is beautiful and when their families come to visit them, they can feel we have given them the respect they deserve."

Since the cemetery was xeriscaped in 2006, many veteran organizations and government officials, including O'Rourke and state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, have asked the National Cemetery Administration, who oversees Fort Bliss National Cemetery, to bring grass back.

"We are one of a very small number of cemeteries that are xeriscaped, in other words, they have sand and gravel instead of grass at our veterans' gravesites," O'Rourke said. "What I have heard most from veterans and widows, widowers and family members of veterans buried at Fort Bliss, is that they would like to once again have grass. They feel it is more befitting of a cemetery."

There are more than 50,000 people buried there.

Ame Callahan, director of the Fort Bliss National Cemetery, said the xeriscaping was installed in to help save water because it took about 62 million gallons of water to maintain the grass a year.

"In 2006, we had a study done, because we maintain a national shrine, we have very high standards for our cemetery and we just could not keep the grass green," Callahan said. "We used about 62 million gallons of water a year from the aquifer that El Paso residents are using. That, along with energy concerns and the fact that the aquifer is looking to dry up (is why we changed to xeriscaping). Our job is to honor our veterans and their families with dignity and respect in their final resting place. So with that, we decided to go with xeriscaping."

According to Callahan, it could cost about $12 million to put grass back and to maintain it.

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City Council to vote on resolution to put grass back at Fort Bliss National Cemetery