Texas families have loved Fairfield Lake park for generations. Let’s help save it | Opinion
If you love Texas state parks, we urge you, as community leaders and advocates for the public’s ability to enjoy the natural resources of our state, to support the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission’s efforts to re-open Fairfield Lake State Park.
Our state constitution charges the commission with the preservation and conservation of natural resources on behalf of the public. After months of good-faith negotiations stalled, a private developer purchased the land and closed the park in early June. On June 10, the commission voted to exercise its power to condemn the property.
Recent news coverage of Fairfield Lake State Park represents a dramatic shift from just a year ago. Where information about the park once highlighted a catch-of-a-lifetime bass or a delighted camper’s photo of an otter sunbathing on the banks, now you’ll find closed park notices, confusing claims in news stories and a disheartening video of the developer bulldozing at the once-popular state park.
Despite the uncertainty of the park’s future ownership, the video shows the developer’s large machines scraping the land bare up to the lake’s edge, where wetland cattails, bulrushes and water lilies once created a marshland oasis for numerous species of birds, turtles and frogs. It seems particularly ironic to see the popular park’s gates chained in the midst of the Texas State Parks Centennial celebration this year.
In a state where more than 95% of land is privately owned and drought wreaks havoc on our rivers and lakes, countless Texans are standing in support of efforts to protect affordable public access to the outdoors and a world-class fishing lake. Resort vacations in far-flung locations can be prohibitively expensive for many families, but a tank of gas and a cooler of sandwiches make for a wonderful vacation at a place like Fairfield Lake State Park.
We know that many Texans love the natural wonders of this great state, just as we do. The value of access to a place like Fairfield Lake State Park — with horseback riding, family reunions, paddling, fishing, camping and hiking — can’t be measured by dollars and cents. Our real treasures are often the memories made close to home, like slipping away from the heat and congestion of daily life to enjoy a lake-cooled evening breeze.
Thousands of visitors have cherished Fairfield Lake State Park every year. For more than 50 years, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has managed the park and its lake, including actively working to sustain and conserve the native plants and animals for the enjoyment of all, a vital service that would no longer exist in a private gated community.
We express our strong support for the department’s efforts to buy the property and re-open it as a park so that Texas families can continue enjoying it for generations to come.
The authors of this piece are: David Litman, chief executive, Travel Funders Network and co-founder, Hotels.com; Garrett Boone, co-founder, Container Store; Mary McDermott Cook, president, The Eugene McDermott Foundation; Rod Sanders, founder, Highland Homes; George Bristol, conservationist and author; Morton H. Meyerson, chair, 2M Companies; Martha V. Leonard, former member, Tarrant Regional Water District Board; Brent A. Brown, founder, bcWORKSHOP; and Trammell S. Crow, founder, EarthX and EarthX TV.
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