Citizens of Fairfield Lake State Park - Part 1
Dennis Walsh, former Park Manager at Fairfield Lake State Park
I’m introducing a limited series this week focusing on a couple of folks with ties to Fairfield Lake State Park. A lot of the action has gone quiet in the legislature at the moment while we wait to see what becomes of Representative Orr’s HB 2332 now that it has moved out of committee and while we wait to see if/when Senator Schwertner’s SB 1656 gets presented to committee. The pressure is on, especially as it has become known that current landowner (Vistra) is already doing some underbrush clearing and has been for quite a while. In the meantime, I thought I would highlight a couple of people with their viewpoints here, a good place to coalesce some of the information being shared in multiple places online into one area to refer to in the future. I wrote the questions, they provided their personal answers. Answers have been edited lightly for grammar and clarity.
Today we begin with Dennis Walsh who was Park Manager at Fairfield Lake State Park from 1985 until December 2001.
Who are you and how did you come to love Fairfield Lake State Park?
My name is Dennis Walsh and I wanted to be a park ranger ever since I was a young boy and discovered that the job existed from watching Yogi Bear cartoons. Corny, right? I started as a seasonal worker at McKinney Falls State Park then transferred to the Texas State Railroad in East Texas as a track laborer, where they told me all I needed to work there was a strong back and a weak mind. I advanced to Bridge Foreman, (skipping over the entire park ranger pay range) and then was promoted to Park Manager at Rusk / Palestine State Park, which were the camping and picnic areas at either end of the Railroad. In 1985, I applied and was hired as park manager at Fairfield Lake. My oldest Daughter, Corinne, was one year old when we moved in and our second Daughter, Colleen, was born the following Fall. A few years later our son, Devon, joined us at the lake. Working and living in a state park is more of a lifestyle than a job and one of my proudest accomplishments in life was having my family live in and our children grow up in a state park environment.
What was life like as state park manager? (describe the ins and outs of some of your duties)
I always felt honored to have the privilege to serve in a public capacity in managing the park for the enjoyment of Texans of all generations. When I was manager, I was the only acting State Park Police Officer on-site, as well as the sole interpretive program provider, in addition to being the regional firearms instructor, special events coordinator, and Law Enforcement In-Service Instructor. I held the highest certification of police officer training available in Texas, as well as a Class B water/wastewater license. Since I lived in the park, I was on call 24/7, not just for law enforcement, but for facility maintenance which included administration needs, search and rescue, and of course, when someone backed over a campsite hookup—I was the one who responded and repaired it. I’ve lost count of the holiday weekends that I ended up knee deep in you know what because the systems were worn out and budgets were thin. In a lot of ways it was like running an outdoor hotel with no walls or roofs. I believe that the environmental education part of my job was, by far and away, the most important responsibility of my job and had the most potential for effecting real change, if we are to raise consciousness about our interactions with our world. Now-a-days, there are different individuals/positions that perform these various duties. I’d love to have been paid what these folks get, particularly for each position’s responsibility, but as we used to say “I’ll take part of my pay in Sunsets!”
Did you have a favorite part of the park to visit while working? Or any other places you loved to visit when you came back after you stopped being state park manager?
I’d have to say anywhere on the waterfront and trails, ideally the trails on the lakeside. I particularly liked visiting with the kids at the playgrounds, (the current playgrounds are a poor shadow of what was there when I arrived—you know, all the fun stuff, sliding boards, merry-go-rounds, geodesic dome monkey bars, but there were safety issues) but most of all, I LOVED giving interpretive programs on the trails, at the amphitheater and ultimately on the tour boat that I acquired for bald eagle tours. On my days off and after I retired, my favorite place/activity was bowfishing for tilapia on Ball Creek behind our home. I also REALLY enjoyed being a State and Federally licensed falconer, which helped me in developing a special event called “Falconfest” to call attention to birds of prey species as environmental indicators.
What are some of the environmental impacts you noticed during and after your tenure at the park from the operations of the Big Brown Power Plant?
There were both positive and negative impacts due to the influence of the power plant. The good effects centered around the year-around warming of the lake waters due to its use to produce steam necessary to drive the plants generators. The warm water provided a ideal environment for a number of forage species of fish such as tilapia and threadfin shad. These fish, in turn, allowed the predatory species such as largemouth bass, flathead, blue and channel catfish to thrive and even supported a unique population of saltwater redfish to survive, thanks to an elevated concentration of minerals from a higher level of evaporation that approached the salinity of brackish water. When coupled with the proximity of the Trinity River, which is the traditional migration route for bald eagles, the lake proved to be an attractive wintering grounds for waterfowl, birds of prey and of course, our national symbol, proven by the annual mid-winter census that routinely scored elevated numbers of eagles compared to the rest of Texas. I believe that adult eagles would use the lake as a training ground for their offspring and I would regularly observe them hunting together.
The negative effects would be an excessive biomass of forage species and hydrilla, often resulting in fish kills due to low oxygen levels. Of course, anytime that a strip mine is used to excavate fossil fuels there is going to be substantial disturbance of the surrounding area, affecting ground water resources, and the pollution that is generated by the burning of lignite all factor into impacting the environment adversely. To give Texas Utilities credit, they recognized the importance of the bald eagle population and were instrumental in providing suitable habitat for interior least terns, an endangered species impacted by their operations. These actions could be said to be “sustainable feathers in their caps”!
Was there any discussions while you were state park manager about the longevity of the park in the TPWD system with any other TPWD higher ups? Any hints about potential closures even in the 80s and 90s?
Not so much discussions, but I subscribe to the actions-speak-louder-than-words concept. When the regional headquarters shifted from Mexia to Waco due to the retirement of the previous Regional Director in the mid 1990s, there was a pronounced change in the way Fairfield Lake was perceived by the regional staff, basically a “stepchild” attitude ensued. Material resources purchased from FLSP budgets such as lumber, riprap, road maintenance materials and culverts were taken from the park and transferred to Fort Boggy State Park without justification under the instruction of the regional director.
The writing has been on the wall for years, I wrote the following announcement years ago. This note was drafted in November of 2011!
I circulated flyers around Fairfield, sent copies to the Chamber of Commerce and mailed copies to the regional office in Waco, no response whatsoever!
An Annual Event?
For the second year in a row, a major fish kill has been reported at Fairfield Lake State park. The problem is, I visited the park every week throughout September and I only saw a few dead shad along the shore.
Something’s Fishy!
Consider the following:
- Major summertime fish kills have only occurred since Luminant took over Big Brown, yet these fish kills are now considered to be an annual event, prompting TPWD to halt future fish stocking which will also serve to prohibit future visitation at the park
- Fairfield Lake’s level is controllable, TU used to keep it up to a higher level.
- The only major environmental factor to have changed is the lake level.
- The Lignite supply has become unprofitable to procure; hence the mine is closing down.
- The EPA is enforcing new regulations, resulting in extensive costs that cut into profits.
- The ageing power plant is getting less and less cost effective due to increased maintenance.
- Big Brown has to compete with newer, more efficient, more profitable plants like Calpine.
- Word among the local state park rangers is that the regional director would like nothing better than “to get shed of” Fairfield Lake State Park so that the operating budget would be spent on parks owned by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (Fairfield Lake S.P. is leased from Luminant}
So, what would you do if you had just bought an old car that used a fuel that was no longer available locally, that failed to meet clean air regulations and was getting more and more expensive to keep up? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the parts of your car are extremely sought after by collectors! (Real estate agents)
So read the writing on the wall:
*Incremental visitation losses, low water levels, run down facilities and exaggerated fish kills will support any future decision to close this park or transfer operation to another entity other than TPWD (a current pattern).
*TPWD replaced the boat dock with a non-typical style floating dock that are of a more temporary nature compared to the more permanent style found in most state parks owned by TPWD.
*The 1,460 acres of prime lakefront property contained in the state park has millions of dollars of improvements including three water wells, two wastewater systems, and miles of existing roadways just waiting to be divided into gated communities.
*It just may be that Luminant secured this site to operate for a few years and then salvage the remaining resources in order to write off as a loss, a done deal from the get-go.
GET READY TO SAY GOODBY TO FAIRFIELD LAKE STATE PARK, OR DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT !!!!!!!!
CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN, STATE REPRESENATIVE, TPWD, ANYBODY, BUT DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN!
A concerned citizen
Why save the state park? What would you like our representatives to know?
I moved from San Antonio to Austin in 1978, at the time, there were rural areas between San Antonio and New Braunfels and San Marcos, and then Austin. Mostly cattle ranches, some sheep and agricultural properties, with very few areas in any kind of natural condition. As the years passed, it was apparent that the onslaught of development was quickly replacing the once green places with strip malls, fast food joints, and parking lots. I witnessed the sprawl myself and when I-35 became intolerable to use. I discovered toll road 130 as an alternative route to visit our daughter who lives in Austin. In the last 4 years I’ve seen the same kind of development on that route at a much accelerated rate. Last week I noticed the construction of elevated highway pilings east of Hutto on Hwy 79 which does not look good to me. I am shocked and saddened at the quickening rate our wild places are disappearing.
What does all this have to do with saving FLSP? The park is pretty much at the crossroads between Dallas and Houston, Tyler and Waco, thus serving as a strategic meeting point for families that have become separated across Texas and greatly value the ability to meet at a halfway point. The park also has the unique situation where the wild area has continuity with the Trinity River bottom, an important wild corridor. I feel that I need to impress on everyone that once gone, this gem of the Park system is not going to be recoverable. A few details most people don’t know are as follows: there is a pump system connected to the Trinity River capable of regulating the lake level, there is a conference center on the plant side with overnight accommodations and a commercial kitchen facility attached, there is the employee camping/ picnic grounds that could easily be expanded into additional state park facilities, and there is a research center with an attached residence on the lakefront. There is the remains of the cooling system canals, detention pond that have tremendous recreational potential. WAY TOO MANY FUTURE POSSIBILITIES TO ALLOW OUR CHILDREN TO BE DEPRIVED OF.
Let me abundantly encourage our public servants to review the Save Fairfield Lake State group page on Facebook to understand how important this park is to save!
Thank you Dennis for sharing your story and heartfelt plea to save the state park! I hope to share one or two more interviews like this in the next few days to week. Please share this with your friends, family, and representatives. The state park needs to stay in the news cycle while bills continue to migrate through the legislature. Don’t give up on the state park yet!