Lone Star Nature News Vol. 2.0
Restarting this little feature here at On Texas Nature
A year ago I wrote Lone Star Nature News Vol 1.0 with the intention of making it a regular feature here. Then Fairfield Lake State Park took most of my energy in writing and I quickly abandoned it. So, we’re going to restart it here today. I hope to make this a quarterly, if not monthly, feature.
A new trail protected by TPWD?
The 133-mile long Northeast Texas Trail is beloved by cyclists, runners and walkers, who say the trail is a slice of paradise and a rare gem. The trail, which is the longest in Texas, was developed through grant funding and is maintained largely by volunteers — which has meant that some sections are nearly impassable due to overgrown vegetation and collapsed bridges.
Under an early stages plan, the NETT could be transformed into a linear state park and added to the state parks system. And if the property is maintained by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, some trail users hope, that could mean a better-kept and more accessible trail. - via Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Back in 2013 we heard about a “new” trail in the Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine called the Northeast Texas Trail, a 133-mile long rail-to-trail corridor. We’d hiked the Appalachian and Florida Trails in 2010 and 2011 and were interested in exploring this trail and its potential so we attempted to thru-hike it over Thanksgiving break in 2013. Late on our second day we quit after spending hours fighting densely overgrown trail, making it just short of Clarksville before ditching and road walking into town to get picked up by my husband’s step-father and mom. I kept up with the NETT information for a while but stopped paying as much attention since it wasn’t in my part of the state, but recently I was surprised, and wearily interested, to hear TPWD was potentially planning to add it to their list of properties they manage. I’m skeptical about the whole situation but others reminded me that they do manage the Lake Mineral Wells Trailway and the Caprock Canyons Trailway so perhaps I’m being too judgmental post-FLSP debacle. I just know what goes into trail maintenance and it takes a lot of manpower and money. Either way, it would be great for the NETT to be open and complete for recreation!
The death of Dr. Pete A.Y. Gunter
I was completely devastated to hear about the death of Dr. Pete A.Y. Gunter about two weeks ago. Dr. Gunter is part of a long list of environmental advocates for Texas that sadly not enough Texans are aware of. I had seen Dr. Gunter’s names on several Big Thicket books in recent years but it wasn’t until the last year or so I really took a deep dive into his work. And it was extensive. I’m currently reading his book Texas Land Ethics, co-written with Max Oelschlaeger, and it’s a gut puncher. My plan was to email Dr. Gunter after I had finished the book to talk to him about it and Big Thicket things and well, this is your note to not put off reaching out to people whose work you admire, letting them know what the works means to you, because it might be too late. Dr. Gunter was 87. I have yet to see an obituary and I’m unsure if there will be one. You can take your deep dive into Dr. Gunter’s work by watching his videos at the Texas Legacy Project.
One of the first natural history books I read after I moved back to Texas in 2011, having recently spent a lot of time working in and around the Neches River near Beaumont, was Paddling the Wild Neches by Richard M. Donovan. I’d picked it up at a local REI where it had been on display and devoured it rather quickly. I was still in my adventure phase and trying to devise ways to explore Texas by whatever means I could. Paddling sounded like a possible challenge I might want to undertake. I never did but I certainly appreciated what Mr. Donovan accomplished. Not only did he write this wonderful book but he was an avid conservationist who worked hard to protect the Neches River and other areas in deep east Texas. You can also listen to his interviews at the Texas Legacy Project.
Green Source DFW, a wonderful environmental news resource for the DFW Metroplex to follow/subscribe to if you don’t already, shared this story to their Facebook account a little over a week ago and it stood out to me immediately because of its proximity to Fairfield Lake and because Richland-Chambers WMA came up a lot during discussions/arguments about TPWD land ownership in Freestone County last year. I mean, it shouldn’t be any surprise that we have pipelines everywhere in Texas, but maybe it is a surprise to one of you readers out there. Some are just well-hidden and you don’t know how many well pads and pipelines are out there until you start soaring through on Google Earth. It’s a lot.
Luckily a Dallas resident, who was out hiking on the WMA, spotted this leak and finally managed to alert the right authorities who relayed it to the pipeline operator leasing the area.
According to Southwest Operating owner John Musselman, a pumper truck drives by the wells daily. He admitted the crew missed the leak, which was located on a joint called a swage.
"We had replaced the flow lines with fiberglass so they won't rust out. Most of the lines are fiberglass or steel and have a PVC coating inside. The swage doesn't have a plastic lining," Musselman said, implying it was more susceptible to leaks.
After replacing the swage, Southwest Operating personnel contained the oily water in a berm, said Musselman. The water was sucked up with a water truck. Then an absorbant material made of coconut husks was laid out to absorb the remaining oil and then raked up. Musselman declined to respond to a follow up email from Green Source DFW as to what caused the rust coloring rimming the site, which can be seen in Koglin's photos and from satellite images.
It’s certainly one of many issues we have in Texas with regard to oil and gas drilling and transport. More to come, I’m sure.
The Texas Rivers Protection Association has an urgent request for public comments on a plan for the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority to divert up to 31 billion gallons per year from the Lavaca River for a reservoir project.
They say on their Instagram account: “TCEQ has issued a draft permit (WRPERM 13728), authorizing the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority (LNRA) to divert up to 31 billion (that’s billion with a “B”) gallons per year from the Lavaca River and store some of that diversion into a reservoir proposed to be constructed on property owned by Formosa Plastics, south of La Ward off Highway 172, directly on Keller Creek. LNRA’s primary customers are Formosa and the Corpus Christi area petrochemical complex.
Construction of this proposed reservoir and damming up the Lavaca River would surely benefit Formosa’s expansion plans (polyethylene & hexene plants) and certainly further degrade fisheries, water quality, air quality and quality of life in and around Lavaca, Cox & Keller Bays.
It is critical that we demand an environmental impact study to understand impacts on American Eels, oyster reefs, oyster drill distribution, and the effects of damming up Texas' last free flowing river. Please consider requesting the study and a public meeting.” (I edited a few typos…)
Public comments to request the study and a public meeting can be accessed here.
Interested in riparian and stream ecosystems? There’s a workshop being hosted on the Adams Bayou Watershed by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension & Research and the Texas Water Resources Institute in Orange, Tx on April 16, 2024.
“The training will focus on the nature and function of stream and riparian zones and the benefits and direct impacts from healthy riparian zones. The riparian education programs will cover an introduction to riparian principles, watershed processes, basic hydrology, erosion/deposition principles and riparian vegetation, as well as potential causes of degradation and possible resulting impairment(s) and available local resources including technical assistance and tools that can be employed to prevent and/or resolve degradation.”
Looks like there are continuing education credits available for specific sectors if you are in the region and need them! Link above gets you more information and the RSVP signup.
That’s it for this month’s news roundup. Do you have a tip or an article you’d like to share for a future newsletter? You can send it to texasconservationist at gmail dot com! Or just hit reply to this newsletter when it arrives in your inbox and you can message me there.
Misti writes regularly at Oceanic Wilderness and In the Weeds. She hosts one podcast, Orange Blaze: A Florida Trail Podcast, and recently retired The Garden Path Podcast.
I’ve submitted a comment re- the Lavaca-Navidad water diversion issue. Thanks for the info.