State parks near San Antonio could face same threat as closed North Texas park

"People need the opportunity to come and experience nature, to experience the serenity of what it feels like to sit on the lake shore and hear the leaves rustling and the waves of the lake lapping against the shore," Fairfield Park Superintendent Daniel Stauffer said.

The beautiful waters of Fairfield Lake in North Texas are at the center of a storm brewing around our state parks. If lawmakers don't take action, the public may never see those waters again.

"The State of Texas has made a vast amount of improvements. We've put in hiking trails, we put in camping spaces, we've got two boat ramps people can use," Stauffer said.

The Fairfield Lake was created in 1969 by damming Big Brown Creek to make a cooling reservoir for the Big Brown power plant. The land around it was granted a state park designation in 1976.

In 2018, the power plant was decommissioned. By April of 2021, it was demolished. And, almost two years later came more shocking news: Vistra Corporation, which ran the plant, was selling the 5,000-acre site. 

An investment firm in Dallas is now planning to build a private, gated community there. 

"Yeah, it's been a real gut punch to me and the people here, as well as the people of Texas," Stauffer said. "There will be no more access to the lake, no more camping opportunities, fishing opportunities, boating opportunities. So the public will no longer be allowed into the state park or access to Fairfield lake." 

And the investment firm buying the site was not willing to negotiate.

State Rep. Angelia Orr (R-D13), whose district includes Fairfield State Park, co-authored a bill that could prevent this from happening in the future.

"I'm very confident that we're going to save this state park," Orr said. 

House Bill 4757 requires whoever owns the land and lake to get TCEQ and Texas Parks and Wildlife's permission before a drop of water is removed from the lake. An added amendment would ensure "historical public access," meaning even if there is a gated community, anybody who lives outside can still use the lake.

"Well, that's been the goal all along—just to get to the table to talk. And I would think this would be very instrumental in that," Rep. Orr said. "I think this bill gets the parties back to the table so that we can have a conversation about it… and I think the result in that conversation will be that we save this state park." 

Fairfield Lake is not the only such wilderness area in this situation. There are 15 total state parks leased from other organizations. The two closest to the Alamo City are Lake Casa Blanca in Laredo, which is leased from Webb County, and Choke Canyon, which is leased from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

State Sen. Charles Schwertner also represents the Fairfield Lake area and says the legislature is not stopping with Fairfield.

"The state has put in millions, tens of millions of dollars in improvements since 1976, in the state park… and so that needs to be recognized as well," Sen. Schwertner said.

He says there are amendments in the state budget to examine all the state park leases, adding work is being done to make sure the state gets the first crack at any current leased park land whenever it sells. 

"If we do have that option and opportunity to lease – essentially for free – a piece of property and turn it into a state park, that the state's interests are protected and that we are first in line and have a right of first refusal if that property owner decides to divest of that property," Sen. Schwertner said.

Many of the leased parks are on federal land, so the chances are low this battle would come up again. But, until the governor signs the bill, there remains a chance.

"We have so little access as it stands now," Stauffer said. "Losing any piece of that would be a tragedy."

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