Despite many efforts over the last few months by Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) Chairman Aplin, TPWD executive staff, and various legislators (including Chairmen Perry and King, Senator Schwertner, and Rep. Harris), negotiations for the purchase and continuance of Fairfield Lake State Park are not progressing.
Fairfield Lake State Park is located 6.5 miles from the city of Fairfield and has been operating for more than 50 years with 80,000 visitors a year is under a no-cost lease agreement with Luminant (owned by Vistra Corp). The park sits on the southwest side of the 2200-acre lake, which is used to cool Luminant’s power plant. The State Park has two boat ramps to access the lake, a popular local fishing spot for bass and catfish. Along with fishing, the park was one of many state parks that offered drawn hunts for white-tailed deer.
As such, we wanted to alert you to a looming deadline that TPWD faces. Luminant/Vistra and Todd Interests, a development company from Dallas that has the property under contract and who plan to extinguish the state park lease if they proceed, have told TPWD and key legislators that if some arrangement is not worked out by February 3rd, the Department will be given a 120-day notice of lease termination. That would mean the Department would need to start making plans immediately to close the park, just as we begin celebrating the State Parks Centennial year. Losing a state park and a hugely popular 2,200-acre adjoining fishing lake to a private real estate development is not desirable for the state, the public, or conservation and outdoor recreation interests.
Multiple meetings and conversations with Todd Interests and Luminant/Vistra have been held, but to date, there has not been any impending agreement that could keep the state park from closing. Luminant/Vistra has elected to sell their entire property and has a contract to sell the approximately 5,000-acre property, including the state park property and the lake, to Todd Interests for a high-end golf course development and private lake. Todd Interests and Luminant/Vistra have told TPWD and Legislative leadership that the state park lease will not be continued, as the property and lake will be developed and marketed as a private, gated lakefront community with exclusive access to the lake.
TPWD also wants to buy the Vistra/Luminant land and lake, to continue and expand the state park. This would greatly expand Texas public lands and critical fishing and hunting access. Senators Perry and Schwertner, District representatives, and Chairman King and Rep. Harris, who also represents the district, favor keeping the park and acquiring the property. TPWD has until February 3 to see if a solution can be agreed upon. Chairman Aplin and the TPWD Commission will discuss this issue publicly at the Commission work session on Wednesday, January 25, 2023.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers will always fight to keep public lands in public hands. The Texas Chapter is committed to saving Fairfield State Park and the important access it holds to the public for outdoor recreation, hunting, and fishing. Please let TPWD and your elected officials know to keep this public land. Listed below are contacts for specific officials vital to the representation of this issue and links to public testimony for the January 2023 TPWD Commission Meeting.
Streaming Event Access and Public Testimony Instructions weblink: https://tpwd.texas.gov/about/remote-participation
Who represents you? Click here to find your local representative.
The Honorable Charles Perry
State Senator
Chair on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, TX 78711
512-463-0128
512-463-2424
The Honorable Charles Schwertner
State Senator
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, TX 78711
The Honorable Tracy King
State Representative
Room GW.16
P.O. Box 2910
Capitol Station
Austin, TX 78711
About Kyle Mobley
Kyle Mobley is the Texas Chapter Communications Chair and currently lives in Cypress, Texas with his wife. He is finishing a degree in Environmental Conservation where his studies focus on wildlife management and historical ecology.