Grapevine, Texas - The Texas Backcountry Hunters & Anglers chapter held a public land clean-up day on March 11th at Lake Grapevine Wildlife Management Unit (WMA) with nineteen volunteers. Austin Lindsey and Bryce Hamilton, leaders for the North Texas BHA Region, led the clean-up with U.S. Army Core of Engineers (USACE) and Texas Bowhunter members. 

Created in 1952, Lake Grapevine is located on Denton Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River in Tarrant and Denton Counties. The area is a go-to spot in North Texas for archery whitetail, feral pigs, waterfowl, and fishing. In the 2022 season, 711 people applied for a hunting permit, with 251 selected to hunt Lake Grapevine. The application process runs through the month of July, with the draw taking place in August. Regarding fishing, the Twin Coves area holds a large amount of flooded timber that attracts largemouth bass and crappie. Grapevine Lake has many drop-offs, underwater boulders, and rocky shorelines that hold largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. The water intake near the dam has an aeration system that attracts white bass. Blue catfish are abundant and can be caught with fresh shad. 

Volunteers collected old tires, carpets, vehicle parts, coolers, scrap metal, and many old bottles and cans. The estimated weight was around 6,500 pounds of waste removed. The USACE office provided ATVs to help haul the trash out of the woods and roll off trash trailers to move everything off-site. Austin Lindsey said about the partnership with USACE, “Being supported by USACE coordination, resources, and team members was a game changer. USACE’s willingness to coordinate clean-up locations and provide maps of the specific areas really made it to where BHA could focus on having a good volunteer turnout for the event.” This clean-up was an essential event for the Texas BHA chapter to look at a local public land hunt area, organize a clean-up, and make an impact.

The Lake Grapevine WMA clean-up helped maintain a public land hunt area vital to the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex area, especially as the population continues to increase in Texas. Through local clean-ups, Texas BHA hopes to show the chapter’s commitment to stewardship of our public lands and waters. Bryce Hamilton said, “It’s important for BHA to have a presence in local clean-up events because it displays a public commitment to keep our limited amount public lands in Texas as clean as we can for all recreationists.”  The Texas Chapter of BHA will continue to host events such as public land clean-ups to continue educating the public on Texas public land issues and advance our mission to be the voice for our public lands, waters, and wildlife in Texas.

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