Goodbye to the Trinity River
All in a year and a day. All and nothing.
It was a year ago December 7th. 2021, that a letter went from the buzzing busy offices at the City of Denton’s Gary R. Packan TO the Fort Worth Unit of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
That letter was innocuous enough, somewhat a base-touching letter that was an attempt to confirm the sharing of our money (tax dollars) to fund research (waste time, pay more staff or award contracts) on the Denton Trinity River Greenbelt log jam (debacle) that runs from below the Ray Roberts Lake Dam – down the Trinity River intermittently completely blocking the River’s abundant nature from passing through an d moving at points – to the silt laden outflow into the once fish lush north end of Lewisville Lake Lake Dallas.
A year has passed. That needed repeating. A letter with no apparent response*, and absolutely zero progress if you don’t count …
Remember, the wiser minds at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, I can only guess for what reason, went into the decimated Denton Greenbelt HWY 380 park and made it “open” for use?
The parking lot was scraped free of the mud and silt where the Trinity River was forced into crossing over into the trees of Lewisville Lake. The restrooms and signage were freshly replaced, repainted and readied.
Left untouched, unanswered, un-mentioned and unaddressed? The log jam that sat right where the actual Denton Greenbelt HWY 380 is located. So what happened? The next big rains came, the Trinity River hit the huge log jam, and turned left.
Down went the HWY 380 Greenbelt Park – submerged, signage damaged, trails damaged, rebuilt restrooms and that beautiful parking lot again damaged. So what was the point of that exercise in tax dollar waste by the local Texas Parks And Wildlife Department? Will we ever know what the point was for that waste?
After another cleanup closure, the Denton 380 Greenbelt Park was opened again, this time to a lot less fanfare. And the log jam? Oh, heck yes, it’s still there.
Will we ever know what is happening with the Denton Trinity River Greenbelt Log Jam debacle? Probably not if you are counting on me to carry the torch. I am snuffing that out in saltwater. Will this simple little article have any impact? Well, look at the track record:
These wasteful short-sighted bureaucrats are still working, and still getting paid to work, while doing what? They live for the next day, the next raise, and that day when all the numbers line up to a fat retirement check. Like so many people in government these days, the number one priority is to keep those paychecks coming. Don’t be fooled. Their only higher calling is for higher pay.
No, this makes no difference. How can one individual all alone, combat multiple government agencies that are paid to shuffle paper between each other, fund their “studies” that take years to tell us what we already know, waste more years in an effort to make it to their retirement numbers, all the while being paid handsomely to do exactly what they are doing? How can one individual with no support of any kind from local communities of like minded people – supposed environmentalists, “concerned” fly fishers, fly fishing and fishing clubs, activists, community organizers – how can that individual with zero participation, zero involvement? continue? I can always handoff this torch though. Any takers? It takes lot more than a bumper sticker by the way! I have a hundo that says that torch never gets any farther. Silence grips …
FOLLOW UP: I sent an e mail to Gary Packan December 6, 2022, asking if *the letter he sent ever received a response from the USACE. The group response was a forward to someone else on the payroll to find out if there was ever a response from the USACE. As of this writing, there has been no response to my request. FEEL FREE to contact me if you want more names to contact regarding the Denton Greenbelt Parks. I have them all, unless they have been promoted away from this fantastic debacle.
Category: Body-Mind-Soul, Causes, Culture on the Skids, Fly Fisher Health and Wellness, Life Observed, Science and Environmental
