The Devil's River You Know

Devil's River State Natural Area in Val Verde County (by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

It’s almost 20,000 acres of lush, roughing-it hiking trails and camping grounds. Cacti speckle the remote site and a sparkling blue river rushes through on its way to Lake Amistad. The Devil’s River State Natural Area is a gem for nature lovers and newcomers alike, but it may soon be gone.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department would like to trade the area and $8 million for a new state park just up the road in Val Verde County. The money for the sale will come from state, private and federal sources, including $2 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund that can only be used to acquire park land.

Almost 3,000 acres smaller, the new park, Devil’s River Ranch, is more easily accessible than the Devil’s River State Natural area, which requires four-wheel drive and only sees about 1,000 visitors a year.

Ted Hollingsworth, director of land conservation at TPWD, says the main issue is the 22 miles of road that park staff and visitors must traverse to get to the river. The road has at least 30 drainage points, but is still susceptible to flooding and being washed out. "We’ve had problems with visitors and staff being stranded for days at a time," Hollingsworth said. "It’s not about getting more people, it’s about making the river more accessible to Texans."

Hollingsworth also added that there is 10 miles of river frontage on the ranch versus just one and a half in the state natural area.

If the swap is approved by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, the state natural area will become private property that is protected by a conservation easement.

The commission is expected to make a decision about the deal in a public meeting on Nov. 4. The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club is concerned not only about the timing of the swap, which was announced less than two weeks ago, but also about the fate of the natural area. "In our opinion, the agency has not yet made a compelling case for taking the Devil’s River State Natural Area out of the state park inventory," Chapter Director Ken Kramer wrote in a letter to the department.

"We don’t dispose of land very often, but when we do, it attracts a lot of attention, as well it should," Hollingsworth said. "I’m very pleased that there are this many people who feel so strongly about public lands. No one is denying that the state natural area is a special piece of property."

At a meeting on Wednesday hosted by TPWD in Del Rio, landowners near Devil’s River State Natural Area expressed concern about the upkeep of the park.

"The existing property has some very significant springs. The protection of those springs is important not only from water quantity perspectives – they are quite large, and spring flow is quite critical there – but also from a water quality perspective," said Tyson Broad, a part-time research associate at the Sierra Club. "How the land is managed in the future could have a significant impact on the water quality."

In addition, the state natural area provides the only public camping for travelers on Devil’s River below Baker’s Crossing, the only public upstream river access. "If you take that point out, there are no public lands for people to camp," Broad said. "It’s going to make it a very long, two-day trip. There are [also] probably going to be more land owner-boater conflicts."

TPWD will host a final, public meeting to discuss the issues surrounding the trade on Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 6pm at Central Public Library in San Antonio. The Nov. 4 commission meeting will be held at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department headquarters in Austin at 9am.

"This is up to our commission to determine whether or not I will proceed with land transaction," Hollingsworth said. "They’re seeing the same comments and having the same concerns expressed to them and they’re taking them seriously. They could very well go either way on this proposal."