County Works To Turn Coal Site Into Recreation Spot
Published Jan 24, 2008
In northern Grimes County, the 2,500-acre Gibbons Creek Reservoir already furnishes an abundance of recreational activities.
But Research Valley residents haven’t seen anything yet.
The reservoir, developed by the Texas Municipal Power Agency in 1981, could be joined by a 10,500-acre nature area in the next decade that would put Grimes County on the conservation map.
The TMPA operates a 462-megawatt power plant in nearby Carlos and, until 1996, mined lignite coal on the 10,500 acres it’s now reclaiming for recreational uses. The power agency switched to a powder form of coal shipped in from Wyoming and now is meeting the demands of the Texas Railroad Commission for restoring the property.
“It’s a lengthy process,” says Jan Horbaczewski, TMPA’s mine, land and environmental manager. Meanwhile, the Texas branch of The Conservation Fund is raising funds to negotiate a purchase of the property, possibly for use as a future state park. “They’ve been coming to us ahead of the game to try to get something organized. We can’t release the land until we have the reclamation bond from the railroad commission.”
Some land could be released as early as 2007, with the multi-stage process stretching to 2015. An abundance of wildlife already re-established on the property excited Brazos Valley Council of Governments officials about the possibility of acquiring the site.
“Right now, it’s in the planning stages, and we’re trying to get funding from the state,” says Mary Cunningham, executive director of the Grimes County Chamber of Commerce.
A byproduct of the mining and strict state oversight is that the reclaimed recreation area will be better than new, says Horbaczewski, with 10 percent of the property now in the form of 46 ponds once used as mining control structures.
“It’s quite a bit better than pre-mining (days),” he says, noting that the original land amounted to a few inches of topsoil over an acid clay base. Now the soils have been restored to a 4-foot depth, with reseeded Bermuda grass, shrubbery and new trees anchoring the soil.
Development of the site would give Research Valley a pair of prime outdoor attractions. Lake Somerville to the west in Burleson County ranks as one of Texas’ largest lakes, with 85 miles of shoreline.
Story by Gary Perilloux
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