Townhall meeting against Marvin Nichols

Texas, a group of citizens from across the area that are determined to continue the fight against the lake’s inclusion in the State Water Plan.

Speakers at the event included those who have fought the lake’s existence for more than two decades like Janice Bezanson of the Texas Conservation Alliance, and Region D rep Jim Thompson of Ward Timber.

Bezanson told all of those gathered at the meeting, “Hundreds of people are going to be losing their homes because of this. And if they don’t want to sell their land to the people building the reservoir, then the land will be condemned under eminent domain, and they will be forced to sell.”

That sentiment has been the prevailing thought since day one, with local landowners determined to not give up their farms and ranches for a Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex water supply. At the heart of the matter is that most of those landowners line today on homesteads that have been a part of their family’s heritage for generations.

Thompson, who as an employee of Ward Timber, knows better than most the catastrophic implications to the Northeast Texas timber industry if the reservoir is ever built. He said, “The Dallas-Fort Worth area does not need this reservoir to have ample water supplies in the future,” he said. “There are many other options available to them. First and foremost, they have conservation.”__

The reservoir had been kept out of the State Water Plan for years thanks to the efforts of a lawsuit, and the overwhelming opposition here in Northeast Texas. Last year, Region C (Dallas) was able to push it through and it was included in the 2022 version of the water plan. Preserve Northeast Texas and many more seek to now see it removed.

From its inception, Marvin Nichols has been widely referred to as an Unnecessary land grab. Shirley Shumake, from DeKalb, is one of those homestead owners who has fought for the last 20 years to keep her family’s homeland and heritage being put under water. Shumake and her brother, Max, were even recognized nationally for their conservation efforts in stopping the lake’s construction.

Shumake said, “It’s a land grab. It is nothing more than those folks in Dallas coming over here and taking our land so they can water their lawns and fill up their swimming pools. We don’t need the water, they do.”

The 66,000 acre footprint of the lake is just the beginning of what Shumake refers to as a “land grab” as another 100,000 plus acres would be required for mitigation. In all, close to 200,000 acres would be erased from the useable footprint of Northeast Texas and forever be buried underwater, off the tax rolls and unavailable for any constructive use.

Bezanson also stated, “This is privately owned land… It’s family land. It’s land that provides their livelihoods. It’s where they hunt, fish and gather their families for weekends -- and it’s where they live.”

At an estimated cost now of more than $4.5 billion, Marvin Nichols comes at a cost that most of us here in Northeast Texas are simply unwilling and unable to bear, in the light that the benefits of the expense do not exist.