Catastrophic damage to timber industry likely

MARVIN NICHOLS RESERVOIR

Editor’s Note: Water rights are a hot topic right now, especially with drought conditions Some of this article series only effects our county indirectly while other pieces of the articles series affects our county directly. A sister paper out of New Boston has kindly shared his work with our paper. It is worthwhile for our county to become more involved with the conversation.

The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir will likely do catastrophic damage to the Sulphur River Basin and its pristine wildlife habitats and waterways. But, even according to the experts, the most catastrophic damage brought on by the lake will be to the Northeast Texas timber industry.

Study after study and report after report catalog the devastating numbers.

For instance, a published report compiled by the

United States Department of the Interior labels the area to be inundated as “Priority 1 bottomland hardwood habitat and is one of the nation’s most important wintering waterfowl and nesting wood duck areas.”

That same report goes on to cite a very stern warning by saying, “We are concerned that there is not enough additional high value bottomland hardwood habitat or lands suitable for habitat improvements available in the Sulphur River Basin to compensate for the large amount of habitat that would be lost due to the construction of the Marvin Nichols I Reservoir. Therefore, we recommend that other alternatives rather than reservoir construction be considered for the Dallas/Fort Worth area water supply.”

Strong words for sure from one agency to another, but those are just the tip of the iceberg.

Another exhaustive study on the impacts of the proposed reservoir, this one authored by the lead economist for the Texas Forest Service, concludes, “The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir project will have significant economic impact to the local forest industry and the economy. Under the minimum management option for the mitigation area, the forest industry of Northeast Texas would suffer an annual loss of $98.71 million in industry output…the industry would also lose $32.94 million value added, 541 jobs, and $18.73 million labor income per year.”

Those numbers might seem small to folks living in Dallas/Fort Worth, but to Northeast Texas, they are catastrophic.

In fact, Region C displayed what they thought of the economic impact to Northeast Texas in their own reports to the Texas Water Development Board that drastically reduced and even omitted completely certain aspects of the damage to the timber industry that would be brought about by the reservoir’s construction, not just in the areas that would be under water, but those areas that would be impacted downstream.

A 2014 report authored by Trungale Engineering and Science in Austin, Texas addressed those omissions by Region C.

That report cited numerous areas where the Region C reports were deficient in recognizing the negative impacts to occur in Region D.

That report states, “The Sulphur River basin downstream of the proposed reservoir supports the largest, relatively undisturbed bottomland hardwood forest remaining in Texas…The unique importance of this bottomland hardwood ecosystem is largely based on its extensive swamp communities sustained by an active regime of high and overbank flows…the proposed Marvin Nichols I reservoir will not provide sufficient frequency and duration of high and overbank flows to sustain downstream bottomland hardwood forest.”

That same report goes on to say that Region C reports “completely ignore” the downstream impacts of the proposed reservoir and substantiates the USFWS report conclusion “that there is not enough additional high valued bottomland hardwood habitat or lands suitable for habitat improvements available in the Sulphur River Basin to compensate for the large amount of habitat that would be lost due to the construction of Marvin Nichols I reservoir.”

The Trungale report concludes by stating, “Consequently, neither mitigation nor compensation is a viable means of reducing environmental impacts due to the proposed Marvin Nichols I Reservoir.”

But enough about official reports. What do the people who live here and will be impacted by those losses have to say?

Ward Timber has been one of the leading opponents of the reservoir since day one. The Tribune asked Bill Ward what he thought about the reservoir, and he issued his company’s official statement.

That statement declares, “Ward Timber is 100 percent opposed to the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir because it would be devastating to the citizens, landowners, and industries of Northeast Texas and because it is unnecessary for the Dallas-Fort Worth area to meet its water supply needs. The proposed reservoir is designated to be located in a priority bottomland hardwood forest area that would require a vast amount of land both for the reservoir and required mitigation under federal law. Marvin Nichols Reservoir would have a tremendous negative effect on Northeast Texas.”

“It would cause many landowners in Northeast Texas to lose their land through eminent domain, it would be devastating to timber and agriculture in our area, and it would put businesses and employees in peril due to the decrease in raw material supplies available for those industries.”

“Ward Timber urges all concerned citizens and businesses of Northeast Texas to unite to oppose the Marvin Nichols project. It is our firm belief that if we do, this project will not be built. It is harmful to our area, unnecessary for Dallas-Fort Worth, and is proposed on information that cannot withstand scrutiny.”