By Junius Stone
Texarkana Gazette
Texarkana residents enduring the dog days of summer with myriad distractions have one less this summer.
Those wanting an escape from the clinging, muggy heat of August will have to look somewhere besides the large pond (or small lake, depending on who you ask) that gives Spring Lake Park its name. The spring-fed lake has been a constant presence for decades-a place for people to fish, wander around and reflect and a home for many fish, reptiles and waterfoul, as well as other birds who like to nest in water-side vegetation.
This year, things have changed.
"What are they doing? I had no idea this was going on," said Virgina Smith, who moved here four months ago. She has been an infrequent visitor to the park in that time, but the sight of the large mud hole caught her off guard.
The park's signature body of water has been in need of some tender, loving care for some time. Over the decades, a buildup of silt has gradually raised the lake's bottom, making it difficult for all the animals living there.
The lake had become so shallow that sunlight could reach the bottom of it at all points. This encourages vegetation to take root and grow, changing the oxygen level in the water and making it more difficult for fish to breathe. The sunlight also means fewer hiding places and less shelter for the water-dwelling fauna. Over time, the pond could turn into a fetid swamp.
The city of Texarkana, Texas, has begun a project to rejuvinate the pond, making it deeper again at all points and stabilizing it. Once done, it will be a much nicer and healthier place for the animals that live there and human visitors. But for now, with the water drawn out and the fish and many of the reptiles removed, it is a smelly, drying mud pit-not what most park-goers show up to see.
"I saw it on Facebook the first time," said Ashley Gill, a life-long Texarkana resident. "I saw the city posting pictures, but today is the first time I've seen it for myself."
Gill was enjoying a relaxing day at the park's Rotary Splash Pad, one of the more popular summer attractions and one of the few places people were spending their time on a sweltering Friday afternoon. Gill saw past the dismal look of the forlorne, empty pit to what city officials look to accomplish in several months.
"I think it is pretty cool. (It) needs to be deeper for the fish," she said. "(It'll) be sad for those who fish out there over the summer not to have it, but it sounds like things will be much better when they are done."
A disc golfer making the rounds of one of Spring Lake Park's three courses conceded that draining and renovating the lake is the right move, despite the unattractive and smelly state of the lake and the remaining birds' less than ideal circumstances.
"Not fun coming out here and watching the ducks and geese struggle to cling to the shade under the trees and the little rivulette coming from the spring (that feeds the pond and gives Spring Lake Park its name). Not fun at all," said James, who did not wish to give his full name.
"But yeah, I get it. It is hot and dry during this time of year. If they're gonna get those shovels in there and dig out that mud, they need it drier so they can get in there. That's what it's like this time of year. If they had waited to any other season, it would have been a lot harder to do this," he said.
He made as if to hurl a disc, then paused and said, "Should be a lot nicer when they are done. I'll be playing out here over the next several months regardless."