Friends United for a Safe Environment got an update on the Texarkana, Texas, parks system during a meeting Tuesday.
Parks and Recreation Director Robby Robertson addressed the group in the David Nelson Meeting Room at Texarkana Public Library, providing an overview of city parks and fielding questions about related environmental issues.
In a wide-ranging, informal talk, Robertson spoke about the department's efforts to plant and preserve trees in the city's parks, as well as last year's project to dredge the Spring Lake Park pond, among other topics.
Robertson said upcoming work on the trail around the pond has been planned to avoid damage to trees, and he recalled the decision to leave the Bringle Lake Wilderness Area as preserved and pristine as possible when it was created.
"We did not go in and clear cut to make a park," he said.
The department has planted more than 100 trees in city parks in recent years, and less than 10 failed to grow, Robertson said, remarking how different the soils and terrains of different parks are.
Robertson highlighted that the city has four parks with ponds, whereas many cities have none. Draining and dredging the Spring Lake Park pond last year, deepening it from about 2 feet to about 10 feet, was necessary to keep the park thriving.
"We had to save that lake," Robertson said.
Establishing a new zoo at Spring Lake Park like the one that used to be there would be too expensive, costing about $3 million to build and $1 million a year to maintain, he said.