A Texas State Park Is Now Extinct

Hold on, there's some rough waters ahead with this one.

The Quandary

Here's a tough question, what is more important, protecting nature or protecting freedom? It's a quandary for sure. Freedom is all-important, but who wants to live in a garbage dump?  It seems like there should always be a little wiggle-room for quality of life issues. Taking it further, what happens when the freedom to enjoy nature is only accessible to the rich? When you add in money concerns, everything gets super thorny really fast.

The Story

Once upon a time there was a park south of Dallas called Fairfield Lake State Park. The land containing the park belonged to a power company who pretty much gave the state a free ride on the portion containing the park. A developer purchased the land from that power company at which point Texas Parks & Wildlife tried to secure the park through eminent domain.

The Solution

A judge worked up a solution where local landowners would decide a fair price for the land, and that number proved to be too high.  Texas officials, in the name of fiscal responsibility walked away from the deal. Now, in place of the park will be a hi-end subdivision with all the add-ons the wealthy love like huge houses and a golf course.

The Result

All of this was a very sad end to what could have been some nice Texas public land. This type of decision is one of the things that makes Texas both great and terrible at the same time. To say any slice of nature is "not worth it" will result in a terrible price to pay somewhere down the line. On the other hand, the developer bought the land with the intent of developing it, so who can blame him?