The Tarrant Regional Water District is charting a new course for outdoor recreation with a first-ever Recreation Master Plan. Designed to enhance access to parks, trails and open spaces, the plan will balance recreation with TRWD’s mission of water supply and flood control. Lexi McCalip is the floodway and construction director at TRWD.
We really want to be a good steward of the property and the resources that we own by making it available to the public, so they feel safe to recreate there,” McCalip said. “That’s the general theme of the whole entire document.”
McCalip explained the master plan’s creation.
“The district decided we wanted to have our first ever recreation master plan,” McCalip said. “This is the first one that we’ve ever done, although recreation has been a part of our mission for years.”
In the last year, TRWD created its recreational goals by holding 10 public meetings across Tarrant County, including sessions at Lighthouse Fellowship Church, Northwest Library and Azle City Hall. Additionally, an online survey gathered nearly 1,000 responses from residents.
“We had a lot of public input from there,” McCalip said. “This feedback helped shape the plan.”
The plan includes improvements to existing recreational sites like Eagle Mountain Park, Twin Points Park and Walnut Creek near Azle High School. The district also manages a loop trail around Marine Creek Lake and plays a role in Fort Worth’s extensive Trinity River trails.
Because easily accessible trails have already been developed, the focus is now on improvements that need to be made to the trails. One major initiative includes lighted loop trails along the Trinity River, providing a safe, illuminated space for early morning and evening recreation. The district is also prioritizing trail stripping and improving signs to enhance pedestrian and cyclist safety in high-traffic zones.
Additionally, the district is pursuing a forestry grant to plant more trees and expand wildflower areas, that will enhance erosion control while maintaining responsible land stewardship.
The master plan outlines short, mid and long-term projects with a three to fiveyear focus. Implementation depends on available funding and partnerships with local entities such as the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County and the school districts.
“The big aspirational project would be developing the Walnut Creek property into a nature reserve area,” McCalip said. “That area is going to be hard to develop. We’ll have to have significant partners with the city and the county, possibly even the school district.”
While some projects may have temporary trail closures or detours, the district will aim to minimize the disruptions.
“We always try to offer a detour of some sort to go around the construction while its happening,” McCalip said. “We try to work through the progress and let people still have access around the site. But when it is under full construction, we can’t let the public in there when we have big heavy equipment.”
As funding becomes more available and partnerships are formed, residents can expect to see more state-of-theart enhancements to the local parks and trails — giving the community better access to outdoor recreation.
Large mouth bass caught in Eagle Mountain Lake, out from Shady Grove park. PHOTO COURTESY JULIE INCE
