Persistence, patience and staying power, not to mention hard work, have paid off for Nacogdoches County leaders and residents with the completion of the Naconiche dam.
The community has been waiting some 40 years for the proposed Lake Naconiche and adjoining park to become a reality, and on Oct. 6, the Naconiche dam construction was certified as structurally complete.
Lake Naconiche will provide flood control for the Naconiche and Telesco creeks, said Nacogdoches County Judge Sue Kennedy.
“This will stop the flooding of several roads downstream from the dam and also open up some additional land for development or agriculture production,” Kennedy said. The reservoir project, located near U.S. Highway 59 on the Naconiche Creek about 13 miles north of Nacogdoches, includes an adjoining 35-acre park.
The idea behind the 700-acre lake dates back to the mid-1960s when Lake Naconiche was cited as one of 23 reservoirs to be constructed in a flood control project launched by the Soil Conservation Service. Naconiche dam was the last one on the list, officially designated as site 23A, said George Campbell, land agent for Nacogdoches County. The official work plan for the 23 dams was completed in 1964.
“The reason it took so long is that other reservoirs were being built early on,” Campbell said. As years passed, the project was subjected to feasibility studies, funding delays, environmental impact statements, and other forms of red tape.
When all was said and done, the county successfully acquired the necessary approval and federal funds to help support the project and park, which cost approximately $6.5 million.
The county has provided about 50 percent of the overall funding, Kennedy said, paying for its share through certificates of obligation. The United States Department of Agriculture and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have supplied the remainder of the funds.
The county was the primary player in the project, taking on the following:
Purchasing land for the reservoir, recreation area, new farm-to-market road, park access road and wetland mitigation;
Contracting with an archaeologist, coordinating an archaeological study with the Texas Historical Commission, NRCS and Caddo Indian Nations, and overseeing all three phases of the archaeological study;
Relocating all utilities and pipelines impacted by the reservoir, recreation and roads; and
Acting as the contracting officer, including overseeing the bidding process for construction, retaining the contractors, resolving construction issues, and handling payment requests and contract issues.
“The biggest challenge was daily coordination of the project,” Kennedy said. In addition, the federal funding had numerous deadlines, as did the requirements associated with the federal and state permits.
During the eight years of her judgeship, Kennedy has been “deeply involved,” Campbell said, “from financing, to being on site, to being up there in boots and jeans with a hard hat on, looking at discharge gates and pipe.”
Kennedy’s leadership coupled with the support of the people in Nacogdoches County is the reason this reservoir was built, Campbell said.
While the dam is now complete, the county will not impound any water until the construction of the recreational facilities, such as fishing piers, a scuba platform and swimming area, are finished, Campbell said. The engineering and design process should be finalized in early 2007, and the lake and park should be operational by the summer of 2007.
“The recreational aspect will bring significant tourism dollars to the county and surrounding region,” Kennedy said. The reservoir will offer picnicking, camping, swimming, diving, boating and fishing.
In addition, the lake may provide future revenues if the decision is made to expand its function to municipal water use. In fact, the lake, which belongs to Nacogdoches County, is included in the East Texas Regional Water Planning Group Water Plan as a future water source.
By Julie Anderson