9 May 29 - June 4, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents supply the growing demand for recreational water required by the region, RCWPG has been slowly working towards constructing the reservoir, initially drawn up in 1968 by water engineer Marvin C. Nichols. The group is hoping to have cleared and flooded the Sulphur River Basin by 2050. The $7 bil- lion project involves building a pipeline to pump water 150 miles across the prairie- lands and into the more densely populated areas of North Texas. To achieve this, rural land owners would have their land seized by the government un- der eminent domain, which legally allows the government to seize private property for pub- lic use, regardless of the owner’s intention to sell. By law, the property owners must be fairly compensated, but for people like Weatherall Goforth, no amount of money would make sacrificing the land her family has owned for generations worth it. For as long as this land has been passed through family lines, East Texans have been driving hours to Austin and Dallas to oppose the Marvin Nichols Reser- voir, and will continue to do so. “We are going to win this thing,” Eddie Belcher, a seventh-generation rancher who has been speaking against the reservoir for 20 years, told the Observer after this week’s public hearing. “That’s the way we feel about it. We’re not gonna quit. I plan on be- ing there to my last days, which could be to- morrow. But we’re not gonna quit.” Losing Family Land B elcher walked into the Transportation Council Room at the North Central Texas Council of Governments build- ing in a pair of true indigo overalls. He drove two hours from the home he built by hand on his family’s land to speak in Arlington for two minutes. Without a prepared speech, and through a thick twang that only comes from a lifetime spent in East Texas, Belcher told the RCWGP about the bucolic life he enjoys, fish- ing on the farm and managing the land that has been in his family since the 1800s. If the Marvin Nichols reservoir is built, the 700-acre property that has been in the Belcher family for more than one hundred years would be underwater, relocating Belcher and erasing the physical tracings of his ancestral history. “You can’t replace that land because God’s not making no more land,” he said. “You can’t replace land when there’s no land to replace it with. It’s really, really a sore subject.” For lots of property owners in the threat- ened countryside of the Pineywoods, the loss of land prophesied by the Marvin Nich- ols Reservoir is akin to the deletion of their lineage. But aside from losing decades-old homes, most of which are the modest cre- ations of hand-laid concrete, and the un- peaceful disturbance of those laid to rest, the res- ervoir plans, some experts claim, would also have long-term negative impacts on the environment and the economy. The Pineywoods region of Texas, ex- panding across the Northeastern region of the state, is the anchor of the Texas timber industry, which is estimated to generate $41 billion each year. However, to make room for the reservoir, a significant amount of the for- ested area would be cleared. The move, which could eradicate thousands of jobs within the timber industry, would also strike the air quality benefits of the state’s only de- ciduous forest and create ripple effects across the South, according to the Preserve Northeast Texas Organization. Many say the “greedy” pursuit of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir in spite of the burdens it would create for East Texans is a failure to consider other options. “There’s so many alternatives that they won’t even talk about,” said Belcher. “We pump oil and gas all the way from the Gulf to Canada, so what’s the deal with pumping a couple hundred miles to another reservoir? Just hopscotch them to the different lakes till you get it to where you want it. There’s Lake Ray Hubbard, which they don’t pull any water out of because they claim it’s rec- reational. Well, my land is recreational land, so leave me alone.” Another solution to handling the water supply issue that will emerge as North Texas grows in population is simple water usage. Though the RCWGP claims to have more municipal conservation and three times more reuse, or the recycling of water, than any other Texas region by 2030, con- cerned parties say the region could be do- ing much more. “I’m here today mainly to put a punctua- tion point on the conservation issues that have never been addressed in 35, 40 years I’ve been following this issue,” said Lon Burnham, a Fort Worth native who repre- sented the area in the Texas House of Repre- sentatives from 1996 to 2014. “That is wastefulness in our region of water.” Burnam, who spent much of his time in the legislature fighting for increased water conservation efforts, said that at one point, Dallas-Fort Worth had the largest per cap- ita use of water of any urban area in the world. The area still has the highest use of water in the state by a margin, and falls far behind the efforts of other cities, according to Burnam. “It’s been common in this country to steal resources from the locals,” he said. “That needs to come to an end. We should not be talking about stealing water from the people of East Texas. We should be talking about water conservation. Thank you for the op- portunity to dispute the notion that anybody in this region is doing a good job on water conservation.” Though Burnam left the Legislature more than 10 years ago, bills to finally end any developments on the Marvin Nichols Reservoir have not. House Bill 2109, filed by Rep. Gary VanDeaver of the Red River re- gion, would have permanently removed plans for a new reservoir from the State Wa- ter Plan. Belcher made the five-hour drive to the Capitol in support of the bill, but traveling the state in protest is nothing new to the landowner. “I’ve gone to Austin, and knocked on doors, and spoke to everyone, and we go to meetings all over Northeast Texas,” he said. “It’s been a burden on us for a long time, and we’re ready to put a stop to it.” HB 2109 was left pending in the Commit- tee on Calendars. It’s a stall in preventing the reservoir, but Belcher says East Texans are just as willing to stall any future construction. “If it does get built. I won’t be here to see it because it’s going to be drug out for many years,” he said. “If they do start permitting it, the lawsuits will start, and it can drag on for 10, 20, 15 years.” The fight against the Marvin Nichols res- ervoir has been ongoing for years, and East Texans are determined to keep it going. “I’m really optimistic,” said Belcher. “I have a good feeling. I was kind of disheart- ened when we lost that fight in Austin, 2109 hurt. But we’re here and we’re going to keep fighting.” Nathan Hunsinger Much of the 200,000-acre East Texas region that would be flooded to form the Marvin Nichols Reservoir is generational cattle and timber land. “IT’S BEEN A BURDEN ON US ... AND WE’RE READY TO PUT A STOP TO IT.” - EDDIE BELCHER
