Los Fresnos Nature Park Shaping Up

by Tony Vindell/LFN

A one-of-a-kind nature and trail park is under construction in Los Fresnos and it will give area residents the opportunity to watch wildlife and to get fit when completed.

The facility is being built just north of the city off FM 1847 on 22 acres of land. A sign detailing the funding for the project shows an $800,000 figure but it’s expected to cost a lot more.

The state of Texas allocated $400,000 through its sporting goods taxes and the City of Los Fresnos put another $400,000 in a dollar-to-dollar matching fund and it will take more than that after everything is said and done, City Manager Mark Milum said recently.

During the last city council meeting, the administrative body approved a change order to allocate $16,141 for building a water line from the restrooms to the amphitheater.

Milum said when the park project was approved it didn’t include building the water line because bids approved at the time did not include that.

The city will use money from its water and sewer budget, not from its general fund.

Anna Alridge Smith, a senior project manager with Hanson Professional Services Inc., said a blind for bird viewing will have to be relocated and that a fence would be built years from now.

The park will have an eight tenths of a mile walking trail, an amphitheater, picnic areas, bird and butterfly viewing areas and even a community garden.

At the council meeting, an issue of removing invasive vegetation and replacing it with native trees and shrubs was brought up.

Alridge Smith said Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is aware of that and it has no objection.

Since part of the park goes around an existing Resaca, removing the vegetation will be a big task.

The park under construction is the second such facility under construction here.

The city is also building a community or neighborhood recreational area called Montes-Castro Park on Ninth Street and it’s scheduled to open this summer.