V Hugh Lewis II/Jefferson Jimplecute
The Cypress Valley Navigation Board received lots of public input on the possibility of making Big Cypress Bayou fully navigable from Jefferson to Lake O’the Pines during the regular meeting Monday evening.
“We’ve tossed this back and foth a couple of times on this board, but come up short on the money,” said CVNB Chair Ralph Meisenheimer. “We think this would be such a benefit to the community, but we need to solve that one issue.”
Marion County Judge Leward LaFleur encouraged the board to come up with a plan and a figure on how to clean up the waterway and to get back to the Commissioners Court to see what could be done. Jefferson Mayor Rob Baker echoed the sentiment.
“I can tell you a lot of citizens in Jefferson are interested in what can be done,” Baker said.
Mark Hays, who has the contract to keep the waterway navigable, said his big concern is the rocks which have been added for the paddlefish. He said they make getting equipment up river difficult and thus a hindrance to up-river cleanup efforts.
The “middle third” of the river was noted as the problem area.
Other issues cited was the need to extract boaters in an emergency, trash cleanup, theft of signs, and fire risks.
The Board has an annual budget of $56,500 which they receive $35,000 from Texas Parks and Wildlife, $19,000 from Harrison County, and $7,500 from Marion County. The Board also has an additional $75,000 in reserves for emergencies.
Board Member Jim McIntosh said he had been exploring grant options to help with the project and said there is funding available.
Later in the meeting the need to dredge the “Cathedral” at Caddo Lake at a cost of around $75,000 was mentioned, but funding wasn’t addressed as a concern.