TXST tree removal upsets residents

Texas State University is clearing trees from its old golf course to make way for athletic fields, and many residents are unhappy about it.

The San Marcos Daily Record has received at least half a dozen phone calls within two days from people upset at the sight of trees being removed from the golf course this week. However, the clearing is not part of a new plan. The university closed the golf course after the October 2015 floods, which caused heavy damage at the course and its facilities. In 2016, the university announced that the course would close permanently and be converted to practice fields.

University spokesman Jayme Blaschke alluded to a recent San Marcos River Foundation (SMRF) newsletter that he said gives a good account of the changes that are occurring, including the tree clearing.

“Recent irate social media posts have been spread widely, about the changes coming to the old golf course. It is University land and has been for a long time, decades. A lot of crazy plans were defeated decades ago, that would have been harmful to water quality,” the newsletter reads.

“We and many at the Meadows Center have worked for many years on making sure the University carefully considers what it does there. It is flood plain so practice fields are a good use, with minimal footprint of buildings in a flood plain. An initial plan for some athletic fields was redrawn, with all the trees looked at carefully to see which ones can be saved by configuring the fields differently. Old trees that are at the end of their lifespan and have rotten limbs or cores will be removed, and new trees will be planted. Some big trees may be cut, but it is very few.”

Blaschke said the university, which achieved Tree Campus USA status, is already working to replace the trees that are being cleared.

“The university requires a replacement plan that incorporates an equivalent number of caliper-inches and that maintains or improves biodiversity on campus,” Blaschke said. “With regard to the planned recreation field project on the old golf course, for that project the university began planting the replacement trees this past Earth Day, and replacement plantings should be completed by next Earth Day.”

Blaschke also said the university plans to remove fewer than 10 trees — and none of those are native species.

“No oak, elm or sycamores are affected,” he said. “Only non-native trees are affected.”

The SMRF newsletter points out that there is a water quality buffer strip around the lake and the slough, where Sink Creek pours into Spring Lake, that cannot be built on as a condition of federal funds obtained years back to restore the lake.

“The golf course was loved by a few, but most certainly did not financially pay for itself and all the maintenance,” the newsletter reads. “In general, golf courses lose money all over the U.S, and many have been abandoned or changed into other uses. They can use so many chemicals that are harmful when washed into waterways by rain, so it is good that this land is lying fallow.

“The University understands that they cannot use a lot of chemicals on the planned fields, we know they already get that. We have already heard that they will not be digging up the land and installing irrigation systems because of the ban on such excavation in areas known to be historical sites. And they will be using the existing grass and not trying to do anything new, on practice fields.”

The newsletter states that posts on social media are “unfortunately putting out incorrect info” about the history of the area and other aspects of university projects around Spring Lake.

“We just remind you as you read any social media firestorms, question the info you are fed and consider sources,” the newsletter states. “It is unfortunately common these days to proclaim incorrect things loudly, and then repeat them so much that people sadly believe them.”