By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
One county commissioner is working to give area residents an opportunity for outdoor
recreation along the banks of the Rio Grande.
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores is planning a new county park on
slightly more than half an acre of land the county has acquired on the banks of the Rio
Grande along Vega Verde Road in far southern Val Verde County.
The land along the river came to the county as a result of unpaid property taxes.
Flores took The 830 Times on a tour of the property recently and spoke about his plans to
place a park there.
“I want to build it into a public park for events like ‘Take a Kid Fishing.’ We’re going to
build a boat ramps and a dock so people can come and fish, but as you can see, the river
is pretty low right now,” Flores said.
The commissioner also pointed out the site has a beautiful view of the Rio Grande, both
upstream and downstream.
Flores said his Precinct 4 crew has already done some preliminary work on the property.
“There was a lot of thick brush, a lot of carrizo cane, a lot of holes in the ground. We did
a lot of clearing, and we hauled off all the brush, all the cane, and then we bladed it and
brought a track loader, and as you can see, we brought in a bunch of base materials and
put it there, right off the road,” Flores said.
“We’re going to fence that off as a parking area, because we don’t want people to drive
all the way down to the river. We want to keep it safe,” Flores added.
Flores said the county has applied for a state grant through the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department to build a boat ramp on the property.
“We want to build a (boat) ramp for the public, and of course, all law enforcement would
be welcome,” Flores said.
He pointed out there is no public boat ramp anywhere along this stretch of the river.
“I’m hoping we’ll be able to get something here in the very near future,” Flores said.
Flores said he also plans to install bird and wildlife feeders so area residents can come to
watch nature.
Reach the writer at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
