Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area dedicated to lifetime conservationist

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials recognized the achievements of the late conservation biologist Carl Frentress Saturday.

The ceremony dedicated the wetlands in southeast Navarro County and northeast Freestone County to Frentress, renaming it the Carl Frentress Unit of Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area.

During Frentress’s 30-year career with TPWD, he worked to restore native grasslands and wetlands in Texas and other states. He played a vital role in the creation of the Richland Creek WMA and the W. George Shannon Wetland Project.

Roughly 100 people attended the ceremony, including TPWD officials, community leaders, and family members. The celebration included seven memorial speeches under a tent sponsored by the Dallas Safari Club, a catered barbecue lunch sponsored by Ducks Unlimited, and a guided tour of the wetlands. Attendees also watched the installation of a large bronze plaque and a biographical panel near the area’s main entrance on Highway 287.

TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith, who presented the plaque, told attendees that dedication of a wildlife management area is a “big deal” and happens rarely.

“You heard from all the speakers that Carl was a bird of the rarest plumage,” Smith said. “There was no subject too small for Carl to know something about, and he knew it round.” 

Creation of the roughly 15,000-acre Richland Creek WMA began in 1987 to mitigate the loss of hardwoods habitat for waterfowl that occurred when the Richland Chambers Reservoir was created in 1982. The reservoir provides water to two million people in Fort Worth and Tarrant County.

The wetlands provide cleaner water while providing a habitat for migratory birds such as waterfowl. TPWD Wildlife Biologist Matt Symmank said the wetlands help filter water from the Trinity River to improve the water supply entering the reservoir.

Frentress also worked with landowners and legislators to place Proposition 11 on the state ballot, which passed in 1995. Known as the Texas Open-Space Land Tax Appraisals Amendment, the constitutional amendment allowed wildlife management lands to qualify for tax appraisals in the same manner as agricultural land. 

“His contributions and his work will no doubt be missed, but his legacy will live on,” said Lee Tackett, chief lending officer at First State Bank in Athens.

Born in Athens November 14, 1944, Frentress went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in wildlife management at Texas A&M University in 1968. After graduating, he joined the Army and worked for three years as a medic and a dental assistant in South Korea and Georgia. He also attended graduate school at Oregon State University.

After retirement, Frentress worked 14 more years as an environmental wetland consultant and helped create several local hunting organizations. He died at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in 2019 and is survived by his wife Sally and three adult children.

“Carl was our cerebral conservationist at TPWD. He was also our conscience,” Smith said.

For more information visit www.tpwd.texas.gov.