Purtis Creek Park is ‘wonderful cooperative effort’
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Writer
EUSTACE–A switch from high tech back to nature has really worked for Purtis Creek State Park’s new superintendent.
Mendy Davis came to Purtis Creek from Lake Mineral Wells State Park back in mid-September, and has been astounded at the cooperative effort state agencies routinely put forth for the relatively tiny park three miles north of Eustace.
“I’ve never seen so many (Texas Parks & Wildlife) divisions working in cooperation to manage the resources here for the state,” she said. “It’s a wonderful cooperative effort.”
After graduating from Mineral Wells High School in 1982, Davis spent 12 years as the IT (information technology) project manager for Fort Worth-based Computer Sciences Corp. She has two grown sons and one grandchild, with a second grandbaby on the way.
To get away from computers, Davis worked part time at Lake Mineral Wells and found she enjoyed the outdoor life.
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon changed her focus forever.
“I re-evaluated what I wanted to do in my life, and decided to be a steward of our natural and cultural resources,” she said.
Joining the Lake Mineral Wells staff full-time more than six years ago, Davis became a state-certified Master Naturalist and obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2009 from Tarleton State in Brownwood.
When her Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) supervisors asked where she would be interested in serving, “I said ‘I like trees’,” she recalled.
Learning about the Purtis Creek park superintendent’s position, she visited the area and knew instantly she was home, she said.
“This park is unique in that it’s so diverse – from piney woods to open prairie and grasslands,” Davis said.
A long-standing bass “catch-and-release” program at the park produced a ShareLunker bass last year, and the fishing for other species remains robust.
The lengthy drought a few years ago helped kill off a water lily infestation, and TPWD aquatic environment specialists are helping re-introduce native plants into the lake.
“They have four species growing for us in Athens (at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center),” Davis said.
Purtis Creek also has a diverse animal population.
“Our wildlife manager, Heidi Bailey, was out this last week to check our deer herd, seeing if they have adequate nutrition and vegetation, and are not over-grazing,” Davis said.
In the past, the park has hosted youth duck hunts, and Davis said Game Warden Steve Stapleton is looking to see if the park will be able to reintroduce youth hunts next year.
“We have a very diverse staff, as well,” she added. “The people here consider our citizens as a key resource. I’m very proud of the staff we have here.”
The park is budgeted for 7.5 employees, plus a half-time senior STEP employee. An intern will be hired this summer, and nine volunteer hosts handle “myriad duties” around the park when staff members are tied up on other things, she said.
“This park has always had managers with vision,” Davis said. “They’ve worked for the future to bring in people to experience what we have here.”
New fish attractor lights and floodlights are scheduled to be installed on the park’s two fishing piers within the next 30 days or so, and the park roads are scheduled to be resurfaced during hot weather in July.
“We’re also updating our rental equipment, and adding more kayaks,” she said.
Eustace Police Chief Robert Walker and his wife Holly will be operating the park’s bait shop Wednesday through Sunday, starting March 1.
“They do a wonderful job taking care of our customers,” Davis said. “They also fix really good meals.”
A long-underway project, adding 4.3 miles of new hiking trails, is nearly complete and ready to open to the public.
Collectively known as the Wolfpen Trails, the handicapped-accessible trails will have four new guide kiosks, and new park maps showing the trails are being printed, Davis said.
The existing 1.3 mile trail to the park’s primitive camping area is unchanged, except the trail and the camping area now have a new name – the Beaver Slide Nature Path and Camping Site.
There are three new trails – the 2.1-mile blue trail, the one-mile green trail and the 1.2-mile red trail.
“We’re hoping to put in a new (RV) camping loop with 50-amp (electrical) service and sewer this fiscal year,” Davis said. “We’re also hoping to add Wi-Fi wireless Internet service on the camping loop and the boat ramp area.”
Wi-Fi service currently is available only near the park office, she explained.
The park also has a new sign, identifying it as Purtis Creek State Park, instead of Purtis Creek State Recreational Area.
“(The park) is a wonderful combined effort,” she said. “So many people are putting resources together to make this really a jewel.”