Lake Texana is a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

on the

Navidad River The Navidad River is a -long coastal river in the U.S. state of Texas that runs roughly parallel to its sister river, the Lavaca River. It is not spring fed, and all of its volume is runoff, which eventually provides for much of the water in Lake ...

, east of Edna, in Jackson County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The reservoir is formed by the construction of Palmetto Bend Dam. The dam and lake are managed by the

Lavaca-Navidad River Authority The Lavaca-Navidad River Authority or LNRA was formed in August, 1941 by the Texas legislature. Its regulatory authority is authorized by Article 16, Section 59, of the Texas Constitution, codified in Vernon's Annotated Texas Civil Statutes as Ar ...

, and supply water to surrounding communities and industries. Lake Texana is the only reservoir managed by the Authority.

Fish and plant populations

Lake Texana has been stocked with fish intended to encourage recreational fishing. Fish present in Lake Texana include

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

, white

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

white bass The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (''Morone chrysops'') is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12-15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white s ...

hybrid striped bass A hybrid striped bass, also known as a wiper or whiterock bass, is a hybrid between the striped bass (''Morone saxatilis'') and the white bass (''M. chrysops''). It can be distinguished from the striped bass by broken rather than solid horizonta ...

, and sunfish. A variety of native plant species thrive in the lake, including, coontail,

spikerush ''Eleocharis'' is a virtually cosmopolitan genus of 250 or more species of flowering plants in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words ἕλειος (''heleios''), meaning "marsh dweller," and χάρις (''charis' ...

cattail ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in A ...

pondweed Pondweed refers to many species and genera of aquatic plants and green algae: *''Potamogeton'', a diverse and worldwide genus *''Elodea'', found in North America *''Aponogeton'', in Africa, Asia and Australasia *''Groenlandia'', a genus of aquatic ...

, bull's tongue,

pickerel weed ''Pontederia'' is a genus of tristylous aquatic plants, members of which are commonly known as pickerel weeds. ''Pontederia'' is endemic to the Americas, distributed from Canada to Argentina, where it is found in shallow water or on mud. The gen ...

, and

duckweed Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose ...

. Three exotic, invasive species exist in the lake:

water hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range.hydrilla ''Hydrilla'' (waterthyme) is a genus of aquatic plant Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from ...

and

giant salvinia ''Salvinia molesta'', commonly known as giant salvinia, or as kariba weed after it infested a large portion of Lake Kariba between Zimbabwe and Zambia, is an aquatic fern, native to south-eastern Brazil. It is a free-floating plant that does n ...

. The giant salvinia is presently limited to the Sandy Creek arm of the reservoir. There are also American alligators.

History

Palmetto Bend Dam was begun in 1968 and completed in 1980 by the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

at a cost of approximately $92 million. The resulting reservoir covered the ghost town of Texana, which had been founded in 1832 near the junction of the Navidad and Lavaca rivers. A

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

to convey to Texas ownership of the dam and reservoir project was introduced by Congressman

Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as well ...

on August 2, 1999. After paying the "adjusted net present value of current repayment obligations" (an amount approximated to be $45 million in September 2000), Texas assumed responsibility for all aspects of operation, maintenance, and replacement of the dam and reservoir, a responsibility transferred to the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority.

References

External links

Lavaca-Navidad River Authority

Lake Texana - Texas Parks & Wildlife
* {{authority control Texana Protected areas of Jackson County, Texas Dams in Texas United States local public utility dams Dams completed in 1980 Bodies of water of Jackson County, Texas