Max Shumake, spokesman for the Sulphur River Oversight Society, traded the wilds of the Sulphur River bottoms in Bowie County recently for the wilder still halls of the Texas Capitol in Austin to talk to key lawmakers and commissioners about why the Marvin Nichols Reservoir is a bad idea.

"If that water is worth so much, why would we consider letting Dallas have anything to do with it, why are we not going about the business of trying to develop that water ourselves?" Shumake asked Senator Bill Ratliff during a 50-minute meeting with the Mount Pleasant state legislator Monday morning in his Austin office. Ratliff has long supported the project and received a lot of flak from lake opponents over that support.

"This is not a whim on my part," he said early in the conversation with Shumake. "It has nothing to do with politics. In fact, it would be a whole lot easier for me to cave on this issue, but I don't think it would be the best for the people of the First Senate District. I think the best thing for the people in our area is for us to develop that reservoir so it will benefit us."

Toward the end of the session, however, the Senator made one concession after Shumake informed him of the Army Corps of Engineers' proposal to free up as much as 300,000 acre-feet of water in the existing Wright Patman and Cooper reservoir systems through a reallocation of flood storage.

"I would want to hear it from somebody in a very responsible position in the Corps of Engineers to tell me that they're willing to give up flood control to do this," the senator remarked. "I still don't know whether it would stop the reservoir. It might put it off a few more years if somehow you could convert flood storage in Cooper to available water. I can understand that. But I would need that from a very high source."

While no promises were made, the concession was still encouraging to Shumake who, like many of his neighbors, stands to lose hundreds of acres of land that has been in his family since 1839 if the reservoir, hyped by water developers as the answer to the Dallas area's future water needs, is built. "It's not just heritage," he said. "A lot of us make our living off of the land. There's no way we can be compensated for what we're going to lose."

Over the past year, the ranks of private landowners, concerned citizens, environmental groups and representatives from the timber industry have swelled, joining Shumake to fight the 72,000-acre lake many believe is wasteful and unnecessary. At the heart of the battle for many is the lack of conservation efforts by Dallas who has the highest per capita water usage in the state. They would foot the $1.7 billion price tag on the project in return for 80-percent of the water it collected. Those frustrated over the region's high water-consumption are not without allies in Austin. Although he has not stated a view on the reservoir issue specifically, Rep. Robert Puente, Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, recently said at a conference on groundwater issues, "Conservation is the cheapest source of water available. Conservation is going to be a key issue in this legislature."

Shumake found a similar reaction in meetings with Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's aide Carmen Cernosek when he met with them Monday.

Last year, a contingent of lawmakers from Northeast Texas also indicated hesitation to support the reservoir project. In August 2002, U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin and then State Reps. Barry Telford, Mark Homer, Tom Ramsay and Bob Glaze asked Region D water planners to withdraw their recommendation of the project until more studies could be done. The planners responded last December with an amendment to the Region D Water Plan that downgraded the status of the reservoir from "proposed" to "potential." The move encouraged opponents of the reservoir and stiffened their resolve to see it taken off of the Region C plan as well.

It was with that aim in mind that Shumake met with Combs, Patterson and Cernosek, looking for their support and help. "I don't like it," remarked Commissioner Patterson, looking over a map of the potential reservoir LaNell Ashton from his office had made. Throughout the footprint of the lake footprint were shaded blocks of blue and yellow representing mineral interests, although Ashton said the state had no surface interests there. Ashton was also interested to learn of veteran tracts scattered throughout the area, which she promised to "do some homework on."

Commissioner Combs noted that "and I win/you lose deal is really bad public policy." She suggested there were other models throughout the state to look toward as an alternative to the massive reservoir. By example, she mentioned San Antonio. "San Antonio had twice or three times turned down the Applewhite Reservoir. This was huge, a monster," she said. "It ended up they're now going to get 150,000 acre-feet a year off of four very small reservoirs, all voluntary."

Like Ratliff, she had not yet heard of the Corps' proposal for reallocating water in the existing Sulphur River reservoir system, but was encouraged by the news.

The meeting with the lieutenant governor's aide Cernosek was also mostly positive, although not as definite."Have I heard for or against? No, and I probably won't," Cernosek said after being asked what Dewhurst's position on the Marvin Nichols project is. "But we think we can do a lot without building additional reservoirs."

Cernosek indicated doubt that the reservoir was a sure thing at all, and that alternatives should be given careful attention. While Shumake had his own agenda and key political figures to meet with on his visit to Austin, the trip was scheduled to coincide with an environmental lobby day and lobby-training session hosted by the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. Folks from different parts of Texas gathered to learn about important issues coming up in the legislature this session and to lobby their legislators to consider the environment when they cast their votes.

Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the Texas Committee on Natural Resources (TCONR) have played a huge role in publicizing and supporting efforts to defeat the reservoir. Janice Bezanson, Executive Director of TCONR, prepared a lobby packet on the reservoir issue and accompanied Shumake to his meetings with the two commissioners. In addition to presenting reservoir information to Ratliff, Rep. Barry Telford whose office he stopped by briefly and even to Rep. Ruben Hope of Conroe, member of the Natural Resources Committee, with whom he shared a table over lunch, Shumake also provided the legislators with information on other environmental concerns such as the rising levels of mercury in fish and other potential environmental hazards posed by coal-burning power plants.

Shumake also participated in a water rally on the Capitol steps staged to encourage lawmakers and the general public alike to give thought to water-conservation efforts. At least four different bills concerning different aspects of water conservation will come before the House and Senate this session.

Late in the afternoon, Shumake walked toward the parking garage ready to begin his long trip back to De Kalb laden down with paperwork, notes and lobby packets from his various meetings throughout the day. He expressed regret that he was not able to visit with even more legislators on this trip. Still, he was encouraged by the meetings he had.

"I am elated over the positive attitudes of the majority of the officials that I spoke with," he said afterward. "We only need to now convey these water conversation measures over to our friends and neighbors in the Region C area."