TYLER, Texas — A dispute over a piece of land in Henderson County is headed for the courts. The issue is who has rights to the land? Is it the landowner, the state, the county or the hunters and anglers who have used the land for generations?
In this week's Hooked on East Texas, CBS19 looks into the fight and what's possibly at stake.
Fences can keep people out or draw property lines, but this fence at the end of FM 1667 in Henderson County is dividing the county. There's a battle over a piece of land called The Cutoff sits just beyond the fence. A group called Save The Cutoff wants to see this fence removed.
“We don't like it. We just want to go fishing. We want to go hunting. We want to launch our boats and just go on about our day not bother anybody," said Billy Dowell, a member of Save The Cuttoff.
Group organizer Dustin Baker added they just want access back to the public, like free and unimpeded all-weather access.
CBS19 took a trip down to The Cutoff, also called Creslenn Lake, to see why the Save The Cutoff group is passionate about hunting and fishing here and learn why the area is called The Cutoff.
It's called The Cutoff because it is a cutoff portion of the Trinity River channel. The Cut-Off portion was separated from the main channel of the Trinity River in the 1920s as part of a levee project.
Why is The Cutoff so important to the Save The Cutoff organization? Well it's because gives people access to 12 miles of the original Trinity Riverbed, and it looks about as natural as it can be.
“You might go down there and fish 10 hours. You might see two other boats maybe. So it's nice," Dowell said.
The property owner, Iron River Ranch, built the fence in 2022. CBS19 reached out to the landowner for comment, but we haven’t heard back. Dowell said the Save The Cutoff has a simple request.
“We want the fence removed. We want our access back, whether it be at the boat ramp like it used to be, or right here, like it was before they put the fence up," Dowell said.
But the solution isn’t simple. The State of Texas owns the surface water. The property owner owns the land. The Texas Department of Transportation, which maintains FM 1667, ordered the landowner to remove the fence as it sits on a state right-of-way. Our open records request to TxDOT has gone unanswered.
At the moment, access to The Cutoff is winding its way through the legal system. So until the issue is settled, members of Save The Cutoff slide boats under the fence and slowly travel the waterway, stopping to fish.
“You could, but why would you want to? I mean, like I said, rights, right and wrongs wrong. This is a very, very unique water body," Baker said.
Despite the fence and the sign, Save The Cutoff maintains the landowner won’t press charges because they say the state owns the water.
“He knows it. We know it. If it was, they'd already arrested us 10 times for it," countered Dowell.
Another reason to Save The Cutoff organization hopes to keep access open is because they're afraid if the court finds in the favor of the landowner, that this could be precedent setting.
“It will. It'll set a precedent for the future landowners to be able to come in and pave the way through politics. To close these public places to hunt fish," Baker said with concern.
A decision on who has access to The Cutoff could come Tuesday, Oct. 22. That's when a ruling could come down at a hearing in Judge Dan Moore's courtroom in Athens.
CBS19 will bring you updates as they become available.
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