On May 22, the city of San Marcos implemented temporary chain link fencing at Rio Vista Park.
The fences were part of the “Managed Access Test Plan” (MATP), which provided clear access points managed by park ambassadors and city staff on weekends and holidays throughout the summer. The fencing was implemented to mitigate issues faced in previous summer seasons, such as litter and safety concerns.
In 2024, city staff reported 8,714 violations out of 13,113 visitors. Violations included issues surrounding possession of alcohol in the parks, charcoal grills, tents and the single-use container ban.
“[The MATP] was nothing more than to bring organization to what had previously been chaos,” Tiffany Williams, San Marcos city marshal, said at an Oct. 8 city council work session. “This was a test. Before we throw money at anything, we want to know, is there any way we can test what we’re doing?”
According to data from the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan (EAHCP) presented at the Oct. 8 work session, there were about 420 cubic feet of litter removed from the river between May and August in 2024. In 2025, there were about 350 cubic feet removed.
The litter boats also saw a slight decrease in volume from summer 2024 to 2025.
David Zambrano, education and outreach coordinator for The Eyes of the San Marcos River, said there was a stark difference between the two summers.
“Every single week was atrocious in one respect or another [in 2024],” Zambrano said. “We were finding much bigger piles where it was evident someone had taken in a couple coolers, a grill, basically every single thing that the new signage said ‘Please don’t bring in here.’ There really wasn’t any sort of enforcement in place.”
Williams said the access points allowed park ambassadors to educate visitors on the rules of the parks, making the river a safer and cleaner environment overall.
Virginia Parker, executive director of the San Marcos River Foundation, said the positive effects of the fencing outweighed its aesthetics.
“No one was turned away, but they became more aware of the rules,” Parker said. “If we can see an improvement and less trash, less fights or less safety concerns, that’s a win for everybody, including the river.”
Zambrano said while there was less impact than previous summers, there was still too much. He said cleanups done by The Eyes were still necessary in order to preserve the beauty of the river.
“I suspect that the enforcement piece was pretty lacking,” Zambrano said. “[The fencing] still encouraged people to get away with what they could. The cleanups were still necessary, we just weren’t pulling out the same scale of trash we were the previous summer.”
During the Oct. 8 meeting city staff said the look of the fences was the primary complaint, along with the number of visitor vehicles continued to exceed available parking spaces, and recreators weren’t able to easily access the Lions Club concession trailer.
“We’ve taken a significant decrease in sales at Rio Vista,” Corey Wheeler, San Marcos Lions Club president, said at an Aug. 5 city council meeting. “We’re still committed to paying what we need to pay to the city to keep that open, and we’re working on … solutions to that in the future.”
Zambrano said overall, the fencing did its job and provided the river with a chance to breathe, and he hopes to see it back in place.
River recreation is a large part of life in San Marcos, and Parker said river protection is crucial. She said as drought conditions continue and commercial developments rise in central Texas, residents and visitors must remember how lucky they are to have the San Marcos River.
“We have one of the most beautiful rivers in Texas. It’s a unique opportunity to experience nature in a way that you can’t in other areas of Texas,” Parker said. “You cannot love something if you don’t experience it, and you don’t want to protect something you don’t love, right?”
