National Wetlands Inventory
The I-20 playa is designated a protected wetland on the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Wetlands Inventory, together with two of the pit ponds, the ponds and marshes below the dam, and the drainages that convey storm runoff from northeast and northwest.

Naturalists and scientists have also given recognition to the I-20 playa. Burr Williams has written about the site a number of times in the Midland Reporter Telegram and on the Sibley Nature Center website; he has also documented flora and fauna at the Preserve site. David Haukos, Texas Tech University professor of biology, has included the lake in his comprehensive inventory of High Plains playas.

Midland Parks and Recreation Division
Midland Parks, Open Space, and Recreation Master Plan
The 2006 update of the City's Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Master Plan (PROSMP), conducted under the Parks and Recreation Division of the Department of Community Services, has determined that Midland's public trails, at a total of 2.65 miles, falls well below the Texas-approved national standard of 10 miles for a community with a population of 100,000 (Midland¹s present size is 100,799). See Texas Outdoor Recreation Plan (TORP) and Standards for Recreation, Park and Open Space Standards and Guidelines, 4th Printing, 1990, a publication of the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). With its planned total of 2.9 miles of preserve trails (a total of 3.4 miles with management roads useable as trails), the I-20 Preserve will thus substantially help Midland reach its goal of meeting the Texas standard. Opening of the completed I-20 Wildlife Preserve and Jenna Welch Nature Study Center will also transform the present site, used at the present informally as a local birding resource, into a substantial public habitat observation, nature education, and hiking asset.

The Preserve will serve well as a regional park by Texas TORP and NRPA standards, a facility that will be an asset to both Midland and its neighboring communities. This addition to Midland's parks and open spaces inventory, together with the trails additions, will substantially enrich the network of outdoors amenities that Midland offers to its residents. The City's commitment to the Preserve and Nature Study Center will also enhance the City's eligibility for outdoor recreation assistance by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and, potentially, by other funding sources.

The 2006 survey of Midland residents on interests in outdoor recreation, conducted as part of the MPROSMP, confirms the importance of the I-20 Preserve. Key elements of resident interest are met by the Preserve's planned facilities:

- 2nd highest Midland community interest: hiking, biking, and jogging
- 5th highest interest: nature areas
- 6th highest: botanical and flower gardens

Sibley Nature Center is the only comparable facility in Midland. It is located in Hogan Park, in the city's northeast corner. Its primary role is educating schoolchildren and the general public on the area's environment. The I-20 Wildlife preserve will be a unique playa study habitat for university-level students and a quality destination for the general public.

Historic Use of the Land
Ranching and cropping were dominant uses of the land until the early eighties, with cattle raising the chief pursuit. Title to the property was acquired by the City in 1988. During construction of Interstate 20 in the early '60s, the present earthen dam was built to protect the highway corridor from flooding. Over the years, three pits were dug to mine caliche and sand, some of which was used in I-20 construction. In the 1980s, two drainage ditches were dug to improve stormwater runoff flows from urbanizing areas on the northeast and northwest, both below and above Industrial Avenue.

Perimeter Conditions and Land Uses
Highways, Roads, and Access: Interstate 20 and the service road lie immediately to the south of the Preserve. The single and only practical access to the Preserve at present is via a gate on the service road. Warehouse Road on the east does not provide a direct connection to the Preserve but a short east-west access road offers access from Warehouse to a gate in a property fence that demarcates the Preserve boundary in the northeast quadrant. South Midland Drive, west of the Preserve, does not offer direct access. On the north, the upper edge of the Preserve borders a short stretch of Industrial Avenue. South Midland Drive and Warehouse Road are unpaved at present but are planned for paving by the City.

Adjacent Land Uses: Warehousing, industrial storage, and telecommunication towers are uses found along Warehouse Road. Oil field pipe supply is the use along Industrial Avenue on the northeast, with open field storage of pipe extending to the Preserve¹s boundary. Environmental research, refrigeration supply, equipment storage, and other light industrial uses exist elsewhere on Industrial Avenue and along the upper end of South Midland Drive. Auto salvage is a former use on the west of the Preserve on South Midland and R/V campgrounds are found on the west side of this street.

Oil Operations: One well site, with a pumping unit, is situated on the playa's perimeter, within the property's southwest boundary. A second well and pumping unit are located a few hundred feet to the west of the first site, outside the Preserve property boundary. Natural Gas Line: A natural gas pipeline runs west-east across the site. It is buried at about a 4 foot depth beneath the bed of the playa north of the earthen dam.

Environmental Quality
Storm Runoff Water Quality: Until adequate water sampling, analysis, and monitoring of inflowing stormwater runoff and of playa waters and sediments are undertaken, a true picture of water quality in the Preserve cannot be obtained. It can be assumed, however, that stormwater runoff from the Preserve's contributing urban-industrial watersheds has burdened the playa over the years with accumulations of trash, organic wastes, metals, other substances, and silt, all of which work against the playa's environmental health. Effects on fish and wildlife are of considerable concern. Steps for Preserve management attention include the realignment and bio-remedial modification of the northwest drainage, as defined elsewhere in this Plan, and future water and sediment analysis, research, and monitoring, the outcomes of which will allow the Preserve's Scientific Advisory Committee to recommend further measures.