KARNACK – Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge Manager Mark Williams said Tuesday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which he works for, went through a lawful process in attempting to take control of remaining Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant property.

The only way that process can be stopped is by an act of Congress, signed by the president of the United States, he said.

"We want all 8,500" acres "to the fence line," Williams said after he spoke to a crowded public meeting here, one organized by the Greater Caddo Lake Association.

Williams said the law states that when a federal agency is vacating land, it must first offer the land to all other federal departments and agencies, and then to the state and then local governments.

The fish and wildlife service opted to take the land the U.S. Army was vacating when it closed the Longhorn Plant – which made munitions – and create a wildlife refuge, he said.