When first impounded, Lake Worth provided boating and recreation that drew people from throughout the North Texas area.

Since the early 1960s, many calls were made for dredging the lake and restoring its recreational potential, but city leaders were either unwilling or unable to fund the expensive proposition.

This funding problem ended in the mid-2000s, when it became technologically feasible to access natural gas of the Barnett Shale, which partially lies underneath the lake.

[citation needed] A movement of Fort Worth citizens has pushed for retaining a portion of that gas revenue windfall for renovating and developing its public recreational potential.

This movement proposes to make improvements such as dredging the lake, setting aside 400 acres (1.6 km2) of additional city-owned land as green space, building trails and other recreational infrastructure, and integrating the overall area into a "world-class" park such as New York's Central Park (the city currently operates a 3,000-acre (12 km2) park on the lake's northern end as the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.