The Lone Star State is creating new public parks for people to enjoy.
Armed with a $1 billion endowment, Texas parks and wildlife managers are pushing ahead with a mandate the state’s voters delivered resoundingly in late 2023: build more state parks.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has made several major announcements regarding state park additions or expansions.
Rodney Franklin, Director of State Parks at TPWD, said more such announcements will come.
He said TPWD is busy assessing new properties for potential acquisition and is negotiating with landowners on other tracts that might be suitable for outdoor recreation, managed under state ownership.
“Sometimes TPWD knows of a particular property that is for sale and approaches the landowner,” Franklin told Public Parks in an interview. “Some families want to leave their property protected in perpetuity and will reach out to TPWD.”
More public lands for Texas
In November 2023, voters in Texas approved the creation of the Centennial Park Fund. The fund had been sitting with the state’s legislature for some time, but the voters directed the legislature to put the fund to use buying land for creating new state parks.
TPWD is allowed to use the interest gathered on the $1 billion endowment. The money can also be used to expand or improve existing state parks.
Last month, TPWD made waves when it announced a land purchase that will result in a doublingof the size of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, one of Texas’ most popular public parks.
Enchanted Rock is a gem of a state park. This semi-arid Hill Country brushland is dominated by a massive 1,600-foot-high granite dome that juts out from the center of the park. Public Parks has visited Enchanted Rock several times.
“This purchase doubled the size of Enchanted Rock with the addition of over 3,000 acres.” Franklin proudly said. “Supplemental funding was used, but the Centennial Fund will be used for development later in the year.”
That was just the beginning.
TPWD subsequently announced new land purchased next to Colorado Bend State Park.
2,000 acres (over 800 hectares) of land was acquired along two miles (3.2 miles) bordering the Colorado River in central Texas. Texas’ Colorado River is much smaller and shouldn’t be confused with the more famous Colorado River that runs through Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
Franklin said the land will be converted into a new standalone state park. It won’t be used to expand Colorado Bend State Park, another great outdoor attraction that Public Parks has spent time at.
The land next to Colorado Bend will become “the cornerstone for what will be a brand-new park,” said TPWD Chairman Jeff Hildebrand in a release issued at the announcement.
New announcements forthcoming
Franklin told Public Parks that TPWD is just getting warmed up.
He confided to us that TPWD is working to acquire a separate property near San Antonio. That property is now under contract, and TPWD expects to make the acquisition public once the deal is finalized. He didn’t say how large that land purchase was.
Work is also underway to develop another plot of land just outside of San Antonio. Franklin said the plan is to open it to the public as a state park sometime in 2026.
Meanwhile, work in the forthcoming Powderhorn Ranch State Park is moving forward, albeit at a slower pace.
The addition of Powderhorn is outside of the Centennial Park Fund. A failed exotic game preserve, Powderhorn Ranch lies next to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, which is deemed critical habitat for the endangered whooping crane.
TPWD acquired Powderhorn using money gained in the legal settlement over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig disaster and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The companies responsible for that oil spill, the largest in US history, agreed to pay billions of dollars to settle claims against them. The money is largely being directed to help Gulf of Mexico coastal states recover ecosystems and acquire new natural areas for wildlife and recreational opportunities.
The Nature Conservancy held the land in trust until turning it over to TPWD. The state acquired Powderhorn Ranch years ago. Franklin admitted that work on the forthcoming Powderhorn Ranch State Park was progressing relatively slowly.
“There is limited public access now, but construction probably won’t start for another two years, with another two years after that before opening,” he said.
Strategic decisions
Franklin stressed that TPWD isn’t just grabbing tracts randomly across the state.
He said the agency’s decision on which properties to pursue largely depends on what’s available, but there are other considerations that are factored in. They look at the ecological and potential recreation benefits of available lands. They’re also trying to add or expand parks relatively close to urban centers.
“Population considerations and enhancing outdoor opportunities for urban areas are certainly part of it,” Franklin said. “Also, what opportunities are available.”
He said TPWD is grateful for the support it’s receiving from the legislature and voters in the form of the Centennial Park Fund.
State parks are hugely popular and important in Texas. The state is comprised of 95% private land. Thus, the public flocks to the 5% open to all, which includes TPWD’s state parks holdings but also federal wildlife refuges and Texas’ only two national parks, both located in remote western corners of the state.
Federal parks managers are now facing turmoil as the Trump administration is slashing funding and staffing. Pain is in store for visitors to the national parks this spring and summer.
Meanwhile, people visiting state parks in Texas shouldn’t see any serious problems aside from weekend crowds as these attractions are increasingly popular. And with a few months or years Texas outdoors enthusiasts will have even more options to choose from.
Franklin said his team sees adding new parks for Texans to enjoy as one of their key missions.
“The demand for getting outside is higher than it’s ever been, especially coming out of the pandemic,” he told us. “TPWD has a responsibility to add more public land to meet the demand.”
