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Oct 12, 2023 · This year, the Texas State parks system is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and there’s a new book to mark the occasion. “ Texas State Parks: The First 100 Years” tells the story of how the state’s parks began. The book is part of this year’s Texas Book Festival lineup, and it’s written by longtime Texas conservationist George ...
Jul 27, 2023 · “Texas should have led all other states in ownership of state parks, especially in view of the fact that Texas was the only state that once owned title to all its lands. [But] Texas did not reserve one beauty spot or set aside any place to be used and enjoyed by the public.” Those are the words of Governor Pat Neff, who, in 1923, created ...
- Drew Stuart
In 1951, the term oyster was dropped from the wildlife agency's name, and in 1963, the State Parks Board and the Game and Fish Commission were merged to form the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The legislature placed authority for managing fish and wildlife resources in all Texas counties with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department when it passed the Wildlife Conservation Act in 1983.
- A Slow Start
- The Stars Begin to Align
- A Perfect Storm
- Executive Support
When the State Parks Board was established in 1923, Texas had little available land for parks. It was a wasteland compared to the resources available to the National Park Service. The first decade of state park operations was conducted on lands donated by generous Texans. The Fannin Battleground was donated in 1913, and Gov. Pat Neff’s mother deede...
Help was on its way, but it took a roundabout route. By 1958, the State Parks Board managed a total of 61,838 acres. However, the park system was stagnant, without a dependable source of funds to maintain parks or increase the number of parks to meet the demand of a growing, mobile and more urban population. To address these needs, Texas Tech Unive...
The federal Land and Water Conservation Act was enacted in 1964, providing funding to state and local communities for planning, acquisition and development of recreational facilities. That led to TPWD’s development of the mandated Texas Outdoor Recreation Plan. The act required matching funds, so the Legislature authorized up to $75 million in sta...
Two TPWD executive directors played key roles in park acquisition and development during this era — Dickey Travis and Andrew Sansom. Among Sansom’s many herculean efforts on behalf of parks was the acquisition of Big Bend Ranch State Park. This and other park acquisitions were part of a long, tedious process. In the early 1970s, Bob Armstrong, then...
Mar 23, 2023 · The rugged characteristics of the frontier were retained in some parts of Texas as late as the 1960s. But in most places, the taming of the frontier had a dramatic effect on the land and wildlife. In the natural course of events, the pioneers cut down the forest. They plowed the land and cleared out the brush from ditches, ravines, and woodlots.
The state of Texas confirmed its first case on February 13, 2020, and many of the state's largest cities recorded their first cases throughout March. As of late May 2021, there were 50,198 COVID-19 related deaths reported in that state. The death rate in Texas was 175 for every 100,000 people, while national COVID-19 death rate was 179 per 100,000.
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May 1, 2023 · Land trusts, including TLC, conserve 1.8 million acres of the state in conservation easements – equal to our state parks (640,000 acres) and national parks (1.2 million acres) combined. With those numbers and an ever growing population, there’s quite a bit of work left to be done to conserve watersheds and open spaces.
