Public Meetings Set for Big Bend Ranch State Park Use Plan

Media Contact: Mike Hill, (432) 426-3533, icle__media__contact">Media Contact: Mike Hill, (432) 426-3533, mike.hill2@tpwd.texas.gov

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AUSTIN — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will hold two meetings in January to seek public comment about how Big Bend Ranch State Park should be accessed and used for recreational purposes in the future.

The first meeting on the proposed expansion of public use of Texas’ largest state park will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Wed., Jan. 10 at the Presidio County Courthouse in Marfa. A second public meeting will take place in Austin from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 24 at Recreational Equipment Inc.’s downtown classroom, 601 N. Lamar Blvd.

At roughly 300,000 acres, Big Bend Ranch State Park, located just outside Presidio, is by far the largest in the Texas state park system, stretching from the Rio Grande well into the Chihuahuan Desert’s numerous mountain ranges and canyon lands.

Unlike Garner, Inks Lake and most state parks, Big Bend Ranch is minimally developed, offering visitors a rare opportunity to enjoy an uncrowded wilderness experience. Just how to expand park access without negatively impacting its fragile resources is what the public use plan will address, said Mike Hill, TPWD’s West Texas regional state parks director.

"Big Bend Ranch is both ecologically sensitive, and archeologically and geologically significant, with 134 free-flowing, fresh water sources and riparian areas that are home to unique plants and animal species," Hill said. "Therefore, careful planning for the expansion of public use is essential and candid public input is imperative."

The public meetings are the continuation of a planning process TPWD began in 2004, but was put on hold by a variety of reasons, including a continuing budget squeeze that forced staffing cutbacks, Hill explained. The park’s size is so huge, he said, that it has been divided into nine management zones for planning purposes, each of which is larger than almost any other state park.

A draft of the Public Use Plan calls for retaining five of the 12 existing campsites, 67 miles of trail, roads and river campgrounds, and access points. The initial phase of development would add 35 primitive campsites, 21 trailheads, 88 miles of trails and 40 miles of four-wheel drive roads that would make more of the park’s interior accessible.

For more information, or to comment on the plan, visit the TPWD Web site public comment page, or call (512) 389-4661.

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