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Texas Parks & Wildlife just bought 2,000 Hill Country acres for a new park

Colorado Bend state park is at right, the new park is to the left of the river
Courtesy photo
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Texas Parks & Wildlife
Colorado Bend State Park is on the right, and the new parkland is across the river.

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Texas state parks continue to grow. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department recently announced the purchase of a 2,000+ acre chunk of Hill Country land for new parkland.

“You know, when you think of the Texas Hill Country, you think of fantastic views and vistas and elevation changes. And this one has it,” explained Todd McClanahan, who works for the department. “This new property is actually just across the river, the Colorado River, from Colorado Bend State Park.”

While the new park’s western boundary is Colorado Bend’s eastern boundary, he said it will be a different park.

“It'll be a standalone state park, so it won't be part of Colorado Bend State Park. It takes from entrance-to-entrance about 30 minutes if you go from Colorado Bend over to this new piece of property,” he said.

McClanahan noted that while the topography is similar to Colorado Bend, there are differences.

“One of my most favorite features is it's got a mature Post Oak woodland, and you're not going to find that over at Colorado Bend State Park. And so this is going to provide a unique habitat that's a little bit different but still providing those special views of the Hill Country that folks are used to,” he said.

Colorado Bend State Park is encircled in red, and the new park in yellow
Courtesy photo
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Texas Parks & Wildlife
Colorado Bend State Park is circled in red and the new park in yellow.

To place it on a map, it’s west of Lampasas and north of Lake Buchanan. Its distance from major Texas cities might explain why the area is relatively undeveloped. That said, McClanahan noted many nature-lovers do find their way to the park that’s right next door.

“Colorado Bend is a very popular park. I don't think we generate probably a little over 75,000 visitors annually. And so it's not too far away from Austin.” McClanahan said. “There's folks that drive in from Houston, and come south, even from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to go visit that park.”

He said a slew of recent land acquisitions, such as one at Government Canyon and one at Enchanted Rock, and now this one, are the result of legislation that Texans voted for.

“The citizens of Texas voted in 2023 to pass the Centennial Parks Fund, and by pretty good majority,” he said. “And so we're putting that to use right away and trying to acquire additional property and then develop that out.”

The Centennial Fund is actually a $1 billion fund, but they’re not spending that $1 billion. McClanahan said it’s just the interest on that sum that they’re allowed to spend.

The park's location on a state map
Courtesy photo
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Texas Parks & Wildlife
The park's location on a state map

“That that was the direction that was in the bill, as it was passed, is that we would be able to use the interest off of that and the main reason is, so it's a sustainable fund for us, as we enter in the next 100 years of Texas state parks,” he said.

The new park is not yet named, and the inventory of its attributes has started — to ascertain its animals, its plant and its historic attributes. If all goes as planned, he said he expects to open the park to the public in about two years.

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Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii