Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
Thousands of acres of Hill Country land have been set aside to create a new Texas State Natural Area. Texas Public Radio was able to get a preview from James Rice, who is superintendent at the 3,814-acre Albert and Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area.
“All right, here we go. I’m going to show you where our main entrance is going to go,” Rice said.
The Albert and Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area is quite the mouthful, so the extremely hilly park seven miles west of Boerne is often called the ABK. We hopped into a four-wheeler, and he took us up to the campsites that are under construction.
Between drought and being overrun by people and deer, the hill country is under major stress. Rice has a dire prediction about this area.
“I'm predicting—my own opinion—that within 50 or 60 years, the landscape of the hill country will be quite different, because everything has to eat, and deer are no different,” he said.
Deer are a real problem in the Hill Country, as they find many of the native plants—Red Oaks, Escarpment Cherry and other trees and bushes—tasty, and when they repeatedly eat leaves on young saplings, those saplings die. Rice predicts Red Oaks and Cherries will drastically diminish in number but won’t quite disappear.
“I think they'll still be found in remote places and places where deer are managed, but I think the mosaic of the forest structure definitely will change, and what we'll still have in abundance is what deer don't eat,” Rice said.
That said, ABK has a big advantage to the surrounding ranches: they’re not overrun by deer, and not over-grazed by cattle.
“We've never had sheep, goats, cattle, or anything on it,” he said.
That’s a statement few ranches in the Hill Country can claim, which makes this particular 3800 acres unlike most any in this part of Texas.
“So the vegetative diversity here relative to a lot of the Hill Country, even what's just right across the street right here, is quite rich,” Rice said.
There’s another factor that makes this natural area unlike the ranches surrounding it: big fences. And there’s a very good reason for them.
“The perimeter-high fence is eight-foot, and the fence along 46 is six foot.”
Highway 46 is the ABK’s southern terminus. What the tall fences mean is that deer are unlikely to jump the fence, and that creates an environment where the deer population can be managed, and plants stand a better chance of thriving. Another surprise at the ABK: the discovery of a new moth.
“Dryocampa Kendalli is the scientific name of it, and it's a new moth, and it's never been classified before,” he said. “They consistently lay their eggs on this Buckeye right here.”
Buckeyes are understory shrubs that can be found all over the ABK.
“We also have a lot of interesting geology, a lot of fossils, a lot of oyster beds,” Rice said.
This whole area was under the ocean at one time.
“It was a shallow ocean bed, probably pretty muddy, pretty mucky, and had oyster reefs on it, just like the oyster reefs down at the coast now,” he said.
After our bumpy ride to see the eastern portion of the park we returned to a maintenance shop for an interview. We asked about the park’s name.
“It's a family Albert Jr. and his wife, Bessie May that lived in Boerne, and this was property they started buying in 1946, and piece by piece, and then it ended up being their place that they would go to on the weekends,” Rice said.
As the Kronkoskys aged, they devised a plan for the property that came to fruition in 2011.
“They didn't want to see it developed, so they willed it to Texas Parks and Wildlife, and we are now in the process of developing it into State Natural Area,” he said.
The last dozen years, Rice and hundreds of volunteers have been inventorying every inch of the 3800-acre area to list what’s contained within its boundaries. That inventory dictates to the Texas Parks and Wildlife the property’s wisest use.
It has very few flat areas, so a sports or recreational park made no sense. A state natural area—with minimal development with just a couple of dozen campsites—is what they’ve decided on. ABK is prime Edwards Recharge Zone, and Rice said protecting it against development helps protect San Antonio’s water supply.
“So when it does rain, it will flow into Red Bluff Creek, Medina River, and it will spread out toward that edge of San Antonio, and that's where the water goes down into the Edwards Aquifer,” he said.
The park is roughly divided into two different areas: they will have what’s called the day-use area, including the headquarters, campsites and an amphitheater. That will all be contained within about 120 acres. That means the rest of its 3800 acres will be undeveloped, other than about 24 miles of walking trails.
“The fall colors out here are going to be unreal, with the Escarpment Cherry, with the Red Oaks, the Lacy Oaks.”
Also there in its back canyons is a strong stand of Bigtooth Maples.
Those looking to hike those trails don’t have too much longer to wait.
“We're looking at the fall of 26 to cut the ribbon and get people in here,” Rice said.
