Those who love to go hiking, camping and exploring in the Lone Star state will be happy to hear that Texas may get as many as five new state parks, possibly totaling as much as 50,000 acres or 78 square miles in area. For outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds, this is surely a welcome development, especially in a state that ranks 35th in terms of the amount of public recreation land per capita and where 95 percent of all land is privately held.
Although the final size of all of the five new future Texas state parks hasn’t been determined yet, we have a good idea of what at least three of these sites will look like in terms of acreage. As population in Texas continues to grow, and existing park usage increases, these new developments will offer outdoor enthusiasts more room to roam, and hopefully will take some of the pressure off of more crowded state parks.
Palo Pinto Mountains (Future) State Park
The first new Texas state park to open will probably be Palo Pinto Mountains State Park, located approximately seventy-five miles west of the Fort Worth/Dallas metroplex and about four miles outside of the small town of Strawn. The new park will be nestled among the rolling hills, sheltered canyons and high plateaus of the Palo Pinto Mountains (which are actually high hills), offering hikers stunning long-distance views, as seen in the first photo above.
This 4,871 acre former ranch is home to many species of wildlife, including several kinds of rare plants and birds. Currently in the final planning state, TPWD has announced that the park should open sometime in 2023. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department already has a website for Palo Pinto Mountains State Park, which is a really good sign that things are moving along on schedule.
Mule Lip State Park? In true Texas fashion, the future state park has somewhat of a colorful history. Some locals have dubbed it “Mule Lip State Park”, after a local bar at which a deadly shooting occurred in 2008. The former owner of the land which is about to become Texas’s newest state park, Will Copeland, fatally shot a man at the Mule Lip Bar in Strawn. The lawsuits that followed ultimately resulted in the State becoming the new owner of the land.
The centerpiece of the park will be Tucker Lake, a ninety acre body of water created by a large dam on Russel Creek. To preserve the peace and quiet of this natural area, no motorboats are allowed on the lake, and motorized vehicles will be prohibited on all back-country roads and trails. With its location far enough from the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex to afford dark night skies, stargazing at this future Texas state park should be excellent.
According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the future Palo Pinto Mountains State Park will feature “an extensive network of multi-use trails for hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders.” Several of these hiking trails will lead to remote areas of the park with expansive vistas of the Palo Pinto creek watershed area below.
Powderhorn Ranch (Future) State Park
A second Texas state park that’s scheduled to open sometime in the next few years will be called “Powderhorn Ranch State Park”. Located twenty miles southeast of Port Lavaca, and currently in the planning stages, Powderhorn Ranch State Park will consist of approximately two-thousand acres of unspoiled coastal wetlands, oak forest and coastal prairie land.
Powderhorn Ranch State Park will reportedly feature shared-use trails, kayaking trails, a boat ramp and possibly a fishing pier, along with developed campsites for tents and RVs. Of the 17,000 acres owned by the State of Texas, approximately 15,000 will remain a state wildlife management area, with the rest being dedicated to the new park.
On our last drive-thru of the area, we saw that development seems to be progressing nicely, with roads being paved and some buildings under construction.
History of Powderhorn Ranch
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation partnered with a coalition of conservancy groups in 2014 to purchase the Powderhorn Ranch from its former owner, Brad Kelley of Tennessee, for fifty million dollars. Part of the funds came from a settlement that some coastal states received from BP, following the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The name of the former ranch comes from Powderhorn Lake, where a sailor reportedly found a full powder horn, used to carry gunpowder, lying on the shore (something no early-day pioneer would have willingly left behind, unless they’d befallen some terrible fate). Long before then, the area was home to the Karankawa and other Native American tribes, whose mounds and artifacts are still being studied and preserved by archaeologists.
Davis Hill (Future) State Park or State Natural Area
The third possible new Texas state park and/or state natural area is Davis Hill, which could be created from a tract of land that the state has owned over thirty years. This tract consists of 1,700 acres of diverse wilderness about 45 minutes east of downtown Houston in Liberty County. It stretches from the highest hill on the Texas coastal plain down to a pristine, white sandy beach on the banks of the Trinity River. What makes this area so unique is a geological feature deep beneath the earth called a salt dome.
The expansion of the salt dome over millennia has resulted in a 280′ high spot in this otherwise very low-lying, swampy area, called Davis hill. Numerous plant species live here that aren’t found for many more miles inland because of this slight elevation change. What’s perhaps most unique about this future state park or state natural area is the fact that it features the only rocky outcropping for miles in any direction on the otherwise marshy coastal plain.
The rocky ledges – some fern laden and featuring small springs – along with dense forest canopy bordering the surrounding swamp and makes this area a diverse wildlife habitat that’s home to a many bird species, including yellow-billed cuckoos, Eastern wood peewees, summer tanagers, indigo buntings, and blue grosbeaks – among others.
We’ve reached out to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for more info on this site – which is listed on their website as one of the five new future state parks – but weren’t able to get any updates yet. We’ll update this article when we get more news.
Chinati Mountains (Future) State Park
Of all the possible future state parks, we’re probably most excited about this one. Located in the same region as Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park, a new state park here could offer campers more possibilities when sites in those areas are fully booked. We recently visited Chinati Hot Springs, a small private resort located at a natural geothermal area along Chinati Creek, and found the night skies out that way to be some of the darkest we’ve ever seen, with amazing views of the Milky Way on summer nights.
Once home to a nonprofit retreat center, the Chinati Mountains State Natural area is comprised of almost 39,000 acres of rugged Chihuahuan desert terrain, set just west of the highest peaks of the Chinati Range. The Chinati Mountains rise 4,400 feet above the desert floor, providing a unique habitat for a number of species, including mule deer, javelina, bobcat, and mountain lion, along with the rare Nelson’s pocket mouse and more than ten species of bats.
Texas Parks and Wildlife is currently in the final stages of finalizing the public use plan for the future park, although no possible opening date has yet been listed. Any future state park here will most likely offer hiking trails, camping and possible Dark Sky status (like Big Bend Ranch State Park has), as this area still has some of the darkest night skies in the continental US.
The Albert & Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area (Future State Park)
The History of The Albert & Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area
Longing to protect their beautiful, rugged property from future development, Albert and Bessie Kronkosky willed their pristine 3,814 acre hill country ranch to the state, which accepted the donation in 2011. The former ranch is home to native whitetail and imported axis and fallow deer, which now roam freely in the area. It also is critical habitat for several rare or endangered species, including the Golden-cheeked Warbler, Alligator Lizard, Sycamore-leaf Snowbell, Boerne Bean, Texas Spring Salamander and Big-toothed Maple.
A future state park here would most likely include interpretive nature areas, hiking trails, camping and restroom facilities. There’s still no word yet from TPWD about when this future state park may be open to the public; however, their website mentions that much of the initial planning has already been completed.
These new parks will be a welcome addition, and hopefully not the last of what’s to come. We’ll update this post as we become aware of new developments with these five future Texas state parks.
Sources:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/18/how-a-barroom-shooting-led-to-a-new-state-park-in-/
https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/park-information/future-parks
https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-10-11/palo-pinto-mountains-state-park-in-north-texas-set-to-open-in-late-2023
https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/utts/wanderlist-future-state-parks/
