AUSTIN – Major changes have swept through the Texas State Park system in the past 11 years under the direction of Walt Dabney, who joined Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1999. Dabney has announced he will retire Aug. 31, leaving behind an improved state park system that observers say ranks among the nation’s best and most innovative.
BRACKETTVILLE, Texas – After operating as a limited-access park for more than 20 years, Kickapoo Caverns State Park will host an all-day grand opening event free to the public on Saturday, June 12, commemorating the park’s official opening of its doors on a daily basis.
BASTROP – Texans of all ages can explore the Lost Pines region as Bastrop County and eight other organizations join state and local parks and other sites across Texas to celebrate National Trails Day on June 5.
DAINGERFIELD — The now famous Civilian Conservation Corps came to this beautiful northeast Texas forest land in the 1930s to construct Daingerfield State Park. The hard-working New Deal crews built cabins, park buildings, roads and infrastructure. They also created 80-acre Lake Daingerfield at the heart of the park.
HUNTSVILLE — For years it was a hard-luck entry in the Texas State Park system, but once it opened for good, Huntsville State Park quickly attained major attraction status. Originally constructed in the 1930s by African-American Company 1823 of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the park was still being developed in 1940 when a heavy flood collapsed a dam and flooded the park, causing extensive and costly damage. The park did not open until 1956.
CEDAR HILL — In 1854, when John Penn moved into the Cedar Mountains 20 miles southwest of a tiny new community called Dallas, using electricity to run a home was not even an idea, much less an option.
SMITHVILLE — For more than seven decades the massive-looking Recreation Hall at Buescher State Park has stood firmly on a hill overlooking the park’s lake. Imperceptibly, the historic Civilian Conservation Corps structure has moved — the result of creep — three inches downhill.
ROCKPORT — One of Texas’ earliest state parks has stood up to the wind, surf and sun for almost 75 years, but now and then the elements start gaining on it. This fall Texas Parks and Wildlife will acknowledge Mother Nature’s constant challenge at Goose Island State Park by removing 45 concrete shade shelters worn down from more than 35 years of harsh weather.
LUMBERTON — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will join with the National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy and local communities to christen the latest Texas Paddling Trail. The 10:30 a.m. event at Village Creek State Park is one of numerous events commemorating Texas Travel Rally Day being celebrated statewide on May 11.
CANYON — Spectacular, rugged and starkly beautiful, Palo Duro Canyon State Park has always been a worthy Texas bragging point. To make sure everyone has an opportunity to enjoy the canyon’s scenic splendor, early this summer Texas Parks and Wildlife begins making more of this 76-year-old park current with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Construction is expected to be completed in spring 2011.