Texas Parks Plan To Be Unveiled Tomorrow

"We're hopeful that Parks & Wildlife will present us a strong plan, but we're concerned that it may fall short of the mark," said Brian Sybert, Conservation Director for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. "With Texas' population booming we need to make long-range plans for an expansion of state parkland in order to keep up with public demand."

In order to address the lack of parkland in Texas and protect wildlife habitat, in 2001 the Texas legislature ordered TPW to develop a comprehensive "Land & Water Conservation Plan." The legislature mandated that the conservation plan guide all state acquisitions of parkland and protected wildlife habitat, as well as guide TPW's efforts to protect rivers and streams.

But based on information presented at stakeholder meetings conducted in April, many observers fear the draft plan is likely to be deficient in several major areas. The draft plan most likely will not recommend sufficient acquisition of additional state parkland or wildlife habitat.

It is also unlikely that the plan will recommend sufficient acquisition of local park space. Since TPW plays a major role in providing funding for local parkland, it is critical that the plan contains strong recommendations on the amount of parkland that should be acquired by local governments.

The following points are benchmarks that the Sierra Club and other park advocates will use to evaluate the draft of the Land and Water Conservation plan:

1. The plan should call for the acquisition of 55 acres of state parkland for every 1000 people that will be living in Texas in 2030, as recommended in a 2001 report produced by Texas Tech University in 2001 at the request of the legislature.

2. The plan should recommend the acquisition of parkland along rivers and streams to protect riparian and aquatic habitat and to allow public access to rivers for recreational activities such as birdwatching, boating, and fishing.

3. The plan should address the need for local parkland by adopting the standard of providing 25 acres of local parkland per 1000 people, another recommendation in the Texas Tech report.

4. The plan should recommend the purchase of development rights in areas of the state that are experiencing high levels of land fragmentation due to urban sprawl.

5. The plan should recommend that TPW take aggressive action to protect rivers and streams from impoundments, diversions, and pollution.

The release of the draft initiates a formal public comment period on the conservation plan that will likely continue through August. After the public comment period closes the conservation plan will be adopted by the Parks & Wildlife Commission by August 31, and reported to the Legislature by the end of October.

While Texas is the second largest state in the union and 85 percent of its population is concentrated in urban areas, it ranked 49^th in per capita spending on state parks in 1998, at $1.79 per person. According to the Tech study, 1.4 million more acres of land will be needed by the year 2030 to reach the goal of 55 acres of state parkland per 1000 people.

The Tech study found the shortage of outdoor recreation lands to be particularly acute around the major population centers of Texas, and also recommends that more local parks be established by cities, counties, and special districts. The authors recommend that state and local governments adopt a goal of establishing 25 acres of local parkland per 1000. This would require the acquisition of an additional 558,000 acres by 2030.

The Tech study contained other interesting findings. Among them:

· "Texans are becoming increasingly frustrated about the lack of access to lands to experience nature."

· "A majority of large landowners (64%) in Texas are not interested in opening up their land to provide more outdoor recreational opportunities."

· 77% of Texans support more Texas Parks and Wildlife funding to buy additional land for conservation of natural resources and outdoor recreation.

· "Traditional Texas Parks and Wildlife clients (white males aged 40 or older) are becoming a minority in Texas."

· The study finds that Cameron, Hidalgo, and Denton counties will have the greatest shortfall in terms of TPW-managed land per capita in 2030. Montgomery, Tarrant, Bell, Travis, Williamson, Dallas, Collin and Fort Bend counties are also expected to have significant shortfalls of TPW parkland.