Public meetings slated for Big Bend Ranch State Park use plan

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will hold two meetings in January to seek public comment about how Big Bend Ranch State Park should be accessed and used for recreational purposes in the future.

The first meeting on the proposed expansion of public use of Texas’ largest state park will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Wed., Jan. 10 at the Presidio County Courthouse in Marfa. A second public meeting will take place in

Austin from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 24 at Recreational Equipment Inc.’s downtown classroom, 601 N. Lamar Blvd.

At roughly 300,000 acres, Big Bend Ranch State Park, located just outside Presidio, is by far the largest in the Texas state park system, stretching from the Rio Grande well into the Chihuahuan Desert’s numerous mountain ranges and canyon lands.

Unlike Garner, Inks Lake and most state parks, Big

Bend Ranch is minimally developed, offering visitors a rare opportunity to enjoy an uncrowded wilderness experience. Just how to expand park access without negatively impacting its fragile resources is what the public use plan will address, said Mike Hill, TPWD’s West Texas regional state parks director.

A draft of the Public Use Plan calls for retaining five of the 12 existing campsites, 67 miles of trail, roads and river campgrounds, and access points.