Houston Regional Group - News

Do you remember 2005 when the quiet move to sell approximately 45,000 acres of Big Bend Ranch State Park to the adjacent private landowner sparked outrage across the state of Texas? The public backlash forced the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission to reverse course.

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is abut to issue a “Big Bend Ranch State Park Public Use Plan”. At the time this issue of the Banner was going to press, we do not have the exact web address of the draft plan. However, a PDF file is supposed to be available for downloading from the TPWD website by the third week in January.

The big news for Houston lovers of the Big Bend region is that TPWD has agreed to have a public meeting on the plan in Houston on Thursday, February 15th. The meeting will be hosted by the Houston Sierra Club at the Judson Robinson Community Center located at the corner of Hermann Drive and Almeda at the edge of Hermann Park. Plan to arrive at 7:00 PM to check out the displays and for refreshments. The presentation will begin at 7:30 PM and be followed by a Q&A session, concluding at 9:00 PM. The Houston Parks & Recreation Department has graciously agreed to make its facility available free of charge.

Chris Beckcom, TPWD Senior Planner, will present the plan and Mike Hill, Region I State Parks Director, will facilitate the meeting. Additional meetings are being held in Marfa and Austin. Following the series of public meetings and comments, the TPWD will begin preparing the final plan in March.

If you have any questions about the meeting, please contact Evelyn Merz at 713-644-8228 or at elmerz@hal-pc.org

January 2007

Last updated:  01/14/2007.   Content © 1999-2007 by the Sierra Club.