Texas will soon be getting a brand-new state park in the Hill Country

The 2,000-acre tract along the Colorado River is adjacent to the existing Colorado Bend State Park.

By Alexandra HartJanuary 30, 2025 2:23 pm,

Outdoors enthusiasts in Texas can look forward to a new park to explore in the coming years: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently purchased a 2,000-plus acre tract of land in the Hill Country with the goal of turning it into a state park.

The parcel of land is located in Burnet County adjacent to the Colorado River, next to the existing Colorado Bend State Park. It’s one of the latest land acquisitions by the department, which is aiming to expand the state park system through the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund approved by voters in 2023.

Todd McClanahan, chief of programs for Texas State Parks, spoke with Texas Standard about what makes this new park special, and shared insight into how the department plans to meet Texas’ growing demand for outdoor recreation.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: This land purchase is generating quite the buzz online. Tell us about what makes this particular parcel of land special. It sounds like you’re pretty excited about it.

Todd McClanahan: Yeah, this is going to be an exciting addition to our Texas state park system. It is a quintessential Hill Country state park that’s just got some incredible views. Obviously, it’s got about two miles of Colorado River access that will provide our visitors with activities such as fishing and hiking and camping. So we’re really excited with this addition.

How did this deal come about in the first place? How’d you spot this land?

We’ve got a lot of partners. And then we also look at properties that are openly on the market. We procure properties from willing sellers. And so, yeah, we look around some of these areas that are within the Golden Triangle or in the Valley to try to make it as accessible as possible for most Texans.

Are you talking about the Golden Triangle out in Beaumont area? Or you thinking about the cities that so many people are, you know, trying to get to parks from?

Yeah, no. When I mention the Golden Triangle – or we call it the Texas Triangle – you know, that Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston area. That’s what we’re looking at.

And I guess what we’ve been seeing a lot, too, is folks from those cities looking for a weekend getaway. It’s hard to find a camping spot, quite often, when you go on that Texas Parks website trying to find something.

Absolutely. And this is why it’s really critical for us to – you know, the citizens of Texas voted with tremendous support passing the Centennial Parks Fund, which has given us the ability to add more state parks to our inventory to help with that and provide more opportunities for folks to get out and experience their state parks.

Let me ask you an ugly question. How much did it cost to get this plot of land?

This piece of property, the acquisition price was $35 million.

I would imagine that price tag’s been going up, especially as the value of property in Texas has been rising generally.

Yeah, absolutely. The voters have have trusted us to go out and make wise and good purchases for the citizens, and we’re just really blessed that we’ve been provided the funding to be able to go and do this and add more experiences for our folks in Texas.

So give us a sense of how this park will be different from Colorado Bend State Park – which, what is it, like kind of across the street, catty corner to it? Something like that.

It’s going to be directly across the Colorado River from Colorado Bend State Park. The terrain is similar.

However, this piece of property has got a really unique post oak woodland, a mature post oak woodland that is not really seen and certainly not in Colorado Bend. But this piece of property will likely have more developed camping than what Colorado Bend offers currently.

» MORE: Texas state parks’ history celebrated in centennial book

How do you all come up with how you use these properties?

We’ve got a team of park planners. But also an important piece is public input. And as we’re going through and developing a public use plan, we’ll be having public meetings to gather that input and feedback from locals and from constituents as well to let us know, what do you want to see in in your new state parks?

Well, that’s one big element before you can open the gates. But do you have a timeline on that – are you thinking this would take a year to get through that process of getting feedback and public comment, or does it take longer typically? And then I guess you’ve got to set up the property for those to come and camp and enjoy the park.

Our goal is to get folks in as soon as practical. And initially, probably within 12 to 18 months, we’ll be offering limited day use. And that will probably be through guided hikes or public hunting next hunting season.

And this will be happening while the planning process is taking place for the full development of the park, which could take anywhere from two to four years.

You started to talk a little bit more about the big picture for the Texas park system, how you’re looking in that triangle of Texas’ biggest cities in particular, looking down in the Valley. How many more parks are we looking at over the course of what period? What does that process look like right now?

So it really depends. We just closed on a piece of property adjacent to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. And so we’ve got several others that are in the works right now that are under due diligence or under review.

With the Centennial Parks Fund, that provides funding for the acquisition and development using the interest from that account that was set up. And so we’ve got a plan in place.

And so we have to look at what’s available on the market right now. And then as we go through, then we have to also use those development funds the same. And so we’ve got to let that balance pick back up again for the interest that then allows us to go and pursue additional properties.

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Do you have a name for this new park?

Not yet. We’re in the works with that. We just closed on it a couple of weeks ago. And so we look forward to to releasing that soon.

You mentioned public comment. How can folks get involved in that process?

When that time comes, there will be probably local media releases. It will likely be on our website as well. So we’ll have plenty of opportunities to get that word out so that the general public can make comment and hopefully attend those meetings in person to provide their feedback.

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