
Photo: Chase Fountain
Public Lands
Public lands, including parks, trails, beaches and open spaces, represent spaces for all of us to enjoy. Because of this, we each have a stake in how our public lands are managed and how much public land is available for the enjoyment of all Texans.
Texans strongly support public land conservation. A public survey performed by Texas Tech University in 2001 found that nearly 80 percent of Texans supported purchasing additional public lands for conservation. Another public survey conducted in 2009 showed similar results, with 83 percent of respondent agreeing that conservation of natural areas was a “core Lone Star value.”
Despite this support, Texas consistently falls short of national goals in regard to available parkland, and we are especially lacking in urban-accessible public lands. The National Recreation and Park Association recommends about 25 acres of local public parkland per 1,000 people as a quality-of-life measure. Even though we have significant private land conservation in the Hill Country, we average only about 12.4 acres per 1,000 people. Especially in the more urban areas of the Hill Country, our citizens are missing out on the numerous health and economic benefits of adequate access to public land. You can find out more about the economics of land conservation by visiting HCA’s Economics of Sound Planning page here.
Recent Public Lands News
Great Springs Project proposes a network of trails from Austin to San Antonio
Can one of the fastest-developing regions in the country prioritize conservation? That's the hope of the ambitious Great Springs Project, which has inched a little closer to realizing its goal…
More than twice the size of Texas
To slow extinctions and climate change, President-elect Joe Biden has embraced a plan to conserve 30 percent of U.S. land and 30 percent of its ocean waters by 2030. It…
Nation’s largest land bridge for people and wildlife opens in San Antonio
A very special public (and animal!) works project is now open in the Alamo City. Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge, the United States' largest wildlife crossing, opened in Northwest San Antonio…
Kyle Council hears presentation on downtown park impovement
The Kyle City Council received a presentation regarding improvements to Mary Kyle Hartson City Square Park during their regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 1. The landscape design was presented by…