LAMPASAS, Texas (AP) — On a blistering June morning, Andy Sipocz brushes his fingers by the thick, sawgrass fronds rising larger than his head beside a creek within the Texas Hill Nation.
Round him, rocky limestone traces Yancey Creek, streaked in refined reds and browns — proof of millennia of mineral deposits and weathering.
Sipocz, a pure assets coordinator and biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division, is considered one of greater than three dozen staffers gathered right here to start laying the groundwork for what is going to someday be Texas’ latest state park — a few two hour drive northwest of Austin.
Sporting cargo shorts and pants, mountain climbing boots, and sun-brimmed hats, the TPWD workforce winds its means down a steep hill — no path in sight. That’s the purpose. They’re right here to find out the place the paths ought to be. At this time’s mission: conduct early-stage pure useful resource surveys and habitat assessments to help the park’s future design.
“Like every good enterprise, that you must know what you’ve got earlier than you begin,” Sipocz, who has been with TPWD for 35 years, stated. “You may’t make good plans till you already know what it’s you’ve acquired.”
After voters authorised the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, a $1 billion funding handed by lawmakers in 2023, Texas started a brand new period of public land acquisition and park growth. The fund permits the parks division to broaden entry to pure areas throughout the state, whereas preserving native ecosystems and cultural landmarks.
In response to a 2022 report by Setting Texas, Texas lags behind most others states in state parkland: The state ranks thirty fifth within the nation for state park acreage per capita, with about 636,000 acres of parkland for a inhabitants of over 29 million as of 2019. The report means that Texas wants so as to add 1.4 million acres of state parks by 2030 to satisfy the wants of its residents.
With the brand new voter-approved funding, Texas is poised for a historic enlargement of its 88-park system. Among the many most up-to-date additions to the state park system are:
1. A 1,100-acre acquisition in Lampasas and Burnet Counties, together with 1.5 miles of Yancey Creek.
2. A 2,020-acre acquisition in Burnet County alongside the Colorado River throughout from Colorado Bend State Park.
3. A 3,073-acre enlargement to Enchanted Rock State Pure Space in Llano County, which can considerably broaden the 1,685-acre park.
The primary two acquisitions will create a brand new Publish Oak Ridge State Park. Centennial fund cash shall be used to develop the brand new acquisitions.
“That is sort of a brand new factor for the division,” Sipocz stated. “There was a giant burst of acquisitions of parks within the ’70s and ’80s, and there hasn’t been since. That’s what makes this so thrilling.”
Two ranches will develop into new parkAt the center of the planning course of is JJ Fleury, this system director for planning and geospatial assets at TPWD. Fleury stated Publish Oak Ridge State Park, the place Yancey Creek flows, remains to be within the early levels of growth. The park was initially two massive ranches, Vann River Ranch and Huge Springs Ranch. Park staffers recognized the parcels and in the end acquired them as quickly as they went in the marketplace. Collectively the properties price $47.1 million.
Fleury stated the park checked lots of bins: throughout the Texas Triangle shaped by Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas-Fort Value, diversified terrain like sweeping canyons, and frontage alongside the Colorado River. He added that the flatter, much less scenic areas of the park might function “again of home” zones for wastewater remedy, upkeep, or workers housing.
This website additionally sits close to Colorado Bend State Park. When developed, the greater than 3,000-acre new park alongside Yancey Creek will join with the better Colorado Bend ecosystem, which Fleury stated will broaden conservation efforts at a regional scale.
“One of many thrilling issues is that panorama scale of conservation, the place we’re defending now 10,000 acres,” Fleury stated. He additionally added that the park is filling recreation gaps like cabins and RV tenting, which Colorado Bend doesn’t present.
A “herp search” to catalogue crittersEarly that June morning Greg Creacy, a pure assets program director for Texas State Parks, leads a workforce of biologists, herpetologists, and hydrologists by the ecological stock — strolling the land, cataloging species and habitats, and figuring out what’s uncommon or delicate.
The Yancey Creek survey begins with a herp search — quick for herpetology — which incorporates snakes, lizards, frogs and salamanders.
“(That information) informs our plans for find out how to preserve these programs and these species over the lengthy haul,” Creacy stated. “It additionally informs how we handle the positioning, how we develop and the way the general public makes use of the positioning recreationally and doesn’t negatively influence these assets.”
Workers fan out throughout the limestone creek mattress, squatting, lifting rocks, and peering into the shadows as a result of in accordance with Sipocz, the biologist, that’s the place these creatures like to cover — below rocks the place it’s cool and moist. For Sipocz, there’s a thrill in each discovery. He jokes and says choosing up rocks is addictive and offers him excessive.
It doesn’t take lengthy earlier than they’re hollering joyfully from reverse banks.
“OMG, have a look at this!” one yells.
“What have you ever acquired?” one other replies.
Tadpoles wriggle in shallow swimming pools. A Rio Grande leopard frog makes an attempt to flee with a leap earlier than being gently scooped for identification. A water moccasin slithers by the tall grass — taking Sipocz unexpectedly.
One workforce member spots a vibrant blue collared lizard basking on a sun-warmed rock and picks it up, whereas one other factors out a fragile Maidenhair Fern. Another person finds a tiny skink hiding beneath a unfastened stone, and a plain-bellied water snake within the creek.
Staffers use the iNaturalist app to log each species they encounter, importing images and habitat notes in actual time. The info will assist TPWD assess the positioning’s ecological significance and determine delicate areas in want of safety.
These discoveries information the location of trails and amenities — and typically decide what can’t go the place.
“We’d discover a flat, buildable space that appears nice for a path,” stated Fleury, “however then our useful resource workforce comes again and says, ‘Endangered species habitat — transfer it.’”
Electrofishing in Yancey CreekFollowing the herp search, the TPWD workforce pivots to the fish neighborhood. A small workforce steps into the clear, and at occasions knee-deep waters of Yancey Creek. Some put on waders; others merely courageous the water in soaked garments.
Utilizing a way known as electrofishing, the workforce led by aquatic biologist Stephen Curtis, quickly stun fish with a low electrical present — sufficient to make a human hand tingle uncomfortably, however not harmful to fish. Each zap from the backpack-mounted electrofisher triggers a pointy beep as fish float to the floor, the place they’re gently scooped by a web to later be dumped into buckets for identification. The workforce paperwork species one after the other, sorting and tallying.
They discovered an array of native species together with longear sunfish, Western mosquito fish, sand shiners, blacktail shiners with their hanging orange fins, and Texas tetra. Buckets rapidly stuffed, particularly with the “cuss bugs,” a neighborhood nickname for a very prickly aquatic insect with small stinging barbs. After they rely the fish and scribble its species on a pad, they launch them again into the creek.
“That’s a very good signal,” stated Curtis. “We’ve got lots of complexity on this stream. We’ve got a wide range of habitats for fish to occupy and we need to preserve it that means and preserve that managed to the place we will share this with individuals sooner or later.”
Curtis stated that sampling fish is about constructing a deeper understanding of the ecosystem. Fish range can reveal how wholesome the stream is and the way properly it’s functioning. It’s going to additionally assist them assess how they might want to handle the fish inhabitants when this website is open to the general public for fishing.
Along with figuring out fish, the workforce collected water samples and measured how a lot water is flowing.
Fleury, the park planner, stated that after surveys are finished, park planners will work intently with useful resource specialists to keep away from delicate areas for species and begin determining the most effective spots for issues like roads, parking, utilities, buildings, and leisure options — suppose trails, campsites, and picnic areas.
As they go, the planning workforce will create some early idea plans to share with the general public and get suggestions from the general public at a sequence of native and regional public conferences the place they will weigh.
The thought is to gauge what sorts of experiences individuals need — day use, in a single day amenities, paddling entry, and so on. — and take a look at the early idea plans earlier than they’re finalized.
As soon as a plan takes form, TPWD strikes into design and building.
“It’s like constructing a small metropolis,” Fleury stated.
With the Centennial parks funding, the timeline is quick. He stated that individuals can count on to have entry to Publish Oak Ridge State Park, the brand new park at Yancey Creek, inside a 12 months. That would imply guided excursions, paddling, birding, or restricted day use on current ranch roads. Inside 18 months, the objective is to have primary amenities similar to trails, parking areas, and restrooms. And inside 4 years, a full-fledged state park together with day use and in a single day recreation, administrative help amenities, utilities, roads, and parking.
Again at Yancey Creek, the workforce wraps up its survey. Some are sunburned, moist or mud-splattered. They’ve logged dozens of species and mapped important areas for future planning. As they start the lengthy trek again up the hill, one staffer takes a second to admire the land, which stays uncooked and untamed.
Within the close to future, this stretch of Texas Hill Nation might develop into a spot the general public can cherish and discover.
“Because of this I acquired this profession,” Sipocz stated. “We don’t receives a commission loads, however… we receives a commission in sunsets.”
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This story was initially printed by The Texas Tribune and distributed by a partnership with The Related Press.
