Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Texas State Park System’s next year, an environmental group released a report urging state lawmakers to create more public lands. The new study details the increased demand for state parks as well as the need to preserve natural habitats as the state’s population grows. Marfa Public Radio’s Mitch Borden reports.
Texas needs over a million more acres of public land — which could cost billions of dollars. That’s the conclusion of a new report published by Environment Texas. Luke Metzger is the group’s executive director and says the state park system needs to be expanded especially as the population of Texas continues to increase.
“As the population grows were also at risk of losing the amazing natural areas to development. We found that over a 20 year period we lost about 12.5 acres of natural areas every hour.”
Environment Texas is recommending that lawmakers dedicate funds to help acquire 1.4 million acres to protect wildlife habitats and expand access to state parks. A poll from 2021 referenced in the new report found that a majority of Texans support improving existing parks and building new state parks.