A century outdoors: TP&W announces 2023 centennial year from Palo Pinto Mountains State Park

Oct. 14—STRAWN — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department celebrated its 100th birthday on Tuesday by throwing a party in its latest gift to Texans.

Palo Pinto Mountains State Park is on target to open in late 2023, the first North Texas state park to open in 25 years.

That year marks a century since Texas Gov. Pat Neff appointed four men and three women to oversee a new department and identify sites for a network of state parks.

"If the last 100 years have taught us anything, it's taught us how important it is to get outside," Director of State Parks Rodney Franklin said Tuesday from a podium set in shade below the dam for Tucker Lake, a 91-acre reservoir where anglers will pull in channel and blue catfish along with largemouth bass and white crappie from it's 35-foot depth.

That area below the dam will be the site of a unique parks department offering — an equestrian campground with stables for visitors who come for horseback trail rides through the 4,871-acre park. The gate is 3.7 miles west of Strawn on Farm-to-Market 2372.

Once opened, Palo Pinto Mountains State Park will offer more than 20 miles of trails and 60 campsites. Those include sites with RV hookups (in the main camping area), walk-in sites with water and tent pads and primitive campsites reached by a two-mile hike.

"And this will be the first one of it's kind that we've opened in 25 years," Franklin said.

Participants entering the park for the centennial announcement could see utility lines lain in preparation for burial. They also passed workers with Mineral Wells-based, Greenscaping, rough-grading the pad for a headquarters and visitors center.

"We get to do a lot of the final impacting stuff," Greenscaping foreman Tim Hopper said, working with crewman Matt Parker.

That includes cutting campsites and sidewalks, and building a sweeping, half-moon boardwalk for anglers casting into Tucker Lake.

The $30 million park is a public-private partnership of the state department, H-E-B Grocery Co. and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. The latter is a public organization which supports the parks system.

Since 1991, the foundation has raised more than $220 million in private donations for the state parks. More information, including a way to donate, is at www.tpwf.org/palopinto

Palo Pinto will be the 89th in the state parks system — the second in Palo Pinto County (the third, counting Lake Mineral Wells State Park on that city's eastern edge but in Parker County.)

"It's very exciting that we get to be a small part of your Palo Pinto Mountains State Park," H-E-B's Environmental Affairs Director Leslie Sweet told the 25 or 30 media representatives at hand for the centennial announcement.

The parks foundation is contributing $10 million of the park's cost, and on Tuesday Sweet added a $1 million contribution from the grocery chain's charitable foundation.

She also announced H-E-B will continue its involvement with the park after it opens, with chefs scheduled to come teach campfire cooking skills.

"I can't wait for next year," Sweet said. "It's going to be awesome."

Franklin, the parks director, said the department is looking to the future as it celebrates its first 100 years. Celebrations are planned at all 89 parks, he said, along with fundraisers.

The parks department recently announced an addition to its specialized license plates. Drivers can support the service now with a plate featuring the iconic roadrunner.

"We've got a lot of things happening next year," Franklin said. "We want to engage with an audience that will feel love, and with the next generation of people that love their state parks and feel comfortable in their state parks."

And he praised the long-ago governor who envisioned a parks system that has since become much more accessible with the arrival of the state's highway network.

"And 100 years later, his vision is still active and going today," he said of Neff. "It is a fantastic way to connect with the outdoors and connect with nature. ... We always want to get new people out to experience Texas' parks — these are places for everyone."