{"id":54919,"date":"2023-05-16T23:00:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T23:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=54919"},"modified":"2023-05-16T23:00:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T23:00:28","slug":"texas-state-parks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=54919","title":{"rendered":"‘Yes!’ on park investment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Finally, I’m tellin’ ya — finally!<\/em> — I get to offer unabashed enthusiastic praise for a Texas legislative policy decision without qualifying it in any fashion.<\/p>\n

The Texas House has given final approval for a $1 billion investment in the state park system, seeking to add more parks to the state’s already impressive network of public recreational sites.<\/p>\n

It’s not entirely done deal just yet. The Texas Senate has approved it already. It heads for Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature. Then it comes to us — you and me — for a final vote this November as an amendment to the Texas Constitution.<\/p>\n

I am going to vote enthusiastically for the measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would create a new golden age for our state parks,\u201d said Luke Metzger, the executive director of Environment Texas. \u201cWe have a lot to celebrate. What a great birthday present to give all Texans for the state parks system\u2019s 100th.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is celebrating the centennial of the state park system.<\/p>\n

The Texas Tribune reported: According to a\u00a0report by Environment Texas<\/a>\u00a0last year, Texas lags behind most others states in state parkland: The state ranks 35th in the nation for state park acreage per capita, with about 636,000 acres of parkland for a population of over 29 million as of 2019. The report suggests that Texas needs to\u00a0add 1.4 million acres<\/a>\u00a0of state parks by 2030 to meet the needs of its residents.<\/em><\/p>\n

Texas House approves bills to spend up to $1 billion for more state parks | The Texas Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n

The Trib also noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state park system became even more popular with Texans, who faced interstate and international travel restrictions.<\/p>\n

So … they packed up their gear and headed for our state parks.<\/p>\n

My late wife and I were among those Texans who have embraced all that the park system has to offer. By my unofficial count, we visited roughly two-thirds of the state parks during the years we were hauling recreational vehicles behind our pickup.<\/p>\n

I am distressed to learn, of course, that the state has lagged behind other states in dedicating resources to state parks. I hope that can change with this investment.<\/p>\n

I just want to offer a heartfelt “bravo!” to both legislative chambers for the decision they have made to set aside more land for development into state parks.<\/p>\n

We need them … and Texans will use them.<\/p>\n

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n

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Finally, I’m tellin’ ya — finally! — I get to offer unabashed enthusiastic praise for a Texas legislative policy decision without qualifying it in any fashion. The Texas House has given final approval for a $1 billion investment in the state park system, seeking to add more parks to the state’s already impressive network of … Continue reading ‘Yes!’ on park investment<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9308,4596,4653,4728,6910],"class_list":["post-54919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-state-parks","tag-texas-constitution","tag-texas-legislature","tag-texas-tribune","tag-tpw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54921,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54919\/revisions\/54921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}