A Better East Texas: State parks

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Texas has almost 90 state parks, and I think I am safe in saying that nearly every family in Texas has had some interaction with a state park. Many families utilize and experience state parks regularly, and the system has never been more popular.

It sometimes takes planning months ahead to get camping and use reservations. So, our state parks are gems, right? Well, maybe not so. Fairfield State Park, located in Freestone County, about an hour or so away from East Texas, has closed. The land that the park has operated on has been sold. The previous owner of the land allowed the State to lease the fourteen hundred acres for free for 50 years. But recently, the owner has sold the property and the land will be converted into a gated community of high-end homes and a golf course.

It sure looks like the State fumbled an opportunity, and legislators need to act immediately before any more of the fourteen state parks that operate on borrowed land are sold. The State has a massive budget surplus and there should be no issue in creating an aggressive plan to acquire the land used by these state parks. It may be too late for Fairfield, though, as the park closed on February twenty-eighth.

Sadly, 2023 is the 100-year anniversary of the State Park system in Texas, but what better time to act to protect them for our future generations. It seems like a no-brainer, so legislators need to act and that will make for a Better East Texas.

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