The bill introduced in the Texas House of Representatives is attempting to demolish the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, and will instead be held responsible by other existing state agencies.
State Representative Pat Curry, who wrote the bill, is taking part in providing new government efficiency in the state. A committee that reflects federal counterparts to eliminate government waste. State agencies absorbing TPWD say they are standing up for the task, but not everyone believes it will lead to the best outcomes of their beloved parks.
James Corey calls McKinney Falls State Park a simple escape from the suburbs.
“During spring break, I wanted to go out and enjoy nature. “It’s a fun way to exercise and see what our condition looks like.”
Like Darrell Cleveland, he sees it as an affordable and enjoyable way to spend time with his family.
“I like nature, I like how open it is,” Cleveland said. “It’s far from the highway. It won’t interfere much unless the plane passes.”
The state parks are overseen by the Texas Parks and Wildlife division, which oversees environmental protection and hunting and fishing regulations.
In a statement to CBS Austin, TPWD stated in part
“The Texas Parks and Wildlife division is proud of the important role our agency plays in working with partners and private landowners to manage Texas land and water to provide hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation. Our 89 state parks welcome over 9 million visitors each year.”
That could change with a proposal in the Texas House of Representatives and a proposal to dissolve the department. The bill would transfer park duties to the general land use office and transfer conservation obligations to the Department of Agriculture, including hunting and fishing.
“We’re already doing state biosecurity,” said Sid Miller, director of the Department of Agriculture. “We have the ability to pull trucks and go through them and test them for biohazards, invasive species, plants and diseases.”
Miller says he doesn’t support the bill, but he believes that if the law passes, his department can effectively take these additional obligations.
“It’s not something we’re going to absorb that, and we’ve absorbed agents before,” Miller said. “We’ve absorbed the Rural Healthcare Bureau. That’s the current Ministry of Agriculture. Rural Economic Development Bureau, that’s the agriculture now.”
In fact, Miller says there is common sense to integrate governments.
“There’s a lot of cost savings from integration,” Miller said. “We don’t have two legal teams, we have one legal team. We don’t have two IT departments, we have one IT department…”
Cleveland hopes that if that happens, other departments will take their new responsibility seriously.
“I really hope that whatever we can do is the Department of Agriculture can make good use of it,” Cleveland said. “We know that the people who are in charge of wildlife have done a good job since they came here. I’m born here and everything is preserved.”
Corey is worried, but their priorities may lie elsewhere.
“They have other obligations that can be distracted,” Corey said. “There is a competing interest between mining, agriculture and conservation.”
He says he loves to stay like he is in the park, and the dedicated department is far from a waste of money.
“The cut doesn’t make sense just because of the cut,” Corey said. “There must be a good reason for that. The park is something that someone else can easily pave.”
Texas Parks and Wildlife also said the Sunset Advisory Committee, which has been working to identify government waste in the state since 1977, has already evaluated the department in 2021.
If passed, the law will take effect on September 1st.
