{"id":260814,"date":"2026-04-22T07:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/260814\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T07:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:20:16","slug":"this-texas-state-park-near-austin-just-got-a-lot-bigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/260814\/","title":{"rendered":"This Texas state park near Austin just got a lot bigger"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Central Texas<\/a> state park near the fast-growing Austin metro<\/a> has nearly doubled in size after Texas officials purchased hundreds of acres of neighboring land.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department<\/a> announced\u00a0Lockhart State Park<\/a> had expanded by 188 acres through the acquisition of two adjacent properties, bringing the park to roughly 453 acres.<\/p>\n

About 35 miles south of Austin, the park is best known as the only Texas state park with an operating nine-hole golf course, a layout originally designed by the Civilian Conservation Corps.<\/p>\n

\"Officials<\/p>\n

Officials say newly acquired land at Lockhart State Park includes prairie, creek frontage and wildlife habitat. (Sonja Sommerfeld\/Sonja Sommerfeld\/TPWD)<\/p>\n

“State Parks are grateful for the opportunity to expand Lockhart State Park in a way that protects natural resources while opening the door to new recreational possibilities for Texans,” said Rodney Franklin<\/a>, director of Texas State Parks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The expansion was completed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy in Texas<\/a> and adds land with a mix of ecological features that are increasingly hard to preserve in a developing region. Officials said the purchase includes part of the Clear Fork of Plum Creek, native\u00a0blackland prairie and wildlife habitat, along with shrubland and riparian woodlands.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The expansion of Lockhart State Park adds protected land in a fast-growing part of Central Texas. (Sonja Sommerfeld\/Sonja Sommerfeld\/TPWD)<\/p>\n

Blackland prairie is one of Texas’ rarest native ecosystems, much of it lost over time to farming and development.<\/p>\n

The larger of the two tracts, on the park’s southeast side, adds about 148 acres. A second parcel to the northeast adds another 40 acres. Both were previously family-owned ranches.<\/p>\n

\"Newly<\/p>\n

Newly added acreage at Lockhart State Park may one day be used for trails, camping and other recreation. (Sonja Sommerfeld\/Sonja Sommerfeld\/TPWD)<\/p>\n

Before the new land opens to visitors, agency staff will conduct natural and cultural resource surveys to shape long-term management plans. Officials also said future public meetings will be held so residents and park visitors can weigh in on what comes next.<\/p>\n

Possible future uses for the added acreage include camping, hiking and biking, though the state said planning could take months and no opening date has been announced.<\/p>\n

More Parks & Wildlife<\/p>\n

Lovebugs | This annoying insect is swarming Houston right now<\/a>
Romance | Texas alligator Boots didn’t just relocate. He found love<\/a>
Changes | Big Bend’s most anticipated upgrade just unraveled<\/a>
Endangered | Black bears are coming back in Texas. These cubs are proof.<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest and best from Chron,\u00a0sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at This Texas state park near Austin just got a lot bigger<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Central Texas state park near the fast-growing Austin metro has nearly doubled in size after Texas officials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,11338,133,97607,97608,97606,27,2603],"class_list":{"0":"post-260814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-metro","11":"tag-austin-news","12":"tag-blackland-prairie","13":"tag-civilian-conservation-corps","14":"tag-lockhart-state-park","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-texas-parks-and-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}