{"id":454453,"date":"2026-10-02T17:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T17:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/454453\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T17:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T17:26:07","slug":"lakefront-ranch-near-dallas-will-become-new-texas-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/454453\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakefront ranch near Dallas will become new Texas state park"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sprawling piece of lakefront property long used to grow pecans is set to become a new\u00a0Texas<\/a> state park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation closed this week on 650 acres along Lake Palestine, about 100 miles southeast of\u00a0Dallas<\/a>, in Henderson County. The $10 million ranch includes native pine forests, pastures and small lakes and ponds.<\/p>\n

The land has belonged to the Pollard family, owners of Texas Pecan Nursery, since 1940. They used part of the land to grow pecans and later sell pecan trees, but much of the property remains untouched.<\/p>\n

The park, which has not been named, will expand conservation and outdoor recreation in a region the state has long considered underserved. One of the largest contiguous pieces of land with lake frontage, the park will provide opportunities for hiking, biking, boating, swimming, paddle boarding and camping.<\/p>\n

Lake Palestine <\/a>spans about 25,000 acres near Tyler, reaching a depth of 58 feet. Around the lake, wildlife includes white-tailed deer, bobcats, waterfowl and a variety of woodland and water-dependent birds.<\/p>\n

Sam Pollard, president of Texas Pecan Nursery, said in a statement the decision to turn the land into a state park means it will remain largely undeveloped and open for Texans.<\/p>\n

“This land is part of my soul,” said Pollard, who grew up working, hunting and fishing there. “It means a lot to me that we can leave a legacy for people to enjoy.”<\/p>\n

The nonprofit Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation<\/a> will hold the property until the state is ready to purchase it, likely in late 2027. Once that is official, the park will open in phases beginning with guided access, then day use and eventually camping. An opening date has not been set.<\/p>\n

This is the latest acquisition for Texas parks. The state launched an aggressive plan to expand public parkland after voters in 2023 passed the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund<\/a> to create a $1 billion dedicated funding stream for new parks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas lags behind other states in public parkland, according to a 2022 report by the nonprofit Environment Texas. The state ranked 37th in the nation for state park acreage per capita. The report said Texas would need to add 1.4 million acres of state parks by 2023 to meet the needs of residents.<\/p>\n

In recent years, the state has announced plans for several new parks, including Bear Creek State Park in Uvalde County, Post Oak Ridge State Park along the Colorado River, and Silver Lake State Park in Edwards and Kinney counties. The latter will be Texas\u2019 second-largest state park.<\/p>\n

Palo Pinto State Park<\/a> opened this year in Strawn, about 75 miles west of Fort Worth, after years of delays. That marked the first new state park in North Texas in more than 25 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sprawling piece of lakefront property long used to grow pecans is set to become a new\u00a0Texas state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[732,115244,27,29,28,89512,87998,92279,122417],"class_list":["post-454453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-article","tag-news-environment","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tp-texas","tag-tp-dallas","tag-tp-parks","tag-tp-texas-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454453","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=454453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}