Texas is on the verge of one of its biggest public-lands wins in decades. State officials announced Wednesday that the 54,000-acre Silver Lake Ranch in the Hill Country will become Silver Lake State Park, a sprawling addition tucked along the West Nueces River between Rocksprings and Uvalde.
The future park packs in a 30-acre spring-fed lake, steep canyons, cliffs and rolling live-oak country. When it opens, it will trail only Big Bend Ranch in size among Texas state parks. Officials have not set a public opening date yet, and park staff say they will start with limited access to parts of the landscape while planners map out a longer-term development plan.
How the deal came together
The Moody Foundation said in a press release that it will gift about 87.5 percent of the ranch to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, a donation the foundation framed as a multigenerational conservation move, according to the Moody Foundation. The Texas Tribune reports TPWD paid $11.85 million for the remainder and used the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund plus sporting-goods sales-tax receipts to close the acquisition.
The transfer still has to clear routine survey and title work before it is fully finalized, but the framework for Silver Lake State Park is in place.
What is on the land
The terrain is rugged and varied. Steep canyons, limestone cliffs and plateaus give way to rolling live-oak and juniper woodlands, with roughly 7.5 miles of West Nueces River frontage and several creeks that feed the spring-fed lake.
The Houston Chronicle and Texas Public Radio report the ranch supports white-tailed and axis deer, turkeys, javelinas and doves, and that some tracts have been flagged by biologists as potential habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler.
Why the purchase matters
The buy is one of the first major acquisitions funded by the $1 billion Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, the voter-approved program created in 2023 to expand the state park system. Per TPWD and a report from Environment Texas, the addition helps address a longstanding gap. Texas sits in the mid-30s nationwide for state park acreage per capita, and Silver Lake joins recent efforts such as Post Oak Ridge and the Enchanted Rock expansion to close that deficit.
What visitors can expect
TPWD says it will develop the park in phases. The first offerings are expected to be guided tours and limited day use on existing ranch roads, while planners collect public feedback and finish long-range planning.
According to The Texas Tribune, the agency is looking at a multi-year buildout that could add trails, restrooms and eventually camping. The Tribune also reports that biologists have found the greenthroat darter in Silver Lake.
“Silver Lake is sure to become a destination for park visitors and be the backdrop of memories made for generations to come,” TPWD Executive Director David Yoskowitz said in a statement to the paper.
