TPWD to host public meeting on new Powderhorn State Park

After more than a year of planning, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is starting to look at developing Powderhorn State Park — and the public is welcome to provide feedback. 

Scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 30 at the Port O’Connor Library, and 6 p.m. on May 1 at the Victoria College Emerging Technology Center, these two meetings will be the first of a series of public events held to present ideas and hear community feedback regarding the development of Powderhorn State Park.

“This is our first series of meetings; it will be a pretty high-level overview of Powderhorn State Park and the Powderhorn Wildlife Management area. The focus of the meeting will be Powderhorn State Park, which is a little bit smaller than the area, but definitely important,” said TPWD Park Planner Justin Fleury.  “We’ll give a high-level overview of the history of the property, and then we’ll also talk about our vision for a public use plan; but first, we need to make sure people understand the types of amenities we’ll be talking about.”

The goal of the meeting, Fleury said, will be to hear the public’s voice and opinion on what is important to the public, as well as make the community get excited about the park.

“The park has been closed, and has not had a capital development project; there’s been some public hunting and other recreational opportunities, but we’ve mostly been focused on the wildlife management side of things,” Fleury said. “But we want to see what people would like to see and what they wouldn’t like to see.”

During the meeting, Fleury alongside TWPD regional director Reagan Faught and Powderhorn State Park Superintendent Sarah Affedt will present a park plan as well as conceptual drawings of amenities as part of an ideation phase of development.

“We’ll show a couple scenarios of what one model of a site layout may look like versus another, as well as some general ideas, such as overnight recreation possibilities from a range of site types across the state, from cabins to tent camping to primitive camping and hiking, and maybe even hiking opportunities,” Fleury said. “It’ll mostly be an open forum, as well as for one-on-one discussion.”

Consisting of more than 2,300 acres and bordering the Powderhorn Wildlife Management Area, the land that the new state park will occupy was purchased by the nonprofit Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation alongside a coalition of conservation groups in 2014. According to a press release by TWPD, the overall cost of the project came out to nearly $50 million.

“Following the opening of Palmetto State Park, Powderhorn was next in line,” Fleury said. “I think that looking at these previous parks would be an excellent idea for those coming. People bringing in their previous experiences with other state or national parks would also be very welcomed.”

According to Fleury, the best place to prepare for the meeting is to look into the history and landscape of Powderhorn State Park. While they’ll go over the highlights during the meeting, Fleury said that going in with a better understanding of what the area is would be helpful.

“We want the park to make sense for the community,” Fleury said.

While the meeting won’t be live-streamed, a recording of it will be available online shortly afterward. In addition, all three presenters will be available for contact through email at justin.fleury@tpwd.texas.gov and phone numbers listed at TPWD.texas.gov.

“Powderhorn seems like a wildlife paradise; between the number of wetlands and the dynamic environment between the lakes and Matagorda Bays, as well as some ancient oaks, it really gives you that iconic Texas landscape which makes you go ‘Oh, this should be a state park,” said Fleury.