Post by L Roebuck on Oct 13, 2005 18:28:01 GMT -5
San Antonio home to new park
Government Canyon State Natural Area opens Oct. 15
September 23, 2005
ROBERT MCCORKLE
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
SAN ANTONIO - The much-anticipated opening of the newest member of the Texas State Parks family - Government Canyon State Natural Area - will take place on Saturday, Oct. 15, on the northwestern fringes of the state's third most populous city.
Government Canyon State Natural Area (SNA), which sits only 16 miles from downtown San Antonio, has been 12 years in the making. The 8,622-acre state natural area at the edge of the Edwards Plateau represents one of Texas' most significant conservation stories resulting from a public-private partnership involving municipal, state and federal government agencies, as well as a host of community and environmental organizations.
Up until now, it has been accessible on a limited basis for volunteers and special guided tours.
Initially, visitors will be able to picnic, bird watch, shop for souvenirs, view exhibits explaining the natural area's unique geology and natural and cultural resources, and explore roughly 40 miles of trails available to hikers and cyclists.
For now, Government Canyon will be open for day use only, but natural area Manager Deirdre Hisler expects to be ready to accommodate overnight guests at primitive tent camping sites sometime next year.
"The community has been waiting - and waiting patiently - for a long time for Government Canyon to open," Hisler said. "We are a work in progress. Our primary concern as a state natural area is protecting valuable cultural and natural resources in the sensitive Edwards Aquifer recharge zone."
Some 7,500 acres of the state natural area's backcountry make up one of nation's largest and most unusual karst preserves where water "recharges", or enters, the Edwards Aquifer through sinkholes, caves and fractures in the porous limestone surface that predominates in the more rugged part of Government Canyon.
The Tim and Karen Hixon Visitor Center, which includes offices, a gift shop, interpretive exhibit hall, restrooms and two classrooms, is located in the minimally developed southern portion of the natural area where ranching operations once took place under prior ownership. Here, too, are found a group picnic pavilion with fireplace, 20 picnic sites, a maintenance facility and composting toilets.
The state natural area derives its name from the canyon used as the Joe Johnston Route, a westward route up and across the Edwards Plateau blazed in the 1850s by a U.S. military survey crew stationed at Fort Government Hill, known today as Fort Sam Houston.
It is via this historic route that hikers and cyclists can readily access backcountry trails leading to scenic vistas and other points of interest.
Government Canyon SNA's diverse habitats harbor seven federally endangered species, including the six of Bexar County's nine protected karst invertebrates - cave spiders and beetles - as well as the golden-cheeked warbler.
The warbler's critical habitat in the backcountry will be off limits to visitors during the breeding and nesting season from March 1 to Sept. 1.
Government Canyon SNA is located 3.5 miles northwest of Loop 1604 on Culebra Road (also known as FM 471), then 1.6 miles north on Galm Road. The entry fee for persons 13 and older is $6.
For more information about Government Canyon, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/government_canyon or call the park at 210-688-9055.
Victoria Advocate
www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/lifestyle/features/story/3067487p-3557761c.html
Government Canyon State Natural Area opens Oct. 15
September 23, 2005
ROBERT MCCORKLE
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
SAN ANTONIO - The much-anticipated opening of the newest member of the Texas State Parks family - Government Canyon State Natural Area - will take place on Saturday, Oct. 15, on the northwestern fringes of the state's third most populous city.
Government Canyon State Natural Area (SNA), which sits only 16 miles from downtown San Antonio, has been 12 years in the making. The 8,622-acre state natural area at the edge of the Edwards Plateau represents one of Texas' most significant conservation stories resulting from a public-private partnership involving municipal, state and federal government agencies, as well as a host of community and environmental organizations.
Up until now, it has been accessible on a limited basis for volunteers and special guided tours.
Initially, visitors will be able to picnic, bird watch, shop for souvenirs, view exhibits explaining the natural area's unique geology and natural and cultural resources, and explore roughly 40 miles of trails available to hikers and cyclists.
For now, Government Canyon will be open for day use only, but natural area Manager Deirdre Hisler expects to be ready to accommodate overnight guests at primitive tent camping sites sometime next year.
"The community has been waiting - and waiting patiently - for a long time for Government Canyon to open," Hisler said. "We are a work in progress. Our primary concern as a state natural area is protecting valuable cultural and natural resources in the sensitive Edwards Aquifer recharge zone."
Some 7,500 acres of the state natural area's backcountry make up one of nation's largest and most unusual karst preserves where water "recharges", or enters, the Edwards Aquifer through sinkholes, caves and fractures in the porous limestone surface that predominates in the more rugged part of Government Canyon.
The Tim and Karen Hixon Visitor Center, which includes offices, a gift shop, interpretive exhibit hall, restrooms and two classrooms, is located in the minimally developed southern portion of the natural area where ranching operations once took place under prior ownership. Here, too, are found a group picnic pavilion with fireplace, 20 picnic sites, a maintenance facility and composting toilets.
The state natural area derives its name from the canyon used as the Joe Johnston Route, a westward route up and across the Edwards Plateau blazed in the 1850s by a U.S. military survey crew stationed at Fort Government Hill, known today as Fort Sam Houston.
It is via this historic route that hikers and cyclists can readily access backcountry trails leading to scenic vistas and other points of interest.
Government Canyon SNA's diverse habitats harbor seven federally endangered species, including the six of Bexar County's nine protected karst invertebrates - cave spiders and beetles - as well as the golden-cheeked warbler.
The warbler's critical habitat in the backcountry will be off limits to visitors during the breeding and nesting season from March 1 to Sept. 1.
Government Canyon SNA is located 3.5 miles northwest of Loop 1604 on Culebra Road (also known as FM 471), then 1.6 miles north on Galm Road. The entry fee for persons 13 and older is $6.
For more information about Government Canyon, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/government_canyon or call the park at 210-688-9055.
Victoria Advocate
www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/lifestyle/features/story/3067487p-3557761c.html