Texas buys land for new state parks that will be developed using $1 billion voter-approved fund

On a blistering June morning, Andy Sipocz brushes his fingers through the thick, sawgrass fronds rising higher than his head beside a creek in the Texas Hill Country.

Around him, rocky limestone lines Yancey Creek, streaked in subtle reds and browns — evidence of millennia of mineral deposits and weathering.

Sipocz, a natural resources coordinator and biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, is one of more than three dozen staffers gathered here to begin laying the groundwork for what will one day be Texas’ newest state park — about a two hour drive northwest of Austin.