Texas' state parks closing to public amid coronavirus outbreak

Texas State Parks closed to the public effective at the close of business on Tuesday  in order to maintain a safe environment for visitors, volunteers and staff.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced the closure of its parks following direction from Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday. The TPWD will announce when a reopening date has been determined. 

“Given the myriad of challenges and heightened risks of operating the parks at this time, we believe this is the best course of action right now in order to meet the health and safety expectations the state has set out for the citizens of Texas,” TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith said in a statement. “All state parks will remain temporarily closed until public health and safety conditions improve. During the closure, staff will continue to steward and care for the parks to ensure they can be immediately reopened to visitors at the appropriate time.”

The TPWD stated that despite implementing restrictive visitor use measures to minimize the transmission of COVID-19 at its parks, the department has reached the point where public safety considerations must take precedence over continued operations. The TPWD stated that a few challenges its staff faced were difficulty ensuring compliance with social distancing, problems in maintaining adequate supplies and keeping park facilities sufficiently sanitized. 

While parks are closed to the public, staff will work to maintain the standard upkeep, maintenance, stewardship and continued regular cleaning of site facilities.

The Texas State Parks customer service center is currently working toward contacting customers with upcoming overnight reservations to reimburse stays booked through the reservation system. Group and facility reservations have been canceled until April 30. Canceled reservations will not be charged normal administrative fees.

Day passes purchased through the reservation system, not associated to the Texas State Parks Pass, will also be refunded without penalties. The Texas State Parks customer service center will automatically process cancellations of both overnight and day-use reservations. If your reservation is impacted by a facility or park closure, a customer service center agent will contact you – you do not need to contact the TWPD, which is contacting customers in order of arrival date.