Interviews · Lake Palestine State Park
Update on the New State Park: What’s Next at Lake Palestine
Texas State Parks Director Rodney Franklin shares the timeline, the planning work under way, and how Brownsboro and Chandler neighbors can get involved.
Good things take time, and the new state park on Lake Palestine is already well on its way. When Rodney Franklin, director of Texas State Parks at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), met with Kickapoo Kolache in October, I asked him for an update on the roughly 650-acre property the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation bought from Sam Pollard and his family on Oct. 1.
His message was clear and encouraging: the work has already started, and local folks will have a real voice in what the park becomes. “We want to make sure that people have a positive and safe experience,” Franklin said.
The timeline
Because the Foundation owns the land for now, TPWD has time to prepare so it can “hit the ground running” when it buys the property from the Foundation in 2027. In the meantime, the Pollard family has been given some breathing room to move their business and materials off the land.
Now through 2027: Early surveys and assessments of the property.
Late 2027: TPWD expects to buy the property from the Foundation and hire a park superintendent.
Late fall 2027 and after: Public meetings and online surveys on the park’s vision begin once TPWD owns the land. No public meetings are planned in 2026.
Within the first year of ownership (into 2028): Guided visits to the property begin.
Full opening: To be determined.
What’s happening right now
Franklin said TPWD is starting the preliminary work it usually does when it takes on a new property. That includes cultural resource surveys to find and inventory any artifacts and historical features on the land, and natural resource surveys to learn what habitat, wildlife and plants are there, including any endangered species. “We’re in the early stages of that,” he said, and the work will continue in 2027.
What the teams find will help shape where trails and campsites go. Park planners have studied maps and topography for a long time, and now they want to get “boots on the ground.”
Building the park: a “team of 50”
“Sometimes we refer to it as the team of 50,” Franklin said. The phrase doesn’t mean TPWD has hired 50 planners. It refers to all the people involved in the whole process from beginning to end, from researching the land and working with partners and landowners to planning, survey teams, the purchase team, and TPWD executives and commissioners. Among them are the experts who figure out how to bring safe drinking water and proper electrical power to the site, and they plan the roads and buildings. That team includes engineers, architects, landscape engineers and construction managers, plus archaeologists, historians and natural resource biologists. Operations staff help decide where things like the maintenance area go, so rangers can care for the park without affecting visitors.
TPWD’s regional office in Tyler is closely involved too. Franklin said the regional director has met the team for site visits and offered great insight about the area. Part of that work is building relationships with local businesses for supplies.
Lake access and a boat ramp
Access to the lake was one of the big reasons TPWD wanted this property. “We know that we want to have a boat ramp,” Franklin said. Because this part of the lake is shallow and has stumps in the water, and some areas may be prone to flooding, TPWD is already talking with the people who would give permission for some clean-out work and is thinking through the permits it will need.
How visitors will get to the park is still being worked out. Franklin said TPWD is looking at “the safest, easiest, most efficient way” to get from the main highway to the property and that some additional land purchases may make the entrance easier. The final entrance route will be determined based on assessments and potential future land acquisitions.
Amenities: what’s being considered
- Trails: Franklin said trails are one of the amenities people ask for most.
- Camping and cabins: Planners will decide whether cabins fit and how many campsites the park can hold. What gets built will depend on funding from the interest on the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund.
- Fishing: TPWD’s freshwater fisheries team already stocks lakes across the state and keeps fish populations healthy. If ponds on the property are rehabbed, “there might now be trout stocking opportunities that didn’t exist before,” Franklin said.
- The pecan orchard: Whether visitors can gather pecans is still being discussed. One idea is paying a dollar for a sack and filling it, one sack per customer. “I don’t want to rule it out, but I can’t rule it in just yet,” Franklin said.
- Telling the story: TPWD’s interpretive services team will handle signs, brochures and programs that honor the Pollard family, the community and the area. Visitors will be asked to follow “Leave No Trace” principles, including TPWD’s saying “don’t pocket the past.”
- The name: TPWD usually names parks for their features or location. The name is still under discussion, though Franklin said early thinking leans toward giving people a sense of place with “Lake Palestine.” Official name: Not yet announced.
The first visits: guided access
TPWD plans to bring people onto the property for guided visits within the first year of ownership. For now there are no trail signs and no water out there, so visitors will go with staff. “We’ll have people call the Superintendent and sign up for a Nature walk,” Franklin said. Ideas include walks along the old ranch roads, fishing events on a pond (depending on what the pond assessment shows), and night sky events with astronomers. Spots will be first come, first served at first because staff will be limited, and school groups may be possible later.
How you can get involved
- Share your ideas: TPWD will hold a series of public meetings once it owns the land, likely starting in late fall 2027, possibly including Tyler and right here locally, maybe in Chandler. “We want to hear from local folks as well,” Franklin said. Online surveys will let you weigh in from home. Meeting dates and places will be announced in the future.
- Volunteer: Volunteering will start “from day one when the Superintendent gets hired,” Franklin said, with groups helping clear trails. Later, the park host program lets volunteers camp at the park in exchange for 24 hours of work. Master Naturalists, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, and local businesses holding clean-up days are all possibilities. The volunteer contact will be the park superintendent, whose information will be made public once the role is filled.
- Work there: All park jobs are posted publicly. “There will be a lot of opportunities moving forward,” Franklin said, adding that a lot of park office staff come from the local area.
Why it matters for Brownsboro and Chandler
“People really need to be connected to the outdoors and connected to nature,” Franklin said. He noted that not many people have a state park within 15 or 30 minutes of home, and this one will put a beautiful landscape and lake access right in our backyard.
He also expects good things for local businesses. “Parks are an economic boon to local communities,” he said, with visitors stopping for gas, groceries and meals on their way to the park.
We will keep you posted as dates, names and sign-ups are announced.
