An innovative archaeological dig has revealed the park's original wet prairie, buried by years of farming and development.
Read More »Wild Texas
Out with the new, in with the old: prairie restoration at Sheldon Lake
A fierce battle is under way to vanquish invasive grasses and restore the prairie's native landscape.
Read More »Booming Prairie Chickens at the Attwater Refuge
An early morning visit to the breeding grounds of the endangered Attwater's Prairie Chicken.
Read More »Jupiter and its moons at McDonald Observatory
On a visit to the McDonald Observatory in West Texas, I gazed at Jupiter and the Orion Nebula and traveled in the footsteps of Galileo.
Read More »Big Bend Ranch: West Rim Overlook Trail
The Fresno Rim trail offers a taste of a solitary desert hike - without the difficulties of most of Big Bend Ranch's more primitive routes.
Read More »Refuges
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Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge
The refuge is a collection of largely primitive stretches of forest and wetlands that roughly follow the Trinity River.
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Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge
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Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge
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Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge
Sanctuaries
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Smith Oaks & The Rookery
The Rookery is a tenement for birds, where they gossip, fight and raise their families.
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Sabine Woods Sanctuary
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Boy Scout Woods Bird Sanctuary
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Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary
Trails
Big Bend: Santa Elena Canyon Trail
With the tall walls and narrow pathway between them, the trail is ...
Read More »Big Bend Ranch: Cinco Tinajas Trail
The Cinco Tinajas Trail gets its name from a chain of small ponds in the otherwise parched Chihuahuan desert of Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Read More »Big Bend: Ernst Tinaja Trail
The Ernst Tinaja Trail follows a dry wash past colorful, uplifted limestone walls to a deep, dark pool carved in the canyon floor.
Read More »Big Bend: South Rim trails
The South Rim overlooks a landscape of Chihuahuan desert and carpeted peaks that reaches into Mexico.
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