Ranch Heritage Day April 24 at Hill Country State Natural Area, Bandera, TX

March 21, 2010 Off By Roberta Johnston

On April 24, 2010 the TPWD staff of the Hill Country State Natural Area (HCSNA) will present Ranch Heritage Day. With assistance from the park friends group, the Hill Country State Natural Area Partners, a non-profit 501(c)3 dedicated to the preservation & promotion of the HCSNA, the event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

The public is invited to come out to the park to enjoy a full day of free events, programs, and displays that celebrate the rapidly disappearing Ranching Heritage of Texas in a beautiful Hill Country setting.

Ranch Duty demonstrations
Cowboy story-telling, trick roping, and Cowboy singers and poets
Mounted Drill Team performances
Trail-rides, Hay-rides, and Interpretive Tours
Horse-shoeing and Dutch-oven cooking demonstrations
Southwest and Cowboy arts and crafts
Lil’ Wranglers Stick-horse Rodeo

FREE camping and FREE parking

The Hill Country State Natural Area, located approximately 10 miles west of Bandera, was a gift to the State of Texas from Louise Lindsey Merrick. Being a modern day equestrienne, she realized that there were few public places in Texas where riders could enjoy their horses on the trails and decided, after her husband died, to donate the 4,753 acres, known as the Bar-O Ranch to the state of Texas.

She began turning the land over to the state of Texas in 1976. By 1982, the transaction was complete. Louise deeded the land to the state of Texas with the provision that the Parks and Wildlife Department convert it to a state natural area and it was written into the deed that the land is “to be kept far removed and untouched by modern civilization, where everything is preserved intact, yet put to a useful purpose.”

The state natural area is home to a wide variety of hill country wildlife, two known endangered bird species and varied vegetation. The mission of the park staff and the friends group is to conserve the current and historic Ranch layout, and to protect the existing flora and fauna, thus providing a natural area as intact and historically accurate as possible for future generations to enjoy.

For more information visit http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/hill_country/ or visit the partners site at http://www.hcsnap.org .