Welcome to Keep Big Bend Wild’s first newsletter for our supporters and others interested in seeing that the wild landscapes of Texas’s largest and best loved national park be permanently protected from additional roads, buildings, and other human-made infrastructure other than trails.
Our efforts are more important than ever. While the National Park Service and Keep Big Bend Wild are nonpartisan, they exist in a political world, and this is a challenging time for national parks and public lands. Texans and others who love Big Bend are urged to stand up and let our leaders know that we do not want to see the wild character of Texas’ Gift to the Nation change. We want to assure that our grandchildren can enjoy the unparalleled views of undeveloped mountains and desert, and the darkest skies in the country the same way we do today. We can’t take this for granted, as there are many threats on the horizon.
If you have not recently looked at it, we’ve overhauled the KBBW website (keepbigbendwild.org), adding a News and Updates section and making other improvements. If you’re already a KBBW supporter, your name or organization should be listed here. If you’re not yet a supporter, we encourage you to endorse us here.
Keep Big Bend Wild’s Goals
Preserve
To preserve and protect in perpetuity the wild nature of Big Bend National Park’s currently undeveloped areas for public benefit and the benefit of the natural communities and dark night skies
Access
To assure continued visitor access to developed and undeveloped areas of the park and the Rio Grande via all existing trails, paved and unpaved public roads, and the river itself, and to allow for new trails where appropriate
Maintain
To maintain appropriate visitor amenities and administrative support facilities in currently developed areas of Big Bend National Park and focus the development of any needed future infrastructure there or in neighboring communities
Provide
To provide outstanding memorable opportunities for public recreation, education, and inspiration at Big Bend National Park
Ensure
To ensure that Big Bend National Park continues to foster economic opportunities for surrounding communities and businesses that rely upon visitors having a positive park experience.
Collaborate
To collaborate and cooperate with surrounding neighbors, organizations, and educational institutions, with local, state and federal agencies, tribal nations, and with the public in protecting the wild Big Bend experience
2025 Keep Big Bend Wild Highlights
We went on the road to Midland in January and again in November, raising awareness of KBBW, and making many new friends and supporters. Venues included the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, the Sibley Nature Center, and Manor Park.
We “tabled” at events in Terlingua, San Antonio, and Midland, talking to interested people and handing out flyers.
We went far beyond Texas, at minimal cost to KBBW, leveraging opportunities that attracted people who care about national parks and wild places in both Virginia and Alaska, where we found Texans and others who agreed to support our efforts.
We joined the National Wilderness Coalition, a new, nonpartisan group aiming to broaden participation in the wilderness movement and re-invigorate the energy behind protecting this nation’s most significant natural areas for the benefit of all of the American people. Participation in the NWC has generated awareness and support for Keep Big Bend Wild with people working on similar efforts in other parts of the country.
We have been to Capitol Hill, talking with House and Senate staffers of Texan members of Congress and others, and developed relationships with key staff of the committees that will be responsible for any legislation in the future that affects Big Bend.
Wilderness at Big Bend – the Proposal in Brief
The National Park Service (NPS) has publicly supported protecting about 4/5 of the park – most of the roadless, undeveloped backcountry – as federal wilderness since 1978. KBBW is working with the NPS to resurrect interest, and ultimately legislation, to make that designation permanent. Wilderness is often misunderstood, but at Big Bend it would mean that the areas which currently do not have any roads or modern infrastructure would be guaranteed by law to stay that way, while still being open to the public for hiking, camping, and other uses currently permitted. Designated wilderness at Big Bend would remain part of the national park, and be managed by the National Park Service according to all applicable laws and policies. Neither KBBW nor the NPS anticipate any changes to existing visitor uses in any areas that would be designated as wilderness, except possibly new trails in the future. Park roads, drive-in campgrounds, and visitor and administrative infrastructure that currently exist would be outside of the wilderness area, and would be maintained, and hopefully improved, by the NPS for the future.
See the Proposal section of the KBBW website for more information, a map, thoughts on potential legislation that would be needed, FAQs, and discussions of how wilderness at Big Bend would impact the economy and interface with the important and ongoing challenge of border security.
Dark Skies and Wilderness at Big Bend
Preservation of the night sky at Big Bend, the darkest of all the national parks in the lower 48 states, depends on good lighting practices in the developed areas. The NPS is strongly committed to keeping the undeveloped areas undeveloped and free of light pollution.
Keep Big Bend Wild’s goal is to assure permanent protection from development and the inevitable lights that come with it for the vast majority of the still-undeveloped areas of the park by designating those areas as official wilderness. Those areas would always welcome dark sky photographers and other adventurers eager to get off-road and into the backcountry.
KBBW has entered into a partnership with award-winning photographer Jeff Pfaller, who recently published Dark Skies: Rare Phenomena in America’s Public Lands. We’ve recently posted two articles by Jeff on our website.
Parks transform after dark. You see things that are only revealed under the darkness of night. You can hear the sound of your own heartbeat in your ears. You tap into something primal, into a core part of the experience of what makes us human. Read Jeff’s article about how the memories formed under dark skies make them worth protecting.
Thinking about heading out into Big Bend after the sun goes down? Find the best spots to see the Milky Way and the moon in the park, and get practical tips for how to photograph the stars. Read Jeff’s article on the best places in Big Bend for astrophotography.
Support Keep Big Bend Wild by purchasing Dark Skies: Rare Phenomena in America’s National Parks through this special link.
Looking Ahead to 2026
We’re planning KBBW events in Houston and Dallas, hoping to do several venues in each metro area over a period of a few days.
KBBW is hoping to make presentations to state-level conferences in Waco and in Midland.
We are eager to visit more cities and towns in Texas, to talk about KBBW, either with presentations or to “table” at events others organize. Let us know if you are aware of good opportunities to spread the word about KBBW.
We are especially interested in talking with businesses and organizations that are part of the mainstream Texas economy, not just to the environmental community. The wider and broader our support, the more our elected officials will “hear” this is important and be willing to take action to Keep Big Bend Wild.
A Word on Finances – and “Support”
KBBW is a very small, all-volunteer effort. Our costs are low, but it does take money to develop, update, and host a website, print flyers, register for conferences to speak or exhibit, and travel to venues to spread the word.
We have been very fortunate to have been financially sponsored from our inception by the Big Bend Conservancy (BBC), a 501c3 nonprofit organization. That means that BBC has handled all of our funds and that donations to support KBBW are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. BBC is Big Bend National Park’s primary philanthropic partner and is one of many organizations that supports KBBW, but doing the administrative work for an affiliated organization is a workload, and outside their normal mission.
Hence, we are making a friendly transition to the El Paso Community Foundation (EPCF), which regularly provides financial sponsorship services to a wide spectrum of organizations and projects supporting the community and environment in the west Texas borderlands.
Hence if you click on a Donate button on KBBW’s website, another window will open, taking you to EPCF’s KBBW donation page. When you make a donation through this portal, you will automatically be added to our supporter list unless you opt out.
We are grateful for all contributions and commit to continued good stewardship of all donated funds.
That said, we value your public commitment that you support this effort – your name – as much, if not more, than your donation.
If you have not previously explicitly signed up to be a supporter, whether or not you’ve donated in the past, please take a moment and do so by filling out the very simple form here. Your dollars help us reach more people and gain more supporters. Your names allow us to tell our elected officials that their constituents want them to make permanently protecting Big Bend National Park one of their legislative priorities.
Thank you for supporting Keep Big Bend Wild.
The Keep Big Bend Wild Core Team
Keep Big Bend Wild is a collaborative effort by people who share a common appreciation of Big Bend National Park and who want to ensure that the wild character of Big Bend will continue and thrive. Some are locals. Some are retirees from the NPS at Big Bend and other parks. Others know Big Bend well as visitors or have volunteered at Big Bend. All of us have returned to Big Bend repeatedly because we care deeply about the future of the park.
- Mr. Frank Buono (Sierra Vista, AZ)
NPS (Retired) - Ms. Cary DuPuy (Austin, TX)
Regional Director (Texas), National Parks Conservation Association - Mr. Rick Harris (Santa Teresa, NM)
Associate Regional Director, Science & Natural Resources, NPS (Retired)
KBBW Treasurer - Mr. Trey Hermann (Fredericksburg, TX)
Creative Director, Deogram Design, Former Big Bend Conservancy Board Member - Mr. Bob Krumenaker (Carlsbad, NM)
Superintendent, Big Bend National Park 2018-2023, NPS (Retired)
KBBW Chair - Ms. Evelyn L. Merz (Houston, TX)
Coastal Prairie Manager and Restorationist - Ms. Loren Riemer (Austin, TX)
Executive Director, Big Bend Conservancy - Mr. Joe Tooley (Rockwall, TX)
Attorney; Member, Texas Police Chiefs Association & Former Big Bend Conservancy Board Member
Emeritus Team Members
- Mr. Roger Siglin (formerly of Alpine, TX)
Superintendent, Gates of the Arctic National Park, NPS (Retired)
Former Park Ranger, Big Bend National Park, NPS - Mr. Raymond Skiles (Alpine, TX)
Wildlife & Wilderness Coordinator, Big Bend National Park , NPS (Retired)
For More Information, or To Find Out Ways
You Can Help Keep Big Bend Wild
Please write to us at info@keepbigbendwild.org
Please share this with others who are interested in Big Bend National Park!
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