As public understanding and support are essential for KBBW’s effort to see Congressional action on wilderness designation for the undeveloped areas of Big Bend National Park, the KBBW core team has gone on the road!
In 2023, we hosted public meetings in Terlingua and Alpine in May, in San Antonio in September, and in El Paso in November. Team members presented the goals, strategy, and progress to date at each of the meetings. We also shared both the NPS map of areas in Big Bend that are currently managed as wilderness by policy, and KBBW’s proposed wilderness map. We described how KBBW’s proposal refines the NPS map based on experience of the last 40+ years.

As NPS policy is vulnerable to change, Congressional designation of wilderness is essential to assure permanent protection of the still-undeveloped areas of the national park. Designation would have no effect on the public access or uses currently allowed in these areas, and would assure no roads or structures would be built there in the future.
We also shared the draft legislation that the KBBW team has developed.
Big-Bend-Wilderness-Draft-Bill-As-of-2025Jan13At 3 of the 4 meetings, the Big Bend Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent also made presentations, providing the NPS perspective. KBBW has worked side-by-side with the NPS from the beginning. NPS would have been at the 4th meeting, but had to prepare for a possible federal government shutdown instead.
As we hoped, there were lots of questions. We listened intently to concerns that were raised, and were able to assuage most that were raised. KBBW welcomes constructive critique to improve every aspect of the proposal, including where the lines are drawn on the map. We appreciate that at each meeting, the list of KBBW supporters has grown.
KBBW intends to hold additional public meetings in 2024, locations to be determined. If you would like to invite us, or help organize, a meeting in your community, please let us know at [email protected].
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