Carter Smith, Executive Director of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, spoke at the monthly Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Friday and said that although the state has asked departments to cut their budget by 15% over the current and next biennium, they are very mindful of the important role state parks play in the economic development of a community.

“We didn’t want to close any state parks, we didn’t want to let go any game wardens or wildlife biologists or close any fish hatcheries,” Smith said.   “We wanted to keep our core mission absolutely intact. “

The mission of the TPWD according to Smith is to diligently get people into the outdoors and create a culture of stewardship and conservation.

Smith said that they will make many of the cuts in their budget through operational costs, grants, and opening new parks.

Smith said that many states have shut down or considered closing state parks to cut costs during the current economic conditions such as New York, California, Arizona.

“…I don’t think you have to worry about Lake Brownwood State Park going away,” Smith said.

Smith also went over a recent demographic study of state park visitors and said that the average age of visitors to a state park is 47-48 years old, 90% from Texas, 80% white, and 2/3 did not bring children.  He said that the Lake Brownwood State Park sees about 75,000 visitors per year.

Smith also touched on the current oil spill situation in the Gulf of Mexico.  He said that currently a ruptured line is spilling 800,000 to 1 million gallons of oil per day in the Gulf.   The impact of this spill is still being evaluated according to Smith, but they don’t expect the Texas coasts to be effected as severely as other states that border the Gulf.  Currently, 1/3 of the Gulf is closed to fishing.

Smith also touched on the new Game Warden training facility near Star, Texas.   The facility sits on 200 acres and is a much better setting for training of Game Wardens than the previous one in Austin.  43 cadets will graduate from there in July.

Smith closed by saying that the involvement of the community is extremely helpful to the success of the Texas Parks & Wildlife programs.

“We are very proud to have our presence right here in Brownwood,” Smith said.  “We appreciate all of the support that we get from this great community.”