AUSTIN — Election Day is just one week away, but Texans can vote early through Friday, November 3^rd. Voters are deciding on 14 propositions, including one—Proposition 14—that would create the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund. More than 90 groups have formed the Texas Coalition for State Parks in support of the $1 billion fund, which would allow the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to buy land from willing sellers when unique properties that would make for beautiful State Parks become available.

  “With a thousand people a day moving to Texas, there is no doubt we need more State Parks,” said Joseph Fitzsimons, co-founder of the Coalition. “Our State Parks attract nearly 10 million visitors annually, and the current supply can’t keep up with the demand. Current and future generations deserve to experience Texas’ great outdoors. Earlier this year, legislation to the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund on the ballot passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. Lawmakers have allocated the $1 billion investment to secure and develop new State Parks without raising taxes – now it’s up to Texas voters to approve it.”

  The ballot language of Proposition 14 is: “The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the centennial parks conservation fund to be used for the creation and improvement of state parks.”

  “The beauty is that these funds have already been set aside by the Legislature from the state’s budget surplus. It just needs voter approval,” said George Bristol, conservationist, historian, and author of Texas State Parks: The First 100 Years. “The constitutional amendment is a good investment of taxpayer dollars with a strong return on investment for Texas’ future.”

  To find out if you are registered to vote or learn what else may be on the ballot in your community, visit VoteTexas.gov.

  Investing in parks conserves land and water resources which protects Texas’ quality of life so future generations can enjoy our land, water, and natural beauty the way we do. A “YES” vote on Proposition 14 will secure land to create new parks in the Lone Star State for future Texans to enjoy. For more information, visit GrowTexasParks.org.

    Texas Coalition for State Parks Members: 

  Access Fund | American Farmland Trust | American Conservation Coalition | Apache Corporation | Association of Nature Center Administrators | Audubon Texas | Austin Outside | Austin Parks Foundation | Austin Ridge Riders Mountain Biking Club | Backcountry Hunters & Anglers | Bayou Land Conservancy | Bayou Preservation Association | Bexar Audubon Society | Bike Houston | Bike Texas | Blunn Creek Partnership | Braun & Gresham, PLLC | Buffalo Bayou Partnership | Caddo Lake Institute | Cibolo Nature Center and Farm | Coastal Prairie Conservancy | Comal County Conservation Alliance | Creating Common Ground | Defenders of Wildlife | Devils River Conservancy | Ducks Unlimited, Texas Chapter | El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association | Environment Texas | Environmental Defense Fund | Fellowship Southwest | Fin & Fur Films | Friends of the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge | Frontera Land Alliance | Galveston Bay Foundation | Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council | Get Outside Alliance | Great Plains Restoration Council | Great Springs Project | Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance | Green Spaces Alliance | Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust | Gulf of Mexico Trust | Hershey Ranch | Hill Country Alliance | Hill Country Conservancy | Hill Country Environment (PHCE) Foundation | Houston Audubon | Houston Parks Board | Houston Wilderness | Houston Women’s Hiking | Land Trust Alliance | L.L. Bean | Lone Star Chapter Sierra Club | McMacCX | National Parks Conservation Association | National Wildlife Federation | Outdoor Alliance | Plateau Land & Wildlife Management, Inc. | Patagonia | Poncho Outdoors | Progress Texas | REI | Safari Club International – Houston Chapter | San Marcos River Foundation | Save Barton Creek Association | Save Buffalo Bayou | Save our Springs Alliance (SOS Alliance) | SEED Coalition | Stewards of The Wild | Texans for State Parks | Texas 2036 | Texas Agricultural Land Trust | Texas Campaign for the Environment & TCE Fund | Texas Center for Policy Studies| Texas Children In Nature | Texas Conservation Alliance | Texas Foundation for Conservation | Texas Impact | Texas Interfaith Power and Light | Texas Land Conservancy | Texas Land Trust Council | Texas Outdoor Partners | Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation | Texas Recreation and Park Society (TRAPS) | Texas Rivers Protection Association | Texas Travel Alliance | Texas Wildlife Association | The Conservation Fund | The Nature Conservancy | The Watershed Association | Travis Audubon Society | Travis County Parks Foundation | TREAD Coalition | Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association | Trust for Public Land | Zilker 351