Earlier this month, Texas lawmakers established their own version of President Trump’s Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE). Trump created the agency to shrink the federal government and put Elon Musk in charge of the cost-cutting.
That has led to the gutting of many federal agencies — including the ones that manage public lands.
Now, one of the Texas lawmakers placed on the state’s DOGE committee has devised a similar plan: Abolish the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD). Under House Bill 4938, which State Rep. Pat Curry filed last week, TPWD would no longer exist, with all duties transferred to other state agencies.
According to the plan laid out in House Bill 4938, Curry’s plan means the Texas General Land Office would manage the state’s parks, historic sites, and other public lands. The Department of Public Safety would handle law enforcement and water safety, while the Department of Agriculture would take over conservation, wildlife management, and hunting and fishing.
All funds, contracts, property, and records of TPWD would also be transferred to the other state agencies. Even employees of TPWD could become employees of the other agencies.
The bill would take effect on Sept. 1, 2025. But first, it would have to pass through a House committee, and then get support from the Texas House and Senate, as well as the governor.
Rep. Curry’s office did not respond to requests for comment Monday. However, organizers at the Access Fund, a nonprofit watchdog for public lands, said they would oppose any advancement of the legislation.
“Were this to get a committee hearing, I believe we’d flood the hearing room,” Brian Tickle, head of acquisitions at Access Fund, told GearJunkie.
‘Plenty of Fraud and Waste’
Texas’s new Committee on Delivery of Government Efficiency, as it’s called, has 13 members: five Democrats and eight Republicans, including Rep. Curry. It has been given a broad mandate, including jurisdiction over the management of state agencies, the “elimination of inefficiencies in the provision of state services,” and much more.
Rep. Curry, whose House district includes Waco, told local news last week that the Texas DOGE aims to trim costs from every level of the state government.
“We do have plenty of fraud and waste,” Curry told ABC 25. “With the help of AI and the ability for a group to spend time looking into things, we can run things a lot more efficiently.”
However, an overwhelming majority of Texas voters appear to support greater investment in the state’s parks. In 2023, a ballot initiative for a $1 billion fund aimed at creating new parks passed with support from more than 76% of voters. That has already led to new land acquisitions, like 2,000+ acres purchased last month for another state park near Colorado Bend.
But Curry, who won a November election to represent Texas House District 56, said he would reform the state’s “out of control” property taxes to make the state more affordable.
“We need to carry our Christian values into so many aspects of the law and running of our government. A lot has been lost on that,” Curry told the Baylor Lariat upon his election victory. “This campaign really became a calling from God.”
Politics of Public Land
Texans’ support for their state parks may not matter if the state’s DOGE members follow the playbook of Trump and Musk.
Even as Trump’s layoffs and spending freezes of the National Park Service have galvanized widespread protests, the White House is already considering additional cuts to the agencies that manage public lands.
Rep. Curry’s bill also arrives amid increased efforts by state governments to take back federal lands. Lawmakers in Utah, Wyoming, and Montana have made efforts to take control of millions of acres of public land currently managed by the federal government.
“Even as these unpopular proposals often meet rejection, they are an ominous portent of more land seizure efforts to come,” the Outdoor Alliance wrote in a February statement about what it calls “public land heists.”
Texas is often referred to as a “private land state.” That’s because less than 5% of the state’s land is publicly owned. Even at state parks like Palo Duro Canyon, state leases for cattle ranchers have left less than half of the park’s 30,000 acres available to visitors.
When asked to respond to Rep. Curry’s bill, officials at Texas Parks & Wildlife sent GearJunkie the following statement:
“Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is proud of the important role our agency plays in managing Texas land and waters in coordination with our partners and private landowners to provide for hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation,” TPWD said. “Our 89 state parks welcome more than 9 million visitors each year.”
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