PALO DURO LAND, 1: Visitors can see for miles at this 
popular destination ... details ahead on Passport to Texas.

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The views from inside Palo Duro Canyon State Park will 
remain grand thanks to the addition last year of a nearly 
three-thousand-acre property known as Fortress Cliffs 
Ranch.

It makes sure that the view shed from the canyon and on the 
rim are conducive with that wilderness feel that we're looking 
for. :08

Randy Ferris is Park Superintendent at Palo Duro Canyon 
State Park. He says this recent acquisition brings the total 
acreage of the park to nearly thirty thousand.

When you come to Palo Duro Canyon State Park, even though 
we're an hour away from the major city of Amarillo, you get that 
sense of being the first one there in the middle of the 
wilderness. It gives you a chance to relax. Get back to nature. . 
. :10

The primary reason for the acquisition was that others 
interested in the Fortress Cliffs Ranch had proposed 
subdivisions, wind turbines and cell phone towers for the 
site. 

Just below the rim that this property borders are ninety percent 
of our camping grounds and our trail hubs. So, anybody using 
Palo Duro Canyon for either camping or a day hike, they turn 
around at Fortress Cliff, where it used to be just the 
magnificence of the cliffs itself -- with some cedars and junipers 
thrown in below -- now they would have seen all of those 
development things, and it just takes away from the beauty. :23

Luckily, beauty has been spared. Learn about camping 
opportunities at Palo Duro Canyon State Park at 
passportitexas.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.




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