Big Bend National Park

Park Information

• Date established: June 20, 1935; dedicated on June 12, 1944
• Location: Brewster County, Texas
• Area: 801,163 acres

Overview

Big Bend National Park is located in southwestern Texas along the border with Mexico. It is considered one of the most remote areas in the lower forty-eight states. It was the first national park to be established in Texas and is also the only national park in the country to contain a complete mountain range—the Chisos Mountains. The park is named after a large bend in the Rio Grande, a river that runs through the park along the border of the United States and Mexico. In addition to the Chisos Mountains and the Rio Grande, Big Bend also boasts a number of other landscape features, including deserts and several canyons. There are several scenic drives that run through the park along with several hiking trails, making it a popular spot for hikers and campers alike. Although popular, compared to other national parks, Big Bend does not draw a high volume of yearly visitors due to its remote location and rugged terrain. According to the National Park Service, the total number of yearly visitors to Big Bend first exceeded 100,000 in 1963, and though attendance has grown since then it has yet to exceed 500,000 people. The busiest year on record so far for Big Bend was 2021, with 581,000 people visiting the park. Along with its varied landscapes, Big Bend is home to a wide variety of plant and animal life. In addition to its status as a national park, Big Bend was designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and was also named a Globally Important Bird Area in 2001.

History

Big Bend National Park has a rich history, with nine National Register historical and archeological sites throughout the park that show more than ten thousand years of inhabitants. Several Native American tribes lived within what is now known as Big Bend, including the Chisos, Apache, and Comanche. Spanish explorers and missionaries, farmers, ranchers, miners, and other explorers also inhabited the area. In addition to the evidence of prior human inhabitants, recovered fossil forms of ancient plants and animals have been discovered as well. A fossil of the largest known flying dinosaur, the pterosaur, has been discovered in the park, along with the skull of a horned dinosaur known as a chamosaurus.

In 1933, Big Bend’s journey to gaining national park status began when the Texas legislature set aside fifteen sections of land in the area of the Santa Elena, Mariscal, and Boquillas canyons on the Rio Grande for the purpose of creating Texas Canyons State Park. The name was changed later in 1933 to Big Bend State Park, when the Chisos Mountains were also added to the park’s acreage. The area caught the attention of the National Park Service, which investigated it in 1934 and recommended it for consideration as a national park. Congress passed legislation on June 20, 1935, that established the park and allowed for acreage to be acquired through public and private donations. By 1942, most of the land had been acquired. The park was officially dedicated and opened to the public in 1944.

Geology and Ecology

Big Bend National Park features a wide variety of landscapes and ecosystems. The largest ecosystem in the park is the desert landscape. The desert located within Big Bend is part of the Chihuahuan Desert, which is primarily located in Mexico but does cross into the United States in several areas. The portion of the Chihuahuan Desert in Big Bend represents the largest section protected within the United States. There are a variety of animals, insects, and plants located within the desert, including roadrunners, jack rabbits, millipedes, cacti, yuccas, and many others. The Chihuahuan Desert is the wettest desert in North America, with up to ten inches of rain falling on average each year.

The Chisos Mountains stand in contrast to the desert landscape found throughout much of Big Bend as they are particularly lush and green. The Chisos are the only mountain range that is completely contained within a single national park. The range extends 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Panther Junction in the northeast to Punta de la Sierra in the southwest. The mountains support a variety of vegetation such as Aspen, Maple, and Douglas fir trees. It also features a basin with a number of hiking trails that remains relatively cooler compared to the rest of the park, with highs in the summer rarely exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).

In addition to the mountain and desert landscapes, Big Bend also features a number of canyons, rivers, and streams. There are several canyons located throughout the park, including Santa Elena, the Rio Grande Canyons, Boquillas Canyon, Lower Canyons, Marsical, and Colorado Canyon. The canyons, which were carved out by rivers and streams, vary in their remoteness and accessibility. Some of the canyons can be accessed on foot with a short hike, while others, like the Marsical, are more remote and can only be accessed via the river. The main river running through the park is the Rio Grande, and a bend in this continental river gives the park its name. The Rio Grande begins in central Colorado and travels down through the southwestern United States and into Mexico. In addition to its beauty, the Rio Grande and its tributaries are a vital water source for plants and animals in Big Bend.

Big Bend National Park is home to a wide variety of plant and animal life. In 1976, the area was recognized for its ecological importance and was put into the biosphere reserve program by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This designation by UNESCO means the area is protected from any further development. A number of endangered species are located within Big Bend as are a number of species that can only be found within the park. For example, the only colony of Mexican long-nosed bats in the United States lives within the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend. Endangered plant life also lives within the park, such as the Guadalupe fescue, a short-lived perennial grass that can only be found in the high mountains of the Chihuahuan Desert. Big Bend is also home to several bird species, with more than four hundred different species living within the park, numbering more than any other national park. For this reason, Big Bend was named a Globally Important Bird Area in 2001.

Bibliography

“Archeology & Big Bend.” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/historyculture/archeology.htm. Accessed 7 Oct. 2018.

“Big Bend Fact Sheet.” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/management/statistics.htm. Accessed 7 Oct. 2018.

“Big Bend Hosts the Most Bird Species of Any National Park.” National Geographic, 5 Nov. 2009, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/big-bend-national-park/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2018.

“Big Bend National Park.” Visit Big Bend, 2016, visitbigbend.com/category/bb-national-park/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2018.

Jameson, John. “Big Bend National Park.” Handbook of Texas Online, 12 June 2010, tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/gkb02. Accessed 7 Oct. 2018.

“Perfect Solitude: Big Bend National Park.” National Park Foundation, 2018, www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/big-bend-national-park. Accessed 7 Oct. 2018.

Rosenthal, Annie. "Big Bend National Park Saw Plateau in Visitors Last Year, New Data Shows." Marfa Public Radio, 6 Feb. 2024, www.marfapublicradio.org/2024-02-06/big-bend-national-park-saw-plateau-in-visitors-last-year-new-data-show. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Scenic Drives.” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/scenic‗drives.htm. Accessed 7 Oct. 2018.

“Splendid Isolation: The Big Bend.” National Park Service, 20 Aug. 2018, www.nps.gov/bibe/index.htm. Accessed 7 Oct. 2018.