Heath Canyon Ranch, located just outside Big Bend National Park, will be added to the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area. And while it’s a small addition to the Black Gap’s 103,000 acres, it contains what the Nature Conservancy calls a strategic inholding and river access point.

The conservancy bought the land and is donating it to the parks department with the coordination of Big Bend and some donors.

James King, with ranch real estate firm King Land & Water, helped coordinate the sale and joined the Standard to share the details.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: Could you start by telling me what’s so special about this 671 acres? 

James King: Well, the location of it is probably one of the most strategic river access points in the whole Big Bend region. There’s a paved road, there’s Farm to Market 2827, and that’s the road that goes to Stillwell Store and goes to the headquarters of Black Gap.

But it goes all the way to the Rio Grande, and there was a historic bridge there called La Linda Bridge. And so that area, you could easily get into and off of the Rio Grande. And so it has served as a strategic location for the utilization of the wild and scenic river there on the Rio Grande.

And although it’s a small piece of land, it’s kind of, I would say, probably one of the most important small tracks there for the public to enjoy the Rio Grande River.

I was going to say, I’m looking at a map and trying to figure out how this sort of interacts with other areas here. Paint a picture for those who can’t see this: The Black Gap Wild Management Area borders Big Bend National Park. So how will this acreage kind of interact with those already established areas? 

Well, there’s been a lot of effort in conservation and public use in this area of Texas. There’s over a million acres of public lands in this part of Texas. Texas is 96% private lands. But in this neck of the woods, it’s a playground for the rest of the state.

One of the key things about this property is downstream from here, Black Gap has, I think, probably 25 shelters. They’re little places you can drive, get a permit, go camp out on the river. And so, literally, you can put a canoe in here and canoe down and get access to these river shelters.

Another piece of the puzzle here: It’s the takeout point for Boquillas Canyon. Boquillas is a legal crossing on the Rio Grande, and many outfitters put in there for a two-night overnight trip. And they take out at La Linda Bridge, which is Heath Canyon. So not only is it an important place for Big Bend National Park, but it’s also important for Black Gap WMA.

Well, people might be hearing you and planning their trips right now, because that sounds lovely. Do we have a timeline, though, when this will be open and available for folks to use? 

It’s open. It’s been open for a long, long time. And so the family that owns this is the Andy Curry family. So Andy has always provided for that access.

Andy passed away. Their family decided to sell. And so this maintains the permanent public access for the river.

So right now, there are many outfitters. They’re in Terlingua, they’re in Marathon, they’re in different places. And you can get an outfitter or you can put your own canoe and negotiate a shuttle and enjoy this part of the river.

Well, I’ve got to say, your firm works a lot on this type of project. What does it take sometimes to get land back to the public? 

Well, so in this circumstance, this property came on the market. We learned about it the day after it went on the market, and our family put it under contract immediately.

We knew how strategic it was, and we were competing against another party that wanted to more commercialize the area. And literally, we assigned our contract to the Nature Conservancy.

So, what it takes is direct action. We knew how important it was. We did it for free. We didn’t make any money. We forgo any commission. We did it because it needed to happen.

And, of course, the Nature Conservancy and Texas Parks and Wildlife are longtime partners with King Land & Water, and I actually worked at the Nature Conservancy for 20 years. So those organizations, as well as many others, work real hard to conserve the unique places in Texas.