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Trail enthusiast Bea McKinney speaks about El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail at a public meeting in Cuero, Texas

A Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Assessment has started for El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail. Staff from the National Park Service's National Park System-Santa Fe office is conducting this planning effort to develop guidelines for future trail administration.

Designated as part of the National Trails System in 2004, the trail was the primary overland route during the Spanish Colonial Period. It traversed over a 1,000 mile long corridor linking the Rio Grande to the Red River Valley in northwestern Louisiana. The trail will be administered by the National Park Service in partnership with other federal, state, and local agencies, private organizations, landowners, and others who have an interest in the trail or who own and manage trail sites.

The management plan will provide for actions to preserve the remaining historic resources of El Camino Real de los Tejas and will provide for methods to make trail sites available for appropriate public use and ways for the public to learn about trail history.

Members of the public were invited to help the National Park Service develop a Comprehensive Management and Use Plan for El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail during a series of eight scoping meetings in April and May, 2007.

The meetings were held in communities along the route through Texas and Louisiana (San Antonio, Laredo, Carrizo Springs, Cuero, Bastrop, Crockett, and Nacogdoches, Texas; Natchitoches, Louisiana). The National Park Service invited everyone with an interest in the trail and its history, possibilities for recreation and heritage tourism, resource protection, and other opportunities along the route to attend one or more of the scoping meetings.

Data gathering and writing of the draft plan and environmental assessment is now underway.

Planning Updates

Several news articles about the April/May 2007 public meetings appeared in local media:

Laredo, Texas Laredo Morning Times

Cuero, Texas Cuero Record

Natchitoches, Louisiana Shreveport Times

A scoping report (June 2007) with details of the public meetings and comments is available.

A planning newsletter (spring 2007) and a national historic trail map are available.

A DVD "On the Road to Partnerships" (November 2007) about the national historic trail and the planning process is available.

You may also visit a website dedicated to the trail's planning process at:

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/elte

Please return and visit this web page in the future for planning updates.