BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, Texas — Big Bend National Park will remain closed to the public until at least June 1.
The over 800,000 acre park closed on April 3 in response to letters from Brewster County and Texas State Health Services departments.
Park managers are planning to eventually phase the park back open in early June. The first phase of openings will begin with scenic driving and biking paths, select front-country day hiking trails, and Rio Grande float trips as long as they start from paved road access points.
The Chisos Mountain Lodge restaurant will also re-open for takeout orders only.
Currently, the park is closed to everyone besides employees, residents and other authorized people.
Along with the national park, all Travel to Terlingua Ranch Road and the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River are closed until public health officials allow more re-openings.
Park managers announced in a news release that the cautious approach to reopening is to protect employees, visitors and residents. They also want to prevent overwhelming the limited and distant regional medical services.
In addition to closures around the country, the National Park Service published a humorous social distancing guide on their website.
The Big Bend National park area has been home to humans since the 10000 BCE.
Both the Mescalero Apache and later the Comanche lived in the Big Bend area before ranchers and miners migrated to the area to raise cattle and search for mercury. After years of overgrazing and extensive mining, the United States federal government turned the land into a national park in 1944.