Texas’ Balcones Canyonlands Refuge is expanding. So why are refuge leaders nervous?

On a sizzling 90-degree June day in Texas, families arrived in droves for a raptor event at Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. Couples with young children, seasoned bird watchers, tourists, retirees, volunteers and more huddled under the shade of the pavilion off the Doeskin Ranch Trailhead to watch a trio of bird handlers bring out everything from the smallest screech owl and kestrel to a red-tailed hawk and great-horned owl.

This isn’t an unusual place to find this kind of crowd. The refuge hosts events all year round, and even with central Texas heat, the session was at capacity and a waitlist of Texans in this community still seemed to take advantage of what the refuge has to offer. 

And the refuge is only getting bigger. 

The Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge is a federally-protected area designated in 1992 to protect the habitat of the endangered golden-cheeked warbler and the now de-listed black-capped vireo. For almost four decades, the refuge — located only 40 miles from Austin — has provided 10 miles of trails. In addition to the golden-cheeked warbler and the black-capped vireo, the refuge is home to more than 245 different bird species, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). 

In the past two years, the FWS, alongside its non-profit partner Friends of Balcones, have been able to expand their land acquisitions by more than 600 acres and the refuge now spans almost 30,000 acres. 

“The recent acquisition completes a phased acquisition of 610 acres to benefit the endangered golden-cheeked warbler, the black-capped vireo, and visitors of the refuge who will have expanded public access and recreational opportunities,” the FWS said in an emailed statement. 

Balcones Canyonlands’ acquisition boundary is about 80,000 acres, meaning that the FWS gives the refugee permission to obtain new land up to that limit. The most recent addition helps to connect three other refuge tracts, creating more than 2,000 acres of continuous habitat. 

Despite the success they have had in recent years, the volunteers and staff members alike were hesitant to speak out about the refuge’s expansion, and Nicole Sarker, the director of the non-profit Friends of Balcones, declined to discuss the expansion on-the-record for fears of unwanted attention from federal agencies. 

After working at five other refuges, Kelly Purkey, who has spent a decade as the refuge management, said that she was struck by the Balcones’ large canyons, expansive plains and the engagement of the community.  

During her tenure, the refuge has not only seen numerous acquisitions but also implemented wildland urban interface programs that work with communities on prescribed fires, providing meeting places such as the Doeskin Ranch Trailhead pavilion and a guided hike program. 

Sarker said the success is a credit to the organization’s 100 active volunteers and the events they hold that keep bringing community support.

“People are really excited about not only being here hiking or what have you, but they’re also very interested in helping,” Purkey said, after sharing that her volunteer hours make up the work of about six employees. 

In addition to the birds, the refuge is home to five different habitats, such as oak savanna grasslands, that Purkey said serves pollinators. The refuge aids in not only protecting species of birds but also butterflies, native plants and water. 

“If you live in Texas, you understand how important water is, and the land here at the refuge helps protect and contribute to our water system, so we’re really vital to water quality and quantity here in Central Texas,” Sarker said. 

The Balcones community fears bringing unwanted attention to the refuge amidst lower budgets and yanked support from other refuges in their own state. 

Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge is the oldest national wildlife refuge in Texas and protects important habitat in the Southern High Plains. Its 6,440 acres protects species such as the lesser prairie chicken, Sandhill crane, pronghorn and more that rely on the refuge’s saline lakes.

Mulshoe had plans to expand its boundary to acquire land to 700,000 acres, but expanding federal land ownership created controversy in the community, according to Nathan Marcy, a senior federal lands policy analyst at the non-profit Defenders of Wildlife. 

Republican Congressman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) introduced a bill to prevent the FWS from enforcing the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge Land Protection Plan and Environmental Assessment that would expand the boundary. 

With enough political pressure, the FWS voluntarily retracted the land production plan and the expansion never occurred.  

Despite the vast difference in the scale of land acquisition between Muleshoe and Balcones, Marcy believes the expansion effort may explain why Friends of Balcones are nervous to tout their accomplishments. 

In Texas specifically, Marcy is more concerned about possible land exchanges. Although the Refuge Act prevents refuges from shrinking or being sold off, they can be exchanged with other land from private or public landowners. 

One example, Marcy said, where this is actively affecting the quality of refuge land is near the Lower Rio Grande Valley Refuge. SpaceX attempted to expand its land and conduct a proposed land exchange with the Lower Rio Grande Valley Refuge in March, and although the FWS deemed the land “no longer as valuable to the wildlife,” the exchange has since been approved by the FWS. Since then, many conservation groups filed an emergency injunction along with a lawsuit to stop the deal.  

“Every land exchange is unique, but they tend to be done to allow development or uses of refuge land that otherwise would not be allowed by the Refuge Act, so they’re circumventing the law by doing that,” Marcy said. 

The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act was passed in 1967 and amended in 1997. The law requires that the Interior Department continue to “plan and direct the continued growth of the System,” which emphasizes that refuge expansion — through new or expanded refuges — focuses on the conservation of endangered and threatened species.

However, Marcy said that the FWS’s strategic growth policy was quietly rescinded by FWS Director Brian Nesvik in December 2025, meaning that there is no plan to implement the requirement at the moment. 

Marcy also pointed to lack of staff as a problem for the refuge system. 

From 2024 to 2025, the National Wildlife Refuge Fund Budget shrank by $13,226,000, according to the FWS. 

A House appropriations bill last year reduced the National Wildlife Refuge System’s funding by four percent, to $505.7 million in 2026. The last time the refuge system operated at that funding was in 2010.

Each refuge does not have a specific, earmarked budget and instead depends on the overall Interior Department budget appropriations for that year. Outside of public funding, refuges like Balcones depend on private funding from grants or donations. 

Because of higher labor costs and decreased funds, Marcy said that staffing is around 40 percent below where it peaked in 2010 and more than half have insufficient staff to accomplish their refuges’ objectives. 

“We’ve been hearing lots of stories about many refuges having no on-site staff at all, and they’re not able to do really basic functions like habitat management, visitor services and law enforcement,” Marcy said. 

Despite declines around federal funding and staff, the Balcones community is still proud of what they have been able to achieve and optimistic about the future. In 2024, the refuge was visited by almost 200,000 people, according to a FWS report, the third-highest visitor number recorded for a refuge in the state. Sarker and Purkey both say their engaged community keeps visitor numbers high. 

Sarker said that even though the refuge faces decreased funding, they have been able to keep most of their events free of charge to the public because of individual donations they receive, and this in turn aids continued land acquisition and a legacy of land stewardship they have in the area.

“I’ve met many volunteers who first came to the refuge when they had kids, little kids, and they either came for a school field trip or to hike with their kid, and now their kids are grown and they have time to volunteer,” she said. 

Whether or not other refuges expand or have raptor events like theirs, Sarker said that all refuges provide unique spaces for communities to engage with nature — if they decide to do so. 

“Everybody can help, everyone can play a role in helping protect their local nature, and that’s how we can ensure that we’re able to steward the land and protect wildlife,” Sarker said.