National Park Week is here—April 19 through April 26—and it’s the perfect time to step back and appreciate the natural heritage that makes the Lone Star State so extraordinary. This year, the National Park Service (NPS) is celebrating with the theme “National Park Playlist,” highlighting the connections between music and nature from songs about nature to heavy metal.

With Earth Day falling right in the middle of National Park Week, it’s also a time to honor both the planet and the great outdoors—two birds, one stone. National Park Week also includes National Junior Ranger Day, a special opportunity for young Texans to connect with nature through the NPS Junior Ranger Program. With games, hands-on activities, and guided learning offered at more than 400 national parks across the country, it’s a fun and family-friendly way to plant the seeds of environmental stewardship early.

You don’t have to travel far to experience the great outdoors. Texas is home to numerous parks, offering everything from piney woods and desert plains to sweeping mountain ranges. Among its most treasured gems are Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend National Parks, two stunning landscapes that exemplify the natural beauty and vibrant wildlife of the Lone Star State.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is home to Texas’ highest peak and a rugged beauty that draws hikers and nature lovers year-round. Established as a national park in 1966, it shares a geological history with nearby Carlsbad Caverns National Park, where over 119 caves were formed through the dissolution of limestone over millions of years. These mountains carry the stories of ancient hunter-gatherers and the Mescalero Apache, whose presence is still honored today.

In the northern reaches of the Chihuahuan Desert, Big Bend stretches more than 800,000 acres. It offers dramatic canyons, desert solitude, and some of the best stargazing in the world. The park is a haven for wildlife, hosting approximately 31 species of snakes, 22 species of lizards, and more than 450 species of birds. Despite scorching summer temperatures that can exceed 115 degrees, the desert blooms with ocotillo, yucca, lechuguilla, bluebonnets, and desert marigolds. In fact, Big Bend contains more species of cacti than any other national park in the country.

Humans have called this region home for millennia, with archaeological sites within the park that date back nearly 10,000 years. The Comanche were the last indigenous people to inhabit the area before American settlers in the late 1800s. And in a little-known chapter of Texas history, camels once roamed this land, having been brought in for military purposes in the 1850s. Through several expeditions, these camels marched over rough, rocky terrain with little to no water or vegetation. They were eventually sold off to ranchers and circuses after the expeditions.

This year, Big Bend is at the heart of an exciting conservation effort. I introduced the Big Bend National Park Boundary Adjustment Act, which would allow the NPS to acquire approximately 6,100 acres along the park’s western edge and help protect the land that makes this region, rich in ecological and culture meaning, so special. If passed, the legislation would be a step forward in preserving Texas’ natural wonders not just for us, but for generations to come.

Here in Texas, National Park Week is a celebration of our land and our communities. The Lone Star State has never done things halfway, and our approach to public lands is no exception. Because in Texas, we know the land isn’t just ours to enjoy—it’s ours to protect for those who will walk it next.