A new assessment of lands in Big Bend National Park is recommending more than 63,000 acres for official wilderness designation/Rebecca Latson file

Much of a large swath of land, more than 67,000 acres that was donated to Big Bend National Park back in 1987, is eligible for official wilderness designation, according to a forthcoming National Park Service assessment.

In an announcement to be published Monday in the Federal Register, the agency concludes that 63,505 of the 67,135 acres donated by Houston Harte "are found to be eligible for inclusion in the wilderness preservation system because they have wilderness criteria described in the Wilderness Act of 1964."

Back in 1978 the Park Service did a full wilderness study and environmental impact study of the entire park as it existed at the time and concluded that 583,000 acres of untrammeled forests and mountains, places that retain their primeval character and influence and which are essentially without permanent improvement or modern human occupation, could qualify for official wilderness protection with the National Wilderness Preservation System. However, that study went nowhere.

Results of the eligibility assessment to be announced Monday considered just the 67,135 acres of the Harte ranch for wilderness qualities, and did not mention the 1978 recommendation, as they affect different areas of the park.

The North Rosillos area covered by the assessment ranges in elevation from 2,600 feet in the desert to 5,373 feet at the windswept summit of Rosillos Peak. This is one of the least visited areas in Big Bend and solitude is easy to come by, according to park staff. Recreation opportunities include scenic driving the along the unpaved Terlingua Ranch Road, wildlife viewing, cross-country hiking and remote backpacking.

Though just an early step in the process to designate official wilderness in the sprawling park in West Texas, this new wilderness eligibility assessment likely will breath new life into efforts to see official wilderness designated in Big Bend.

Draped across more than 800,000 acres, Big Bend ranges in elevation from 1,715 feet above sea level along the iconic Rio Grande River that separates Texas from Mexico to nearly 8,000 feet along the roof of the Chisos range. Despite its arid reputation, this landscape holds botantical wonders in the form of the spindly stalks of ocotillo that erupt in red blooms, a handful of yucca varieties, several types of orchids, various members of the aster family, a kaleidoscope of other wildflowers and, of course, more than a few species of cacti, including hedgehog varietals, prickly pear, Christmas cactus, and the uniquely named, and similarly shaped, pingpong ball cactus.

Big Bend also is home to pronghorn antelope, elk, black bear, mountain lions, four types of skunk, pecarries, badgers, ringtails, numerous bats, rats and mice.

Part of the Harte Ranch that was donated to Big Bend National Park/NPS file

A grassroots group, Keep Big Bend Wild, has been working to convince Congress to protect most of the park as official wilderness. The group is not seeking to expand wilderness designation to lands in the park currently open to facilities and roads, but rather to "preserve in perpetuity the wild nature of Big Bend National Park in its currently undeveloped areas for the public benefit and the benefit of natural communities. To maintain appropriate visitor amenities and administrative support facilities in currently developed areas of Big Bend National Park and focus the development of any needed future infrastructure there or in neighboring communities."

Official wilderness designation removes the risk that Big Bend's wild and rugged landscape will be altered sometime in the future. The areas recommended for official wilderness in 1978 has been managed as wilderness, but that doesn't mean Congress or a future administration down the road might not decide Big Bend needs more lodging or road access and looks to the recommended or eligible wilderness lands as possible locations.

How this landscape could, or might, contribute to a National Biodiversity Strategy that has been discussed by some, or in helping slow the sixth mass extinction or contribute to the Biden administration's goal of preserving 30 percent of the nation's lands and waters for nature by 2030 remains to be seen. Nevertheless, wilderness designation benefits conservation.