Caprock Canyon Great History

This past weekend, August 16th-18th, I participated in a Raider Service Break at Caprock Canyon State Park. At one point in time there were around 30 to 60 million bison roaming in North America. However, in the mid to late 1800s the bison almost became extinct because of professional hide hunters. The hides were used as belts for machinery. It was not uncommon for a professional hide hunter to kill one hundred or more bison during each hunt. The hunters would mainly hunt the bison cows because their hides brought the most money. This left a lot of calves orphaned since the hunters did not feel they were worth shooting. In 1889 it was estimated that there were only around 540 bison still left in North America. Towards the end of the bison hunting period some people became concerned with whether the bison would make it or not, and began working to save them. These people did this by caring for the orphaned calves, and increased the number of bison by forming their own herds. One such person was Mary Ann Goodnight. Her husband, Charles Goodnight, was a rancher. He had bought a large area of land, part of which is now the state park, and established the J A Ranch. Mary asked her husband to bring in any orphan bison calves that he found as he was out on the ranch. This was the start of the Goodnight Herd. At its height there were around 250 bison in the herd. The Goodnight Herd is one of five foundation herds that brought the bison back from the brink of extinction. After the Goodnights passed away the public became less aware of the herd. The people that inherited the ranch were not as concerned with the bison, and would sometimes let people come hunt them. Eventually, the bison were donated to Texas Parks and Wildlife and in 1997 they were moved to Caprock Canyon State Park. At the time there were only about 36 bison left. In 2014 the bison were released into the whole park.

The land that makes up the state park was purchased in 1975. Caprock Canyon State Park was opened in 1982. The park is about fourteen thousand acres. The lake is called Lake Theo. It is named after Theo Geisler, the man that owned the land before it was a state park. The staff at the park are currently working to turn the land more into a prairie, before that it was mainly cotton fields. There are over twenty-five miles of hiking, biking, and horse-riding trails at the park. Furthermore, there are around 200 bison at the park. Though, the maximum capacity is around 300. The bison are a semi free range herd, which means that they can go wherever they want to as long as it is in the park.

While volunteering at Caprock Canyon State Park the issue we focused on was conservation. For this trip we focused on conservation by removing graffiti from the side of the canyon at different locations. When I first learned that we were going to be removing graffiti I expected we would be removing paint. However, when we got there I found out we were going to be removing carvings in the rock. We arrived Friday morning, and hit the ground running. As soon as we got there we unloaded, and were taken to our first area where we were to remove graffiti. I thought it was great the way we all worked well together even though we had only met each other one other time before that.

One of the best experiences I had was on Saturday. We started off heading back in the canyon on ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), then after a short walk we arrived at the spot where we would be working for the day. We spent the morning removing graffiti, then stopped for lunch. After lunch we went on a hike to a cave that was nearby. When we got back from our hike that is when it was really noticeable how different the side of the canyon looked after we had removed the graffiti. That was one of the best moments on the trip for me because it really made it apparent the kind of impact we were making. Though we did great work while we were there one thing I still think about is how permanent is the change that we worked to create, or what can possibly be done to make the change more permanent. Also, how long will it be before someone comes along and carves on one of the areas we cleaned? As Leann Pigg, a park interpreter, said “Graffiti breeds graffiti”. Having completed this trip, one thing I plan on doing is volunteering at the animal shelter in Lubbock. I am also strongly considering working with a volunteer organization such as Peace Corp or Ameri Corp after graduation.

-Aaron Perkins